Amplificathon (challenge)

Amplificathon was an iconic annual multifandom podfic challenge which ran from 2008 to 2016, in the Spring months. It aimed at increasing the diversity of available podfic. Podficcers competed over six weeks to two months to earn points by posting podfics, with an advantage given to stories in rare or previously-unpodficced fandoms and/or featuring rare or previously-unpodficced pairings. 
All entries were archived at the Audiofic podfic archive.
A LiveJournal community, also called Amplificathon, was created to host the challenge. The community then became a general podfic community, active even when the challenge wasn't running. A Dreamwidth mirror community eventually became the main home of the challenge. 
As a result of the Audiofic Archive's ongoing technical difficulties, no challenge was held in 2017comment by kalakirya in a post by code_switch (archived), 14 March 2017., or indeed since. However, the challenge left an impression on early podfic fandom participants, and lives on in spirit through other podfic events. 
==Challenge Features==
===Rules===
Unlike most ficathons, Amplificathon was set up as a competition, with extra points awarded for recording podfics from fandoms, or for pairings, not previously represented in the Audiofic Archive. Participants would post as many previously un-posted podfics as possible during the challenge. 
Initial rules stated that each podfic would receive 5 points, plus extra points for new podficcers, plus fandom and pairing points according to whether or not they were "well-archived," "less-represented," or "unrepresented" (for calculating points, gen was counted as a pairing). 
In 2009, a "length multiplier" was added based on podfic length. In 2010, a "non-English language bonus" for recording in languages other than English was added.
These rules led to a situation in whch many fandoms ended up only having one podfic -- a fan would make one podfic in one round just to get the extra points, but then nobody would ever record for that fandom again because it was "represented" on the archive:
To remedy this, in 2015, the new modding team brought new rules and the threshold for "represented" fandoms on the archive was changed from one podfic to 20. Points for being a new podficcer were also removed. These new rules were discussed on the sixth episode of Auralphonic.
Rules remained the same in the final edition in 2016. 
===Strategies===
Amplificathon brought out the competitive side of many podficcers. 
Some strategic players would prepare bookmarks of suitable stories, or even "stock-pile" finished podfic all year round, ready to post as soon as the challenge opened. "Podfic robots" were simply able to record and post enormous amounts of podfic over a short period of time. 
This level of strategic planning was not always loved by all, as this 2015 discussion between reena_jenkins and opalsong suggests: 
===Prizes===
Prize banners and podfics for the Grand Prize winner and two runner-ups were provided by volunteer podficcers and fan artists. 
Other special prizes were awarded for remarkable achievements during Amplificathon, such as: 
* The "Intrepid Award" for the participant who posted the first podfic of the challenge
* The "GMT-11 Award" for the participant who posted the last podfic of the challenge 
* The "Blipvert Award" for the shortest podfic
* The "Lindworm Award" for the longest podfic
* The "Ampliplanet Award" for the participant who posted the most non-English podfic
* The "Supersampler Award" for the person who podficced the most new-to-the-archive fandoms
* The "Whiskey and Lemon Award" for the person who posted the most total hours
The winnner(s) also got bragging rights, and years later, "X was an amplificathon winner" still gets mentioned with respect by those who were around to witness the feat: 
There were also participant banners and icons. 
In the earlier years, some podfic collections were also produced, gathering examples of podfics in the new fandoms that had been archived.The New Fandom Collection - Amplificathon 2011 archived on the Audiofic Archive July 7, 2012
===Impact & Legacy===
The competition format proved to be a resounding success. Participation varied from 34 to 81 participants (2011), generally hovering around 50, with a core group of podficcers who made it a point to return each year. 
In 2008, the first edition added six hundred new podfics to the archive, as well as a hundred and five previously unrepresented fandoms and an uncountable number of new pairings.podmod, Amplificathon 2008 summary post Posted June 11, 2008. Last accessed November 19, 2008. Without fail, Amplificathon time resulted in a spike in podfic posting to the community, as well as cross-posting to podficcers' individual spaces. 
File:Amplificathon posting graph.png|Posting rates at the LiveJournal Amplificathon community
File:New podfic by month - justaphage.jpg|Podfic posting rates on AO3
The challenge resulted in the creation of many podfics featuring uncommon-to-outlandish crossovers, as many podficcers sought out short fic with as many small fandoms or rarepairs as possible in order to maximize their points. Crossover lovers were overjoyed: 
Others were less enthusiastic, as longer podfics and podfics in more popular fandoms took a backseat to less popular ones for more than a month at a time: 
Two 2012 tweets by fic writer thingswithwings also underline this ambivalence: 
The demise of Amplificathon left a void in many podficcers' hearts. Creating a new Amplificathon-like challenge was a frequent topic of discussion, eventually leading to the creation of Voiceteam in 2020, whose introductory post stated: "We wanted a point-based podfic event like Amplificathon used to be."Voiceteam 2020 Info Post on Tumblr, April 23 2020.
==Rounds==
 Amplificathon Rounds
Year	Dates 	Mods 	Participants	Winner(s) 	Comments
2008	April 7 to June 2 	general jinjur, Raz0r.girl, anatsuno 	42 	twasadark, followed by leviticus lied and jadesfire2808 	Points based on: number of podfics, rarity of fandom/pairing, status of reader. Added 105 new fandoms & 600 podfics to the archive.
