Audio Fiction World Cup: Breaking Down the Scoring
Happy New Year to everyone in the audio fiction community! On New Year’s Eve, I published the 2024 Audio Fiction World Cup final results after tallying the last festivals of the year.
If you missed it, here are the results!
These were also posted to Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Mastodon.
I’ll be posting the final results to the Audio Fiction World Cup website (currently hosted at https://wswc.info/afwc) when time permits.
I say “currently hosted” because the new heads of the Web Series World Cup — Tom Chamberlain and Dipu Bhattacharya — and I will be overhauling the web presence for both cups. We’ll be bringing these two communities closer together throughout 2025 and beyond, so stay tuned for updates.
It’s important to note that the Web Series World Cup and Audio Fiction World Cup remain separate competitions with distinct systems. While there may be more overlap between the systems as we bring the communities together, the information below applies specifically to the Audio Fiction World Cup’s scoring and calculations.
For examples below, I’ll reference the New Jersey Web Festival. As the Director of Audio Fiction there, I’m comfortable sharing our internal information. I’ll refrain from using other festivals as examples to protect their data.
Audio Fiction World Cup Principles
Before we begin, let me explain what the Audio Fiction World Cup stands for. Our core mission is fostering collaboration between festivals and creators to enhance artistic opportunities everywhere. The AFWC operates independently of festivals, and exists as an advocate from creators to festivals to help them grow, and conversely from festivals to creators to open doors for more opportunities. As both the head of the Audio Fiction World Cup, and the Director of Audio Fiction at the New Jersey Web Festival, I am aware that there can be a lot of overlap. NJWF Festival Director Neem Basha will be the first to tell you that I often make Audio Fiction World Cup decisions that benefit creators, even when they might disadvantage the WebFest. For transparency’s sake, it’s important to note that I’m writing this article from my position with the Audio Fiction World Cup, separate completely from my role at the New Jersey Web Festival.
All festivals in our circuit must follow a code of ethics. This code is creator-friendly and art-supporting by design. While it’s more philosophical than prescriptive, it emphasizes our commitment to elevating projects, breaking down barriers, and examining ways of combating the realities of capitalism inside independent art.
- One single submission fee makes a project eligible for all awards in their medium
- In-person attendance is not a requirement to win awards
- No discrimination or pre-determination in judging
- No conflicts of interest between judges and sponsors
- Advocates for creators through creator-focused decision-making
You can read more about each of these points on our Code of Ethics page on the website.
These five principles ensure we stay aligned with festivals in our shared mission of elevating and supporting artists, while giving festivals the freedom to maintain their unique local and regional character. Each festival is different, and that’s exactly as it should be. What matters most is our shared values and our commitment to upholding them. These principles also guide us when we need to correct course, grow, or acknowledge shortcomings.
The goal with all of this is to bring together independent web-based fiction creators and build a stronger, more interconnected community. Additionally we aim to increase promotional, networking, and discovery opportunities for artists and their projects. This all grew out of the achievements I personally was able to have with my web series as part of the Web Series World Cup in 2018. While no doors were passively opened for me through the system, I was given marketing opportunities, tools, and introductions that allowed me to actively grow my career as a filmmaker and artist. Over time we hope to grow these festivals into the spaces where companies are looking for their next show, or for artists to staff onto audio fiction projects.
Audio Fiction World Cup Scoring
Now that we’ve covered our mission, let’s explore how the scoring works. The Audio Fiction World Cup is an annual competition covering participating festivals whose event falls between January 1 to December 31. Timing your festival submissions is crucial — if you split them between festivals in 2025 and 2026, your points will be divided across two years, lowering your overall ranking. To maximize your chances in the competition, we recommend submitting to festival editions all within a single calendar year.
Projects earn points in three key areas:
- Festival Acceptances
- Festival Award Nominations
- Festival Award Wins
Specific point values vary by festival, with each one contributing differently to a project’s overall Audio Fiction World Cup ranking. This variation comes from a formula inside a massively complicated spreadsheet I’ve made — really a set of interconnected formulas — that calculates point totals for each category at each festival.
Throughout the year, the spreadsheet automatically updates rankings as projects reach these milestones. Our ranking announcements simply share the current standings from this system.
The spreadsheet consists of several interconnected tabs:
- The primary tab lists projects by name in rows, with three columns per festival — one for each scoring category. I mark a +1 for each milestone a project achieves.
- The second tab contains all festivals and calculates their point allocations for each scoring category.
