Welcome to the HPFT bulletin, where you can find all of our major monthly announcements and information about upcoming events!

If you're new, first and foremost: 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!

- @abhorsen.

We have a number of staff/prefect changes to announce this month!

We're very sad to announce that @MegGonagall will be stepping down from her position as Auror. Meg is a wonderful member of the community, and she was a huge asset in the queue in particular before RL demanded more of her attention. We're also sad to announce that @clevernotbrilliant will be leaving her position as Ravenclaw prefect. Claire has been a great asset to the prefect team, including doing a lot of hard work to pull our 2018 Nargles together. We're going to miss having them both on the team - thank you so much, Meg and Claire!

That said, we also have several bumps to announce.

HPFT is growing and continuing to get busier! The admins decided that we needed some additional help with some behind-the-scenes things, and we're very happy to announce that we've promoted @Ineke to the new position of Senior Auror!

We're also thrilled to welcome @Unwritten Curse to the Auror team! Gina was part of the original HPFT staff team as a Professor, and it will be wonderful having her back - this time in the queue!

In addition, we're also very excited to add three new Prefects to our team: @facingthenorthwind, @MadiMalfoy, and @Nix! Emma, Madi, and Nix are all wonderful, positive presences on the site overall and in their common rooms specifically, and we're psyched to have them on board!

Edit on July 23: @ShadowRose and @Sleepingbagonthesofa have joined the prefect team for Gryffindor after submitting great applications! We'll give them a proper welcome in the next bulletin, but we are thrilled to have not one, but two Gryffies come on board since it's been a while since Gryffindor had prefects!

 - @abhorsen.

*Please note that the Senior Auror announcement was added on 7/3.

During the first week of every month, we open up applications for all staff/prefect positions. There's no post count/join date limit, and you can apply for as many positions as you like - it's all one application. We hold onto applications for three months before you need to apply again. A detailed rundown on how HPFT staffing works can be found +here, and you can find the application +here.

As things stand, we'll likely be looking to add at least a couple additional people to the staff/prefect team - we know we've made several bumps this month, but please don't feel dissuaded to apply because of that.  

If you applied in June, you don't need to apply again unless you'd like to apply for additional positions - we'll still consider you this month.

 - @abhorsen.

In May we asked everyone to fill in a member survey and we've spent time in June analyzing everyone's feedback. First off, a big thank you! to everyone who was able to participate in our second annual member feedback survey.  Without your input, we wouldn't be able to adjust how HPFT is run in ways that are meaningful to the most important part of the site -- the people!  

We had 36 people fill out the survey with a pretty even spread across the houses. The first set of info we asked about were some general sentiment statements that people could rate the level to which they agreed with the statement from 1 to 5 with higher scores showing that people tended to agree with the statement. 

Here's how to read the scores: 

• 3.9+ The site is doing pretty well in this area and will continue down a similar path in the next year
• 3.3-3.9 The site has some improvement in this area but it is still overall doing well
• Below 3.3 The site needs to look at a revamp of this activity/part of the site

We also had house level results that will be further discussed within each Common Room to go over ideas that might work to make improvements specific to each house.
 - @toomanycurls

Our first Head Student is a person who has been incredibly engaging in the community the past months. From being active in their CR, participating in activities and showing interest in a lot of people by asking thoughtful questions in many people their novel nests – including those she hardly spoke to before – she’s definitely a person you can’t overlook and who makes everyone a whole lot happier by being around. So please give it up for...

@danicasyer!

Our second Head Student has only been around since April, yet has already proven to be a continuous presence on the forums and the archives alike! She’s engaging, supportive, has left a lot of reviews, got up quite a number of chapters, but also finds time to ask questions in writer’s journals and novel nests. So please give it up for...

@Sleepingbagonthesofa!

- @Ineke, @LadyL8, and @RoxiMalfoy

This month, the Prefects have decided to honor one of our hard-working Staffers. They’ve been a professor for quite a while and this past year, they were bumped over to Gamemaker.

And the winner is...

@TidalDragon!

Kevin has been a rockstar staffer since HPFT was born, and he even had a hand in creating our archives for us.  What’s most impressive is that at the moment, he’s currently Gryffindor’s sole House Staffer, and while of course everyone jumps in to help where they can, he’s been killing it the last few months.  He’s run the Pride of Gryffindor awards, making sure his house is active and organized, and he also has done a great job with the sitewide Fic Night. And while you might be intimidated at first, he’s so approachable, kind, and patient. His stories are wonderful to read, and his reviews will always leave you with something to think about.

Please take a moment in congratulating Kevin with me, and thanking him for all he does for us!

 - @dreamgazer220

July's SOTM was a tie! Our co-winners are...

Dolor Lake (M) by @Rumpelstiltskin

Quote

 

A sweet monster who feeds on happiness lives beneath the surface of Dolor Lake.

A story about the depression that follows a happy manic.

banner by Rumpelstiltskin

 

and

Lying Josephine (M) by @WriteYourHeartOut...

Quote

After Fred's death and a series of mishaps, Josephine finds herself posing as Fred's former girlfriend for just one night to help the Weasley's move on. But when she grows attached to the warmth of having a family again, she finds herself unable to walk away and forced instead to live life in her lie.

(George/OC)

banner by Asphodelic

If you have a chance this month, we highly recommend you swing by to read (and review, if you have the time!) both wonderful and very deserving stories.

 - @abhorsen.

Every month, HPFT runs Fic Night, where a staff member reads a nominated fic from one of our members.  You can check out @TidalDragon reading Lazy Days (Chapter 2) (M) by @just.a.willow.tree for June's Fic Night +here if you haven't seen it yet!

 - @Ineke

This month, we're featuring: the winners of our monthly sitewide competitions, three stories from this year's F.R.O.G.S. top three, two winners of previous house yearly awards, and two staff picks. Thank you so much to the members of our staff/prefect team who chose this month's two staff picks: @MegGonagall (Julian) and @abhorsen. (Good Luck, Lily). Click through for links; please keep in mind that some may be rated M.

Congratulations, @Aphoride, @just.a.willow.tree, @nott theodore, @PaulaTheProkaryote, @poppunkpadfoot, @scooterbug8515, @ShadowRose, @starbuck, @Stella Blue, and @WriteYourHeartOut!

 - @abhorsen.

July 15 - The Prefect's Celebration Challenge by the prefects

July 31 - The Aurors Tale Challenge Season 4 by @StarFeather

August 1 - The Vocational Challenge by @sapphicsunrise

August 10 - The Anything But Harry Challenge by @scooterbug8515

August 10 - The Snazzy Words Challenge by @val

August 15 - A Poetical Mood Challenge by @Rumpelstiltskin

August 17 - The Cultural Diversity Challenge by @Unwritten Curse

 - @Ineke

And finally, we want to wish a very happy birthday to all of HPFT's July babies. Feel free to stop by their profiles/APs/writing journals on their special day!

3 - @Theia

4 - @Mistress

5 - @AnnaKay

10 - @BellaLestrange87

11 - @Kalkay; @Selene

13 - @ForbiddenBeauty

19 - @WitnesstoitAll

20 - @Illuminate; @Oldershouldknowbetter

23 - @Shay_Gryff

24 = @Felpata_Lupin

27 - @LooneyLizzie

31 - @LadyL8

 - @Ineke

header and all awards by @abhorsen.. Please remember to rehost & credit if you'd like to save your awards!

Bulletin write-up by @abhorsen., @dreamgazer220, @Ineke, @LadyL8, @RoxiMalfoy, and @toomanycurls.