2009	March 30 to June 1 	general jinjur, Raz0r.girl, anatsuno 	34 	sly hostetter, followed by rhea314 and luzulaPodmod on March 28th 2009 (later edited to add standings): points & standings 2009. Accessed August 22nd 2009. 	Length multiplier added; posting of podfic in languages other than English was specifically encouraged by general_jinjur (but did not grant extra points). 468 new podfics added to the archive.long-delayed but finally here: the final tally! \o/ posted to livejournal June 24, 2009
2010	March 30 to June 7 	general jinjur, Raz0r.girl, anatsuno 	75 	2naonh3 cl2, luzula, and lunchy munchy (June 1); twilight angel, lunchy_munchy, and 2naonh3_cl2 (June 7)The initial June 1 deadline had to be extended by a week after the mods got swamped, resulting in two sets of winners. \o/ \o/ \o/ AMPLIFICATHON 2010 VICTORY DANCE!!! by podmod, posted 2010-06-18 on amplificathon.livejournal.com	Non-English language/unrepresented language bonuses added. 4 participants posted 25+ hours each; podfics in Norwegian, Swedish and Gaelic were added to the archive.amplificathon '10 update!, posted to the livejournal comm, May 4, 2010
2011	April 4 to June 20 	general jinjur, Raz0r.girl, anatsuno 	81 	reena jenkins, followed by diane mckay and via ostiense. 	
2012	March 15 to April 30	Aphelant, Were duck, Cybel 	57 	tinypinkmouse, followed by reena jenkins and rhea314 	For the first time, the challenge ran only from the Dreamwidth community.
2013	March 15 to April 30	Aphelant, were duck, general jinjur 	55 	reena jenkins, followed by kalakirya and exmanhater 	
2014	March 15 to April 30	Aphelant, were duck, general jinjur 	59 	reena jenkins, followed by fresne and litra 	
2015	March 15 to April 30	kalakirya, jesperanda 	46 	tinypinkmouse, followed byrscreighton and reena_jenkins 	48 new fandoms and 570 podfic were added to the archive.podmod. 2015 Amplificathon Awards, posted to the dreamwidth comm 24 May 2015.
2016	March 15 to April 30	kalakirya, idella, rscreightonAmplificathon 2016 FAQ, posted to the dreamwidth comm, March 15, 2016	50 	blackglass, followed by kess and tinypinkmouseAmplificathon 2016 Prize Post, posted to the dreamwidth comm, May 17, 2016 	
==Popular Fandoms==
The purpose of Amplificathon was to encourage fans to make podfics for fandoms and pairings that didn't already have a lot of podfic on the Audiofic Archive. Thus, podficcers would get more points for submitting podfics that weren't on the list of "popular" fandoms. How the popular fandoms were determined was adjusted several times since the first year of the challenge, and in the meantime several new fandoms started and became popular.
For the first four years, the three fandoms with the most podfics in the archive were identified as the "giant" fandoms.The top fandoms on the archive each year can be an indicator of which fandoms are currently popular that year overall, but due to the small size of podfic fandom, results can be skewed by the interests of a few particularly prolific podficcers, who in turn may entice more people from that fandom into podficcing. Supernatural, SGA, and Merlin were all Fandoms That Ate Fandom and were still on the air. due South was a moderately large fandom whose show had ended in 1998, but when the archive opened in 2006, dS still had an active fandom on LiveJournal, possibly due to the mid-2000s DVD releases. Early podficcers like Zabira may also have had an impact, introducing dS fans to podfic and/or introducing podficcers to dS. Harry Potter was a huge fandom in the 2000s, but apparently not among podficcers, who didn't start making serious inroads on the back catalog of fic until more recently. 
===2008-2010===
*due South
*Stargate Atlantis
*Supernatural
===2011-2012===
*Stargate Atlantis
*Supernatural 
*Merlin
===2013===
In 2013, the number of "giant" fandoms was expanded to fiveamplificathon 2013: calculating points, archived, posted to the Dreamwidth community 8 March 2013. (Accessed 8 March 2013): 
*Supernatural & Supernatural RPF
*Stargate Atlantis
*Merlin
*Harry Potter
*My Chemical Romance
===2014===
In 2014, giant fandoms were defined as fandoms with over 500 podfics on the archiveamplificathon 2014: fandom/pairing points, archived, posted to the Dreamwidth community 9 March 2014. (Accessed 11 May 2014): 
*Supernatural & Supernatural RPF
*Stargate Atlantis
*Merlin
*Harry Potter
*My Chemical Romance
*The Avengers movie
*Sherlock
*Teen Wolf
===2015===
In 2015, giant fandoms were defined as fandoms with 250 podfics on the archiveamplificathon 2015: calculating points, archived, posted to the Amplificathon dreamwidth comm March 5, 2015.: 
*Supernatural & Supernatural RPF
*Stargate Atlantis
*Merlin
*Harry Potter
*My Chemical Romance
*The Avengers movie
*Sherlock
*Teen Wolf
*due South
*Doctor Who
*American Idol
*Hockey RPF
*Panic! at the Disco
===2016===
In 2016 the giant fandoms were the same but the order had shiftedAmplificathon 2016 Points Page, archived, posted to dreamwidth 5 March 2016.:
*Supernatural 
*Stargate Atlantis
*Sherlock
*Teen Wolf
*Harry Potter
*Supernatural RPF
*The Avengers movie
*Merlin
*My Chemical Romance
*due South
*Doctor Who
*Hockey RPF
*American Idol
*Panic! at the Disco
Note that the archive had an ongoing project to merge mp3 and podbook entries for the same podfic, so entry totals in some fandoms decreased although the true number of podfics increased.
==Notes==
 
==References==
Category:Podfic Challenges
Category: 2008 Challenges
Category:2000s Challenges
Category:2010s Challenges
Category:2022 Featured Articles