mmandy
Every Friday we feature our favorite topics page right on the front page of Cracked next to DOB's column. All you have to do is complete a page and you're in the running for the $50 prize.
What is the Cracked.com Topics Page Contest?
Well, here's an example of a fully fleshed out topics page: Steven Seagal
Here's an example of the bare minimum: David Caruso
Both of those articles are perfectly acceptable Topics Pages, and in fact are our two most popular pages. This started as a sort of a Cracked Wikipedia project, but the idea has expanded to shorter, quick hitting pages.
The minimum we require is that your page have at least 1 image that sums up the topic, 3 facts (humorous observations in bullet point form), 1 link to something about the subject and a summary paragraph. We're still in Beta right now, but we've instituted a weekly contest that you can read about here.
What's required?
Update your page within 7 days and let us know when you're done.
It makes it much easier for us to communicate with you (and for you to communicate with us) if you make a thread about your topic page here.
To be considered for the contest, your page will need to have the following things:
Summary Paragraph:
Going forward, we're going to ask you to provide a 1-2 sentence, humorous summary of your topic. This is your best humorous observation about your subject, delivered right off the bat. It should be an easy way to convey your perspective quickly and efficiently. A lot of times it's helpful to have your summary sentence lead in to ...
An Image/Series of Images That Sum Up Your Topic:
As you may have noticed, we've tended to feature topics pages on the front page that have some sort of funny image that gives a unique/humorous take on the topic (like this one on vampires). These don't need to be incredibly involved. If you just want to caption an image with a funny bit of dialogue, that's fine. If you want to do a complex flow chart, that's fine too. All we know is a nice summary image at the top makes people WAY more willing to read it, and we're making that the format now.
If you want to win the contest, you should have at least one original (humorous) image for this part. It can be a graph, a flowchart, a diagram, or something else. The ideal leading image is a funny picture that catches the audience's attention and tells them what they need to know about your topic. If you need help with this part, look in here.
Just the Facts:
A couple of basic points about your topic. There's a character limit for this section, so don't go too crazy here or you'll get cut off. Keep it brief, but informative (or not).
Content:
Again, doesn't need to be too involved, can be a paragraph or two. When putting your page together, we want you to be thinking "definitive" instead of "comprehensive." We'll let Wikipedia be the place for dry summaries of every known fact on that topic. We want your pages to be the final word on your topic, not a compilation of everything you know about it.
Links:
Give us at least one link off to some page that people might find interesting/funny. This can be a Cracked article on the subject, a YouTube video, anything that you want people to see.
Also, choose at least 3 "related topics". Even if there's not a topics page specifically related to your topic, pick a few of your favorites. You can find the infrequently-updated list of all published topics here.
You'll have 7 days to have at least rough drafts up for those sections. If you don't have anything for one of those sections, your topic will go back in the Up for Grabs thread. We're putting a time limit in place because there are at least 30 pages that have been left blank for months. This isn't fair to people who actually have ideas for content on those subjects. We've also noticed that in the writer's workshop, folks who execute an approved pitch within 1 week tend to end up with the best articles. You guys work best under deadline, so we're putting one in place.
UPDATE: New, Improved, Automated System
The new and improved Topics Page section has been launched. You no longer have to request pages here, or at all. All you have to do is go to our Topics Page index page here, and either pick up topics from the Most Wanted list, or search the topic you want in the search box and follow the prompts.
Three other things that have changed, or become automated:
1. You can own only one unpublished topics page at a time.
2. Once you become the owner of a topic, you have 7 days to complete and publish it. If you do not meet the requirements and publish the page, it will become available for other editors to claim.
3. We understand that sometimes you may need a little more time. If you'd like to give yourself a second chance, you are allowed to become the editor of the same topic but the deadline will be 3 days. If you do not publish it within 3 days, you will not be able to be the editor of the topic again. Ever.
One note for people with pending pages: Through our manual process, we have allowed users to own more than one page. If these users try to adopt or create another page, they will have to give up all of their pending pages.
Up For Grabs
While you can suggest any topic you like, the following is a list of terms we suggest:
| Angelina Jolie | So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 |
| David Cook | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen |
| Boy Bands | Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince |
| Carmen Electra | American Idol |
| 2009 NBA Finals | N'Sync |
| Will Smith | LA Lakers |
| Ali Larter | Denver Nuggets |
| Orlando Magic | Beyonce |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | Snickers |
| Milky Way | Football |
| Frankie Manning | Government Grants |
| M&M's | Jessica Alba |
| Mia Farrow | Spike Lee |
| Justin Timberlake | Zack Galifianakis |
| Mike Tyson | The First Puppy |
| Nascar | Full Body Airline Scanners |
| Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon | X-Men: Wolverine |
| World Health Organization | Kermit the Frog |
| Cyndi Lauper | Mickey Mouse |
| Queen Latifah | Itchy & Scratchy |
| American Idol Judges | Fergie's Wedding |
| Dana White | Ray Allen |
| PC Gaming | Macgyver |
| Arrested Development | Batman |
| Coupling | Music Videos |
| Red Dwarf | Computer Security |
| Sports | Dogs |
| Comic Books | Legal Issues |
| Tivo | Sony PS3 |
| They Might Be Giants | Penn & Teller |
| TV | Cricket |
| Watchmen | Red Bull |
| JFK Conspiracy | Sean Connery |
| Root of All Evil | Ren & Stimpy Show |
| Giraffes | Steve McQueen |
| Prince | World War II |
| Mormons | US Presidents |
| Boy Scouts of America | Early Christianity |
| Pirates | John Kennedy Toole |
| New Orleans | 2010 World Cup |
| Religions | Heath Ledger |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | The Joker |
| Blue Oyster Cult | Guns N' Roses |
| Archaeology | Vancouver |
| Sienfeld | Grunge |
| Bill O'Reilly | Batman with Adam West |
| Oprah Winfrey | Lacrosse |
| Great Explosions | Mike Patton |
| Movie Reboots | Australia |
| Disney Movies | Weird Science |
| Punk Rock | Unsolved Mysteries |
| Dodgeball | |
| Marijuana | Ryan Seacrest |
| Penny Arcade | Swine Flu |
| Pixar | Sam Peckinpah |
| Wes Anderson | B Movies |
| 2009 NFL Draft | Warhammer |
| Don Cheadle | EVE Online |
| Scammers | Ghostbusters |
19 Comments
Load Comments