As part of Asexual Awareness Week, I want to do things that will help increase awareness of asexuality and the ace spectrum. But posts and pictures and reblogs on Tumblr can only go so far. So, this year, I’m going to try something a little bit different.

I want to enable you to reach out year round.

There are only a handful of dedicated ace websites out there. There are plenty of spaces that haven’t been filled yet. I know many of you have ideas, but just don’t have the money to get things off the ground.

That’s where I come in. I have the money and I want to give some of it to you.

But I’m not just going to write a check for nothing. I’m only going to back sites that look like they have real promise and fill an unmet need. That means you need to have a realistic idea, possibly a design (hand drawn is fine), maybe even a team. I’d even encourage you to share your ideas and collaborate openly (using the tag “#acewebsitecontest”), to get feedback on your ideas and maybe even find team members.

To Enter:

Send your proposal to me, either through my ask box here, or through the contact addresses at AsexualityArchive.com or WhatIsAsexuality.com, by 3PM Pacific (6 PM Eastern, 10 PM UTC) on Saturday, October 24th, 2015. (To make sure that your proposal isn’t lost, I will acknowledge receipt. If you don’t hear that I’ve gotten the proposal within a day or so, please try again.)

Your proposal should include a summary of the site idea, an explanation of the need that this site will fill, and why you think that you or your team will be able to successfully build such a site.

The Prize:

Entirely at my discretion and not subject to review or appeal, I’ll give the winner a $50 gift certificate to Dreamhost. This amount should be enough to cover a year’s worth of standard hosting there, if you use one of their easily found discount codes. (I’ll provide one with the gift certificate.)

The prize does not cover future hosting needs, tech support, or anything else. I give you the gift certificate and my involvement is done. It’s up to you after that. You’re also responsible for taxes, etc.

Dreamhost is the hosting provider I use, and they provide essentially unlimited storage space and bandwidth, and one free domain name registration. They also have easy installation packages for common software, like WordPress or MediaWiki, so you do not have to be a Linux SysAdmin in order to run a site there. It’s mostly click and go. You will, however, have to sign up for a Dreamhost account if you win, and they might require a credit card or have geographic restrictions that I have no control over.

If you don’t win, it’s not personal.

If you win and the gift certificate is unused within 30 days, I might give it to someone else.

And finally, I reserve the right to refuse to award a prize at all.

Winning Tips: