The Write Contest

The Write Contest and Community is a website designed to hold space for and encourage creative expression.

They offer online contests for individuals to grow and challenge themselves. All entries are anonymous to their judges so even the most nervous ‘I’m not a real writer’ writer can step into new possibilities and challenge themselves.

They also offer tips on craft, education, q&a with professionals in the field, and an online community environment to share work and get feedback.

Their purpose is to provide a safe foundation for curiosity to grow and develop within ourselves, our community and in our world. They want to support individuals to push through their boundaries and urge them to lean into the many challenges of being a human in this crazy wonderful world.

Project Scope

• Custom WordPress Website Rebuild
• Integration of AwardForce
• Integration of PeepSo social community
• Ongoing Maintenance

The Process

Tawyna had an existing WordPress website but it had a lot of limitations to it.  I essentially took their existing branding, look and feel and developed a new version of the website, without the layout limitations.

The website needed to include the option for visitors to create a user profile to register for contests as well as participate in a Facebook style social community.  As there currently is no system that handles both, I had to utilize separate systems and attempt to find a way to allow for a single sign on for both, for ease of use.  Although I solved this to an extent, the solution is not 100% ideal.  I was able to make it so that when people register for the social profile, they can then access the contest system with the same user/pass.  The issue that remains however, is if the user changes their password in either system it no longer allows for seamless login into both.

After running several contests through this system, the customer has determined that the current contest system is not going to work out.  So we will be looking at switching over to a different system, Submittable, later in the year.  The hope is that system will allow for the streamlined login process.