It’s getting to be that time of year again: International Fanworks Day is right around the corner! We celebrate IFD on the 15th of February, which this year will fall on a Saturday. 2020 marks our sixth annual celebration, and we are very excited to keep the tradition alive!

So what is International Fanworks Day, anyway?

International Fanworks Day is an opportunity to celebrate the fan-created content that the OTW was established to spotlight, share, and protect. We are fortunate to be part of an incredible fandom community from around the world, and we hope that many of you will participate in the events we have planned for IFD itself as well as the days leading up to it. During this time, we will seek involvement from fan creators and consumers to create new fanworks and to recognize some of the fanfiction, fanart, podfic and fanvids that you’ve enjoyed over the past 12 months. Wherever you are and whatever language you speak, we want to hear from you!

Fanworks Challenge: how would your characters react?

In anticipation of #IFD2020, we’re issuing a challenge to fan creators. We’d love to see you use this prompt as inspiration for an IFDrabble, IFDrawble, or other short or speedy fanwork in whatever medium suits you best. Work on them now and post them online in February, tagging #IFDrabble on social media or ‘International Fanworks Day 2020’ on AO3. We’ll be reblogging some of our (SFW!) favorites on our social media channels from the 8th - 15th February. What’s the prompt for this year? It’s time to get meta! We’d love to see characters discovering fanworks about themselves. What if Crowley got hold of some Good Omens fanart and showed it to Aziraphale? Or Voldemort began sorting through Harry Potter fanfic in search of strategies to win the wizarding war? We can only imagine the chaos that might ensue; but luckily for us, we only have to imagine it. Making it happen is your job! So, get working on your creations now and start posting them online any time from February 1st. (Remember to use the tags!) Our next IFD blog post will appear on the 8th of February, kicking off our fanworks challenge reposts and inviting you to participate in some further events. We look forward to checking in with you then!