Welcome to HPFT's March bulletin, where you can find all of our major monthly announcements, updates on HPFT's yearly FROGS, 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're very happy to announce that @MuggleMaybe will be joining the staff team as our newest Professor and that @FireCrest will be joining both the prefect team and the Hear Ye, Hufflepuff newsletter team!

Would you like to pitch in 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 March 8th.

If you applied in January or February, 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.

FROGS voting will be concluding in the next few days; if you haven't had a chance to get your votes in, make sure you do so before March 5.

Gryffindor:

It's been a fairly calm few weeks in the den! Many of our lions have been busy in our brand new writing thread working on their own fics and motivating their fellow Gryffies. We've got a double tie for Featured Fic and Leading Lion this month! Our featured fics are things left unsaid by @poppunkpadfoot and Year of the Snake by @melian and our Leading Lions are @TreacleTart and @LadyMarauder! Congrats to all our winners! 

Hufflepuff:

February was a great month for the Badgers! We have to start by saying "welcome back" to our fearless 'Puff leader, @LadyL8! Lotte was busy studying abroad, but she's back now, and we're so happy to have her active in the CR again! March's Hufflepuff of the Month is @VaguelyCreativeName! And the Story of the Month is "Sunflowers in December" by @Jo Raskoph! 
'Puffs have a lot of exciting things to look forward to in March, including the return of Team Yellow vs. Team Black, the next round of Review Swaps, and the new Drabble Tag thread! For full details on all 'Puff CR goings-on, read March's Hear Ye, Hufflepuff, out on March 3rd!

Ravenclaw:

It's been a relatively quiet month in Ravenclaw Tower, but with lots of games being played and writing progress being made.  March's Claw of the Month goes to the superb @galadriel who has been an absolute wonder moderating the forums lately!  Our Story of the Month is  breaking character. by @dirigibleplums and is quite the heart-wrenching tale! 

Slytherin:

Slytherin celebrated Valentine's Day with a Secret Snake Gift Exchange,  which went over rather nicely with a lot of love spread around the Dungeons! We've been doing some Snakey group projects with our writing via the new Writing Workshop in the CR and in adding content in the Resources and Information forums. For March, we recognized @Rumpelstiltskin as Slytherin Member of the Month and @starbuck's Nuclear Love as the Slytherin Story of the Month. Great teamwork this month, Snakes! 

Our first Head Student of the Month has been a force to be reckoned with for quite a while now. She goes out of her way for her House and is to be found everywhere on the site in general, working on several things and generally also being one of the driving forces behind the Prefect Team. Because of that, it's only logical that we are recognising her work this month, so please give it up for...

@Rumpelstiltskin!

Our second Head Student this month has been a member who joined not too long ago, but already made sure she left an impression upon all of us! She's friendly, can be found everywhere and has been one great asset to her House already, as well as leaving quite the amount of chapters up on the archives! So please give it up for...

@Noelle Zingarella! 

Congratulations to you both, and thank you for all you do for the community!  Please PM @abhorsen. with your choice of story you'd like to have featured next month! 

 

This month we'd like to recognize @Ineke as our Order of Merlin recipient! Ineke is an amazing staffer and an incredible member of our community. She continues to wow us with her hard work and her ability to crush the queue! And with her internet recently back up and running to full speed, she'll be absolute dynamite! Ineke's always buzzing around the forums and the archives and she's an active member in the Ravenclaw Common Room. She's a kind and lovely person to be around, and an amazing presence in this community!

This month, we're featuring two stories from recent head students, two past FROGS/house awards winners, each house's story of the month, and several staff picks. Don't forget to stop by HPFT's Social Media pages throughout the month [Twitter | Tumblr | Facebook] to claim your free gift from the ML team!

 

Congratulations, @Bunbury, @dirigibleplums, @esmeraude, @Jo Raskoph, @juls, @scooterbug8515, @Oregonian, @poppunkpadfoot, @ReillyJade, @Renacerá, @starbuck, and @TreacleTart!

March 21 - The Riddikulus Ship Challenge by @aelaia

March 31 - The Slytherin-Centric Challenge by @Finefrenzy__

March 31 - The Take A Wizard To Work Day Challenge by @you-make-me-wander

March 31 - The Broadway Musical Song Challenge by @MadiMalfoy

April 1 - The What If Challenge by @potionspartner and @wildest dreams

April 3 - The Ensemble Challenge by @crestwood

April 30 - The Millennials Ruin Everything Challenge by @PaulaTheProkaryote and @Ineke

May 1 - The Original Fiction Challenge (With A Twist) by @Rumpelstiltskin

May 31 – The Dragon Tale Story Challenge by @StarFeather

June 20 - The [Blank] Meets [Blank] Challenge by @MuggleMaybe

3 - @bizinhavieira

4 - @Pen2Paper; @TheGoldenKneazle

6 - @MadiMalfoy

11 - @Alexis Black

14 - @Asphodelic; @Elena

16 - @Tecla Sunrise

17 - @Celtic_Dreamer7

18 - @mymischiefmanaged

24 - @secretdreamer

25 - @beyond the rain; @Nix

27 - @lovegood27

29 - @stefanie.sycamore

 

Challenges, Birthdays, Head Students & House Submissions written and/or compiled by @Ineke and @abhorsen.. Gryffindor's House Submission was written by @adorably cute, Hufflepuff's was written by @Renacerá, @MadiMalfoy wrote the Ravenclaw House Submission, and @Rumpelstiltskin did the same for Slytherin. Order of Merlin written by @adorably cute and @facingthenorthwind.  Featured story staff picks by @adorably cute (Things Left Unsaid and Aguardiente), @MadiMalfoy (Savior and Time for a Change), @Rumpelstiltskin (Inheritance), @scooterbug8515 (Only One), and @ShadowRose (June Bug). All graphics + the rest of the bulletin written by @abhorsen..