Update 29 June: Winners announced here.
Update 19 June: Finalists announced here.
Update 18 June: Voting round now closed, semifinalists announced here.
Update 12 June: Voting round now open, will close on 17 June 11:59 pm EST. Go here to browse the nominated posts and vote.
Jonathan Kramnick is Maynard Mack Professor of English at Yale University. His research and teaching is in eighteenth-century literature, literature and philosophy, and cognitive science and the arts. He's the author of two books, Making the English Canon (1999) and Actions and Objects from Hobbes to Richardson (2010), and many essays. His current work is on the relations among literary form, perceptual consciousness, and built and natural environments.
As usual, this is the way it will work: the nominating period is now open. There will then be a round of voting by our readers which will narrow down the entries to the top twenty semi-finalists. After this, we will take these top twenty voted-for nominees, and the editors of 3 Quarks Daily will select six finalists from these, plus they may also add up to three wildcard entries of their own choosing. The three winners will be chosen from these by Professor Kramnick.
The first place award, called the “Top Quark,” will include a cash prize of 500 dollars; the second place prize, the “Strange Quark,” will include a cash prize of 200 dollars; and the third place winner will get the honor of winning the “Charm Quark,” along with a 100 dollar prize.
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The schedule and rules:
June 1, 2015:
- The nominations are opened. Please nominate your favorite blog entry by placing the URL for the blog post (the permalink) in the comments section of this post. You may also add a brief comment describing the entry and saying why you think it should win. Do NOT nominate a whole blog, just one individual blog post.
- Blog posts longer than 4,000 words are strongly discouraged, but we might make an exception if there is something truly extraordinary.
- Each person can only nominate one blog post.
- Entries must be in English.
- The editors of 3QD reserve the right to reject entries that we feel are not appropriate.
- The blog entry may not be more than a year old. In other words, it must have been first published on or after June 1, 2014.
- You may also nominate your own entry from your own or a group blog (and we encourage you to).
- Guest columnists at 3 Quarks Daily are also eligible to be nominated, and may also nominate themselves if they wish.
- Nominations are limited to the first 100 entries.
- Prize money must be claimed within a month of the announcement of winners.
June 10, 2015
- The public voting will be opened.
June 17, 2015
- Public voting ends at 11:59 PM (NYC time).
June 19, 2015
- The finalists are announced.
June 29, 2015
- The winners are announced.
One Final and Important Request
If you have a blog or website, please help us spread the word about our prizes by linking to this post. Otherwise, post a link on your Facebook profile, Tweet it, or just email your friends and tell them about it! I really look forward to reading some very good material and think this should be a lot of fun for all of us.
Best of luck and thanks for your attention!