Patch Contests - general discussion (preferred rules, deadlines, etc.)

[Music Engineer]

i'm planning to pull off some patch contests and before i start something, i'd like to inquire what potential participants prefer in terms of rules and the like. what i cuurently have in mind is something like:

-define a patch category (say Animated Pads, for the 1st, for example)
-participants may submit 1-5 patches
-patches are submitted via email to me
-when the voting begins, the patches will be published here in the forum
-voters may vote for their top 3 patches, #1 gets 3 points, #2 gets 2, points, #3 gets 1 points
-points for all patches are added up per author
-author with the highest score wins a free license for straightliner (or, alternatively, echolab, if preferred)
-authors give permission that their patches may be freely distributed/used/modified etc. without restriction
-submission deadline will be 1 month after start (or is this too long?)
-voting deadline will be one week after the voting begins (or is this too short?)

...as said - this is only my first idea. feel free to make wild suggestions.

[V'ger]

I'm in. If nothing else a good learning exercise.

Format sounds good to me, just make it mandatory to vote for the top 3 patches and not just 1 to 3.

Then add some of the lines we use in the One-Synth-Challenge (some taken from the Music Cafe's monthlies):

1. You must participate in voting to win prizes

2. In the case of equal scores after voting, they will be separated by how many 3pts they got, then 2pts and so on

3. No voting for yourself. Voters must have had 20 prior forum posts or participated in that month's contest