Crowdfunding: Connecting Creators and Patrons

We've reached the end of scheduled themes for the Poetry Fishbowl project. It's time to brainstorm some new themes! If you have ideas, comment under the theme call post in my blog.

Welcome to the official landing page for the 2026 Rose and Bay Award, honoring excellence in cyberfunded creativity, aka crowdfunding. This page gathers together important information about the award, its functions, and its participants. You can also revisit the 2025 landing page, 2024 Landing Page, 2023 Landing Page, 2022 Landing Page, 2021 Landing Page, 2020 Landing Page, 2019 Landing Page, 2018 Landing Page, 2017 Landing Page, 2016 Landing Page, 2015 Landing Page, 2014 Landing Page, 2013 Landing Page, 2012 Landing Page, 2011 Landing Page, and 2010 Landing Page.


What Is the Rose and Bay Award?

The Rose and Bay Award was launched by ysabetwordsmith (Elizabeth Barrette) in January 2009, and quickly gained additional volunteers. This award focuses on a growing business model known as "crowdfunding" or "cyberfunded creativity," which directly connects creative people and patrons of the arts online. This award recognizes exemplary projects and enthusiastic patrons. It currently features six categories: Art, Fiction, Poetry, Webcomic, Other Project, and Patron. (Other Project includes any cyberfunded creativity that isn't art, fiction, poetry, or webcomic -- or that spans more than one category -- such as movies, music, etc.)

The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.

These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:

Art: gs_silva Nominate art! Vote for art!
Fiction: fuzzyred Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction!
Poetry: gs_silva Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry!
Webcomic: curiosity Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics!
Other Project: curiosity Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects!
Patron: fuzzyred Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons!

These are the winners for the 2026 award season:

Art:
Fiction:
Poetry:
Webcomic:
Other Project:
Patron:

There are also images for promoting the Rose & Bay Award. These include icons, buttons, and banners.

These are the winners for the 2025 award season:

Art: "Anubis & Bastet ☆ Pharaoh's Guardians ☆ Plush" by Kayla AKA
Fiction: "Feathering the Nest" by dialecticdreamer.
Poetry: TIE between "The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters - A Sci-Fi Anthology" by Thinking Ink Press and "The Haiku Foundation" by The Haiku Foundation
Webcomic: "Bronwyn: Short Story Collection" by Isaac George
Other Project: "The Mending Circle" by Martin Nerurkar
Patron: mama_kestrel for "Magpie Monday" by dialecticdreamer

Handling a category entails the following responsibilities:

1) Posting the "nomination" post for that category, on or near January 1. See examples from 2025.

2) Watching the nominations as they appear in comments. Make sure nominations are complete and nominees are eligible. Prod people to fill in missing details. Ask people to move misfiled nominations to a different category. Post an outside nomination for someone if they can't get their comment to post for some reason. Quash any arguments that may arise. If there are issues over how something should be filed, etc. then talk that over with ysabetwordsmith and we'll figure it out. Handlers are also welcome to post updates or nudges to boost participation.

3) Posting the "voting" post on or near February 1. See examples from 2025. Set the voting poll to non-transparent. Voting will be popular (with checkboxes) rather than singular (with radio buttons) so that voters can indicate all the projects they like within a given category.

4) Similar oversight as for the nomination post. Just keep an eye on the voting post.

5) On or near March 1, tally the votes for your category and announce the winner. Here is an example from 2013. The winners from 2025 were announced in a single post.


Award Rules

1) In order for a project to be nominated in the Art, Fiction, Poetry, Webcomic, or Other Project categories:

• It must be "cyberfunded creativity" aka "crowdfunding." That means it must be creative material marketed directly to an audience online, with money involved somehow. There are many variations of this business model; all are welcome; and if you're not sure a project qualifies, you may ask. See "5 Steps to Crowdfunding Success" for a discussion of key features that identify a crowdfunded project.

• At least part of the project must be visible online without charge. If the project is normally visible only to paying subscribers or the like, and the creator wishes for it to be eligible, then s/he may offer temporary or partial access for voting purposes. (If the available material is temporary and/or partial, it needs to say that at the top of the screen, to avoid annoying visitors who might otherwise think they're about to see a complete and permanent piece.)

• Duplicate nominations of the same project by different people are not allowed. If someone nominates a project which has already been nominated, they will be notified and asked to make another selection. This maximizes the number of projects which may be submitted for the Rose & Bay Awards.

2) In order for a person to be nominated in the Patron category,

• The person must have made a financial contribution to a creative project. This distinguishes patrons of the arts from the general audience. However, money is not the only consideration: Patrons may also be admired for their feedback, word of mouth promotion, suggested improvements to crowdfunding models, taste in items sponsored, etc. -- and these are good ways to choose between patrons if you're not sure which to pick.

• The receiving project must qualify as "cyberfunded creativity" aka "crowdfunding." That means it must be creative material marketed directly to an audience online, with money involved somehow. There are many variations of this business model; all are welcome; and if you're not sure a project qualifies, you may ask. See "5 Steps to Crowdfunding Success" for a discussion of key features that identify a crowdfunded project.

• For the Patron category only, duplicate nominations will be accepted/encouraged. The same patron can be nominated by multiple creators and/or by the same creator for multiple projects. This has two benefits. Links are included to each project on the nomination comment. Voters may follow those links and find new projects to enjoy. Also, the information that a patron has supported multiple creators/projects might prove useful for undecided voters.

