Welcome to HPFT's July's bulletin, where you can find all of our major monthly announcements, information about our house cup finale, and more!

If you're new, welcome to HPFT! It's awesome to have you with us. HPFanficTalk is a forum/archive - the forum is Harry Potter-themed (including a year-long house cup), but we talk about other fandoms, too, and the archive is multi-fandom/OF.   We have a strong culture of support for other writers and feedback here, including a story help section, challenges, and reviewing events, so if you're a writer, you've come to the right place.

A quick rundown to help you get started here on the forums: please post in the 'Welcome to HPFT' topic +here to say that you've read over the rules and understand them. You can specify your house in that post or in our sorting ceremony +here - once you do, we'll sort you into the right group so you can see a common room that only people in your house are allowed to see. You're welcome to post in your common room and/or in our introductions forum +here to introduce yourself if you'd like, and you may also find our +FAQs helpful.

Enjoy your stay! 

We are sad to announce that @facingthenorthwind will be stepping down as a Prefect. She's done a lot for Ravenclaw and for the site as a whole as Prefect and we've been lucky to have her! Best of luck and thank you for all you've done, Emma!

Do you want to help out behind the scenes? If so, you're in luck! Applications for all staff, prefect, and house newsletter editor positions are open for the next week. There's no post count/join date limit, and you can apply for as many positions as you like - it's all on one application. A detailed rundown on how HPFT staffing works can be found +here, and you can find the application +here. If you're interested, please apply by Midnight EST on July 10th.

If you applied in May or June, you don't need to apply again unless you'd like to apply for additional positions or change your answers - we will still consider you this month. 

Now that the collab has finished and the points have been announced +here, the end-of-the-year event is now well underway. In addition to that, the Crazies Café has been opened yet again for JulNo +here, so feel free to stop by!

Our first Head Student this month has been a member for quite a while now, and has been a constant presence on the site. As of late, however, she jumped straight into everything, to being a rockstar with all things HC, has been massively active within her Common Room and is just spreading love all around the site. So it's only natural that we award the first award of this month to...

@just.a.willow.tree!

Our second Head Student of the month has been super active on the forums and has been a constant presence in her common room as well. She's been active on the archive, been opening new topics and kept things going when they would otherwise just die out, so it's with pleasure that we award the second Head Student award of the month to...

@you-make-me-wander!

Congratulations to both of you - we love having you in our community! Please PM  @abhorsen. with your choice of story you'd like to have featured next month!

This month we'd like to recognize... 

@Veritaserum27 with the Order of Merlin! Beth is an amazing staffer who has been with the site for a very long time, and who has been a part of the team as HPFT was morphed into the site we know today. She is always very friendly and is awesome to chat with. Make sure to thank Beth for all of her dedication to the site the next time you see her!

July's Story of the Month is:

All The Waves Resounded by @BookDinosaur!

Quote

When he kisses her, she feels as though she could crumble, but the truth of the matter is that he is not her Perseus; perhaps there is no Perseus in this telling of the story.

As the First Wizarding War rages around her, Andromeda Black turns traitor.

We're featuring winners from our house cup competitions, sitewide and house awards, and two staff picks (Hey, Rajwa & Unexploded Bombs).

Congratulations, @Aphoride, @Diogenissa, @facingthenorthwind, @Felpata_Lupin, @KJ Cartmell, @nott theodore, @Oregonian, @poppunkpadfoot, @Renacerá, @sibilant, and @teh tarik!

July 5 - The Spinoff Challenge by @crestwood

July 6 - The Queer Your Faves Challenge by @Queer in Knitted Things

July 10 - The Shaking Up Shakespeare Challenge by @nott theodore

July 31 - The Make Me Like Sirius Black Challenge by @Noelle Zingarella

July 31 - The Play With Your Food Challenge by @TreacleTart

August 30 - The "To The Village Voice" Challenge by @Lacey Black

September 21 - The Feminism Is For Everyone Challenge by @Chemical_Pixie

October 1 - The Fan Non-Fiction Challenge by @potionspartner

October 31 - The Evil Incorporated Challenge by @something wicked

3 - @galadriel

4 - @Mistress

5 - @AnnaKay

6 - @juls

7 @aelaia

10 - @BellaLestrange87

11 - @Kalkay; @Lacey Black; @Selene

13 - @ForbiddenBeauty

19 - @WitnesstoitAll

20 - @Illuminate; @Oldershouldknowbetter

23 - @Shay_Gryff

24 - @Enora Gray; @Felpata_Lupin

27 - @LooneyLizzie

31 - @LadyL8

 

Bulletin written and/or compiled by @Ineke and @abhorsen.. Order of Merlin written by @Rumpelstiltskin.  All graphics by @abhorsen.. Featured staff picks by @Unwritten Curse (Unexploded Bombs) and @Rumpelstiltskin (The Dangers of Black Cats).