Of the Bellus Day Tourney
Rubric, Judges & Rules
This rubric is the same for every entrant and is published before the entry window opens. The Lady Bellus herself does not score.
The Rubric
One hundred (100) points total, divided into five criteria of twenty (20) points apiece. Each entry is read independently by three judges, blind to the entrant's name and station; the three scores are averaged.
1. Craft & Command of Form
20 pts
Diction, syntax, rhythm, and command of the chosen form. Sentences that earn their place; paragraphs that move with intention.
2. Originality of Voice & Vision
20 pts
Distinct point of view; a voice no other entrant could have written. The work could not be mistaken for another's.
3. Fidelity to the Prompt
20 pts
Engages the published prompt directly, fully, and in good faith — not as decoration, but as the central question of the work.
4. Structural Integrity
20 pts
Opening earns the reader, middle holds the tension, ending lands. The work as a whole is more than the sum of its sentences.
5. Resonance
20 pts
The reader carries something of the work away with them. The piece is remembered after a day, a week, a year.
The Judging Panel
The panel for the current Tourney shall be seated and named upon this page before the entry window closes.
Judges shall not have a financial interest in any entrant, nor any familial or romantic tie. Any judge who recognizes an entry — by hand, by style, or by subject — shall recuse from that entry and the Head Judge shall seat a substitute reader for that scoring.
Governing Rules
- No purchase necessary. Entry is free. No dues, subscription, badge, perk, or coin spent within BellusTowne confers any advantage in judging. Citizens, Wayfarers, and friends of the Towne enter on equal footing.
- One entry per entrant per Tourney. Multiple entries from the same person shall be disqualified at the Founder's discretion.
- Originality required. The work shall be the entrant's own, unpublished elsewhere in identical form, and not generated in whole by automated systems. Tools that assist the human hand are permitted; tools that replace it are not.
- Age of majority. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission.
- Skill, not chance. The Champion is selected solely by score upon this rubric. There is no drawing, no lot, no randomization at any step.
- Disqualification. Plagiarism, identity misrepresentation, harassment of judges, or attempts to influence scoring shall result in disqualification and may bar the entrant from future Tourneys.
- The Champion's Purse. The advertised prize is funded from Strength & Solidarity LLC's earmarked Champion's Purse, not from entrant contributions. Payment is by the LLC's ordinary commercial means upon proclamation and acceptance.
- Void where prohibited. The Tourney is offered only where lawful and is subject to all applicable contest laws of the United States and the entrant's state of residence.
