Welcome to HPFT's July Bulletin!

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!

Applications for all staff, prefect, and house newsletter editor positions will be open from July 1 - July 10. 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 PST 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'll still consider you this month. 

We're sorry to announce that Noelle Zingarella has left the prefect team. However, we are very pleased to welcome @dreamshadow back to the professor team!

Congratulations, Jill! Thank you for all your hard work, Noelle!

The finale is well under way! We hope you're enjoying our mini-games so far - make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the end of it all! The Crazies Café has also been opened yet again for JulNo, so if you're participating (or are just interested in what your fellow HPFTers are doing), make sure to stop by!

On another note: with the house cup going on, we know that this might get lost, so we want to give a quick shout-out to a thread on +culture, identity, and race that @grumpy cat started for members to share their personal experiences. (and while we're talking about kris, she, @sibilant, and @something wicked also created an +poc pinterest board that's an amazing resource if you like making picspams or other graphics!)

Our first head student has been active in a number of threads about the wizarding world, giving her intriguing thoughts and head canons on subjects like race and blood status in the wizarding world or the hogwarts curriculum. She's also currently running a challenge of her own and contributing to her house's efforts in the house cup finale. Please give it up for...

@Ravenclaw_scientist!

Our second head student has also been active in her house's quest for house cup glory. She's also gone above and beyond in encouraging her fellow HPFTers in their various writing projects, including leaving a lot of encouraging feedback in NaNo nests and leaving well over 100 reviews on the archive in just a month and a half. Please join us in congratulating...

@shadowycorner!

Congratulations to you both! Please PM   @abhorsen. with your choice of story you'd like to have featured next month.

This month, we're awarding the Order of Merlin to an entire group of people who literally validate our reasons for being here: our tireless archives validators! This includes our Aurors, @just.a.willow.tree and @maraudertimes; but it also includes those staffers who wear many hats including Auror duties: @abhorsen., @crowsb4bros, @Ineke, and @toomanycurls. They read everything from your most devastating angst to your wackiest smut, from your monster 15K-word chapter to that one chapter you keep re-submitting because you wrote it at 4 AM and every time you look at it you find another edit to make. They've really been on a roll these past few months, and in one month they collectively evaluated over 300 chapters in the queue! Thank you all for your dedication to making HPFT such a wonderful place to read and write fic!

Witch Slap by @tatapb!

Twenty-one year old Rose Weasley is a wannabe Healer at St. Mungo's, Albus Potter is working as a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts and Scorpius Malfoy is a beater for Puddlemere. Al convices Rose to move in with him and Scorp and together the trio try to claw their way through adulthood.

This month, @down-in-flames and @toomanycurls will be reading @something wicked's a dream you can touch so keep your eyes peeled for it!

This month we're featuring winners of house and site awards, some recent head student stories, our fic night story, and a couple staff picks!

Congratulations, @abhorsen., @facingthenorthwind, @grumpy cat, @ImaRavenclaw, @Lost_Robin, @magnifique, @mymischiefmanaged, @Ravenclaw_scientist, @RogueSlytherin, @something wicked, @tatapb, and @VaguelyCreativeName!

July 3 - The Trapped Together Challenge by @dreamshadow

July 19 - The Coming Out Challenge by @Ravenclaw_scientist

July 31 - The Underrated Character Challenge by @beyond the rain

August 1 - The Ultimate Poetry Collection Challenge by @TreacleTart

August 30 - The Noir Challenge by @RonsGirlFriday

August 31 - The Version Of Me Challenge by @aurevoir

August 31 - Trans Women Are Women Challenge by @sapphicsunrise

August 31 - The Crackship Challenge by @magemadi

September 3 - Include More Fred And George In Fic Challenge by @1917farmgirl

October 1 - Lex And His Favs Challenge by @CheekyTorah-Lex

3 - @galadriel

4 - @Mistress

5 - @AnnaKay

6 - @juls

7 - @aelaia

10 - @BellaLestrange87

11 - @CheekyTorah-Lex; @Kalkay; @Selene

13 - @ForbiddenBeauty

19 - @WitnesstoitAll

20 - @Illuminate; @Oldershouldknowbetter

23 - @muiguffe; @Shay_Gryff

24 - @Enora Gray; @Felpata_Lupin

27 - @LooneyLizzie

31 - @LadyL8

 

Bulletin compiled and written by @abhorsen. and @Ineke. Order of Merlin written by @RonsGirlFriday. All graphics by @abhorsen.. Featured staff picks by @juls (Something There) and @grumpy cat (Coming Around).