3) A project or person which wins one year is not eligible in the same category for the next year. After that, it is eligible again. The 2025 winners are therefore not eligible for the 2026 award season. These are the winners for the 2025 award season:

Art: "Anubis & Bastet ☆ Pharaoh's Guardians ☆ Plush" by Kayla AKA
Fiction: "Feathering the Nest" by dialecticdreamer.
Poetry: TIE between "The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters - A Sci-Fi Anthology" by Thinking Ink Press and "The Haiku Foundation" by The Haiku Foundation
Webcomic: "Bronwyn: Short Story Collection" by Isaac George
Other Project: "The Mending Circle" by Martin Nerurkar
Patron: mama_kestrel for "Magpie Monday" by dialecticdreamer

4) This award will go by calendar years. So in order to be eligible for the 2026 award season, a project or patron must have been active on or between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025.

5) For the 2026 season, nominations will be made in comments to each category's nomination post (beginning in January). A nomination consists of the project title, creator name, award category, a link to the project page, and a summary. The summary should include several sentences describing the project's content (theme, characters, plot, etc.), presentation (media, frequency, etc.), and crowdfunding approach (money handling, audience interaction, etc.). Example:

Project Title: "Awesome Content"
Creator Name: A.J. Muse
Link: http://awe.some.content.com
Category: Other Project
Summary: "Awesome Content" is a story about A.J. Muse's three ferrets, told in a combination of music and fiction, illustrated by photos. It is funded by donations and photo sales. Updates twice weekly on Music Mondays and Fiction Fridays.

6) You may nominate a maximum of three projects per category. You are not required to make that many nominations or to cover all the categories. Please make each nomination in a separate comment; that way, if a problem occurs with one nomination it will not affect any others. You may NOT nominate your own project, nor yourself as patron.

7) Nominations for each category will be collected by the handler of that category. (See list of handlers above.)

8) Participation is voluntary. If a creator wishes to withdraw their project from any category, or a patron wishes to withdraw from the Patron category, simply contact the category handler. In case of withdrawal, the person who made the withdrawn nomination may then nominate another project or patron instead.

9) Voters are strongly encouraged to browse the nominees before making a final decision; that's what the links are for, and the purpose of this award is to promote the splendor of crowdfunded projects. If you don't have time to explore widely or you already have a firm favorite, that's okay too.

10) Voting will take place via Dreamwidth polling in the crowdfunding community, open to all. Polling is by popular vote, with checkboxes; you may vote for all of the projects in a category that you admire. (There may need to be more than one poll question per category, and radio button runoffs, if the number of nominees is high. DW has a limit to how many options there can be per question in a poll.) You ARE allowed to vote for your own project, or for yourself as a patron.

11) Winners will be announced after the polling is completed.

2026 Winners

To be announced in March 2026.


Special Thanks To ...

The following people have volunteered their ideas, time, services, goods, and other resources to make the 2026 Rose and Bay Award successful. Please give them a round of applause.

Continued thanks to haikujaguar for the original logo art, and karen_wehrstein for the earlier nominee badges as well as the general icon, button, and banner designs.


How You Can Help

Rose and Bay depends on everyone's participation and enthusiasm to make it a success. Here are some ways you can help that happen:

• Make some nominations in January . Leave yours in a comment to "nomination open" post of the appropriate category. (See list above.)

• Mark the voting period on your calendar. Make sure you come back to crowdfunding in February to place your votes.

• Promote the Rose and Bay Award by blogging about it, emailing your friends, posting it on social networks, or any other method you can imagine. Everyone is encouraged to spread the word as far as possible whether you are a creator of crowdfunded projects, a patron of the arts, or a curious onlooker. You may link to this landing page, and/or the "nomination open" posts for individual categories when those appear in January.

• If you're a patron or audience member, highlight your favorite cyberfunded projects from 2024 and direct people back to the award. You may link to this landing page and/or the "nomination open" posts for individual categories when those appear in January. Are you following other patrons whose tastes match your own to see what they sponsor or recommend? Mention them too! This makes it easier for people to find eligible nominees.

• If you're a creative person, let your audience and patrons know which of your projects are eligible for the Rose and Bay Award, including a link to the relevant nomination page(s). You may link to this landing page and/or the "nomination open" posts for individual categories when those appear in January. Do you have an "honor wall" or other place acknowledging your patrons? Mention that too! Let your fans know there is a way for them to honor your project and the patrons who make it possible. Have you been running a creative project this year, but not involved money yet? You still have time to make it crowdfunded by putting out a tip jar or any other monetizing option. Finally, make sure that your project is readily identifiable as cyberfunded creativity; see the article "5 Steps to Crowdfunding Success" for suggestions.

• If you're not a member of the Dreamwidth community crowdfunding yet, consider joining. We welcome new members who are patrons of the arts, producers of crowdfunded projects, or curious onlookers. This is a good place to network and find out what's happening in the wonderful world of cyberfunded creativity.

• Add "crowdfunding," "cyberfunded creativity," and/or "weblit" to your Interests. This makes it easier for creative people and potential fans to find each other.

• Place an appropriate image on your website; there are general ones for promoting the Rose and Bay Awards.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Welcome to the 149th Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, November 15-Sunday, November 16. The theme is "Love & Sacrifice."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

Welcome to the 148th Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, October 18-Sunday, October 19. The theme is "Knowledge vs. Ignorance."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

Welcome to the 147th Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, September 20-Sunday, September 21. The theme is "Journalism."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

Welcome to the 146th Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, August 16-Sunday, August 17. The theme is "Inner vs. Outer Strength."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

Welcome to the 145th Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, July 19-Sunday, July 20. The theme is "Heroism -- Real and Perceived."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.