Writing.Com 101

Custom Merit Badges and Awardicons

Don't see a merit badge   or awardicon   in our shops that represent exactly what you need? Wish you had one for your group or contest? All you need is 500,000 Gift Points, and Writing.Com will design one that fits your purpose! 1

SURVEY

Commission a Custom Merit Badge  (E) Order a custom merit badge from the StoryMistress for the community, yourself, or a group! #1976223 by The StoryMistress

SURVEY

Commission a Custom Awardicon  (E) Order a custom Awardicon from the StoryMistress for the community, yourself or a group! #2228609 by The StoryMistress

CUSTOM MERIT BADGES

Contest and Group Badges: How does it work?
Let's say you run a contest or own a group and you would really love to have a merit badge to represent it. Submit 500,000 Gift Points ($50), along with a few details to let me know what you're looking for, and I will do my best to design a merit badge that portrays that.* If your contest or group has a specific logo, submit it so that I can see its details and work directly from that. If you don't have anything specific in mind, I will do my best to create a unique merit badge to represent your group!**

You can choose to make it publicly available for the entire community to hand out or reserve it to be awarded only by your group members.

NOTE: If you would like a merit badge that only you can hand out for various reasons, create a private or public group with only you as the member and use that for your submission. It does not have to have lots of details, images, or purpose... it is simply used for the group item ID so that we can assign your new badge to you and you alone!

What if I don't have a group but really want a new general or genre merit badge?
If you would like a new merit badge that would be placed in the general or genre category within our shop and available to the entire community, just submit your 500,000 Gift Points, along with the "title" that you'd like to see there,* and I will do my best to design something perfect to fit that!** PS... Writing.Com does reserve the right to deny inclusion in our general community sections of the shop. If we feel the title or topic is not something that we feel fits the general or genre categories, we would simply have you create a group and use the ID for the merit badge instead. We will discuss your ideas, so don't hesitate to bring them!

Contest/Group Badges: How does it work?
Let's say you own a group or are running a contest and you would really love to have a merit badge to represent it. Submit 500,000 Gift Points ($50), along with a few details to let me know what you're looking for, and I will do my best to design a merit badge that portrays that.* If your contest or group has a specific logo, submit it so that I can see its details and work directly from that. If you don't have anything specific in mind, I will do my best to create a unique merit badge to represent your contest or group!**

You can choose to make it publicly available for the entire community to hand out OR reserve it to be awarded only by your group members.

NOTE: If you would like a merit badge that only you can hand out for various reasons, create a group with only YOU as the member and use that for your submission. Your group doesn't even have to be public or have a real purpose. We just need that group ID to be able to limit it to just you.

What if I don't have a group but really want a new general or genre merit badge?
If you would like a new merit badge that would be placed in the general or genre category within our shop, just submit your 500,000 Gift Points, along with the "title" that you'd like to see there,* and I will do my best to design something perfect to fit that!**

Is the commissioned merit badge free to give out after it is in the shop?
No, the merit badge will still cost 10,000 Gift Points for each virtual badge and 35,000 Gift Points for the physical version of it.

I do not own the group, but would like to surprise the group with a badge.
We think it's great that you want to surprise the group with a badge and encourage gifting like that! We will only create a surprise merit badge for a group/contest IF it matches their logo exactly as displayed on Writing.Com. If you aren't sure and would like to gift the group with a badge, please present your surprise directly to the owner of the group, send him/her 500,000 Gift Points to cover the cost, and he/she can fill out this form.

Where will the badges be displayed in the Writing.Com merit badge shop?
General/Genre badges will be added to the appropriate category and made accessible to the community. Group-specific badges will show up under the Group category and will only be visible to those with the ability to award them.

What happens to a group merit badge if the associated group item: is deleted or the group owner leaves the site or no longer has an Upgraded+ account or while the group item is locked during the grace period?
The group merit badge will no longer be visible in the merit badge shop, and no one will be able to award it. We absolutely recommend that if you do have a contest or group that you would like to have continue to run, perhaps look into making arrangements with other members for that. Involve those members in your contest or group should something happen to you to cause an absence. Items can be transferred to other Writing.Com members easily if you need to take a break for any reason and need someone to take over for you to continue the merit badges existence in the shop.

What happens to a group merit badge if the group item is transferred to someone else?
As long as the group is still active on Writing.Com, the merit badge attached to it will also stay active in our shop.

CUSTOM AWARDICONS

Group Awardicons: How does it work?
Let's say you run a contest or own a group and you would really love to have an awardicon to represent it. Submit 500,000* Gift Points ($50), along with a few details to let me know what you're looking for, and I will do my best to design a set of custom awardicons that portrays that.** If your contest or group has a specific logo, submit it so that I can see its details and work directly from that. If you don't have anything specific in mind, I will do my best to create a unique merit badge to represent your group!**

You can choose to make your new awardicons publicly available for the entire community to hand out OR reserve them to be awarded only by you or your group members.

NOTE: If you would like an awardicon that only you can hand out for various reasons, create a private or public group with only you as the member and use that for your submission. This group does not have to have lots of details, images, or even a purpose... it is simply used for the group item ID so that we can assign your new awardicons to you and you alone!

Each commissioned awardicon order comes with:
          A custom designed coordinated set of three: one ribbon, one medal, and one plaque
          After completion, the group will have their custom ribbon awarded to it. Or if an awardicon was commissioned for the community, the ribbon will appear on their portfolio. (If you would like the medal or plaque awarded instead, you will just pay the difference in Gift Points. Please see the form below.)
          A physical version of the awardicon will be mailed to the member who commissioned it by snail mail.

What if I don't have a group but really want a certain genre/themed set of awardicons?
If you would like a new awardicon set that would be placed within our shop for the community, just submit your 500,000 Gift Points, along with the theme that you'd like to see there,* and I will do my best to design something perfect to fit that!*** We will make it available for the entire community to reward to each other.

Is the commissioned awardicon free to give out after it is in the shop?
No, the awardicon will still cost the applicable amount of Gift Points for each virtual one plus 35,000 Gift Points for the physical version of it, if you choose to send it out.

I do not own the group, but would like to surprise someone's group with an awardicon.
We think it's great that you want to surprise the group with an awardicon and encourage gifting like that. We will only create a surprise awardicon for a group/contest IF it matches their logo exactly as displayed on Writing.Com. If you aren't sure and would like to gift the group with a custom awardicon set, please present your surprise directly to the owner of the group, send him/her 500,000 Gift Points to cover the cost, and he/she can fill out this form.

Where will the awardicons be displayed in the Writing.Com awardicon shop?
Awardicons will be added to the appropriate section within the shop and made accessible to the community. Group-specific awardicons will show up and be visible ONLY to those with the ability to award them.

What happens to a group awardicon if the associated group item: is deleted or the group owner leaves the site or no longer has an Upgraded+ account or while the group item is locked during the grace period?
The group awardicon will no longer be visible in the awardicon shop, and no one will be able to award it. We absolutely recommend that if you do have a contest or group that you would like to have continue to run, perhaps look into making arrangements with other members for that. Involve those members in your contest or group should something happen to you to cause an absence. Items can be transferred to other Writing.Com members easily if you need to take a break for any reason and need someone to take over for you to continue the awardicons' existence in the shop.

What happens to a group awardicon if the group item is transferred to someone else?
As long as the group is still active on Writing.Com, the awardicon attached to it will also stay active in our shop.


Recommended Reading

1. Merit Badges and Achievements
2. AwardIcons
3. Community Recognition

Footnotes
1  Written by The StoryMistress