- The third tab mirrors the first tab but multiplies each entry by the point values from the second tab.
- The fourth tab features a pivot table that ranks projects from highest to lowest point total.
When I add new projects to the first tab, all subsequent tabs update automatically to reflect these changes and the totals recalculate.
So let’s break down how the spreadsheet calculates points for each category.
Festival Acceptance Calculations
After a festival publishes their final list of acceptances, they send me the following information:
- Total number of submissions (though not a list of all submissions — I remain unaware of which projects weren’t accepted)
- List of accepted projects
- Each project’s category (Fiction Podcast, Standalone Audio Fiction, Actual Play Podcast, or Actual Play Video)
- Each project’s country of origin
All this information is logged in the spreadsheet, with each project on its own row. Projects receive a “1” in the “Accepted” column for their respective festival. New projects to the cup get a fresh row, while existing projects simply get another “1” added.
Each festival’s acceptance points are calculated based on their exclusivity that calendar year — essentially, how difficult it was to get in. This is determined by comparing the total number of submissions a festival received against the total number of accepted projects. The more selective a festival is, the more points an acceptance is worth.
In 2024, the New Jersey Web Festival was our circuit’s most exclusive festival, which meant being accepted there earned projects the highest number of points for this pillar.
Festival Award Nomination Calculations
Most festivals announce nominees for specific awards during a nomination period. Once they finalize their nomination list, they send it to me. I add a “1” to the festival’s nomination column in the spreadsheet for each nomination a project receives. For example, if a project earns 5 nominations, they get a 5 in that cell.
Each festival’s nomination points are calculated based on the ratio of total nominations to accepted projects. This measures how difficult it is to earn a nomination once you’re accepted. Festivals that give out many nominations receive fewer points per nomination, while those with fewer nominations award more points since they’re statistically harder to receive. The formula uses a “Nominations per Project” ratio for these calculations, taking the total number of nominations given out and comparing it to the total number of accepted shows.
Some festivals skip the nomination period and move directly from acceptances to winners. In these cases, the algorithm treats them as having a 1:1 nomination-to-project ratio, and points are awarded to accepted projects automatically.
In 2024, the New Jersey Web Festival averaged 3.76 nominations per accepted project. This means that once accepted to NJWF, projects had a high statistical chance of receiving nominations. As a result, NJWF nominations were worth the lowest number of points toward Audio Fiction World Cup rankings for this pillar.
Festival Award Win Calculations
After a festival concludes, they send me their final list of award winners by project. Each award receives a “1” in that festival’s column in the spreadsheet. For example, if a project wins three awards, they get a “3” in their cell.
Point values for award wins are calculated based on the ratio between total awards given and total number of accepted projects. This measures how likely an accepted project is to win an award. Festivals that give out many awards assign fewer points per win, while those with fewer awards assign more points since they’re harder to achieve. The formula uses an “Awards per Project” ratio for these calculations.
In 2024, the New Jersey Web Festival gave one award for every two accepted projects. As a result, our awards were worth fewer points compared to festivals with more selective award processes, where winners earned substantially more points for their achievements.
Averaging a Festival’s Total Point Output
To prevent any festival from having an outsized influence on World Cup rankings, the spreadsheet formula balances each festival’s point totals. It does this by examining the average number of points awarded per accepted project. The formula ensures that no festival’s average points per project falls below 35% of the highest average. This creates a balanced system where projects have similar opportunities to score points regardless of which festivals accept them. No single festival can guarantee a cup win, and no festival is mathematically required for a high ranking.
For example, in 2024, the New Jersey Web Festival awarded the most points for festival acceptance since we were statistically the hardest to get into. However, our nominations and awards were worth fewer points because they were statistically easier to obtain compared to other festivals. This balanced out our total points per project against festivals that were easier to enter but had more selective award processes.
While festivals vary widely in their submission and acceptance numbers — and thus their potential total point contribution to the cup pool — averaging points per accepted project ensures that every project has a similar opportunity to score points in the final World Cup ranking regardless of what festival they are at.
Points Shift Throughout the Year
A crucial aspect of the Audio Fiction World Cup’s calculation is that point totals remain dynamic until the final festival reports their award winners. Statistical probabilities that seemed likely in January may shift as more festivals report their results throughout the year. This means an early-year festival could receive more or fewer points per pillar than initially calculated. For this reason, I don’t publish specific point totals alongside the rankings — a festival’s contributions may have changed between ranking announcements.
Each festival’s internal data remains theirs to publish or withhold. If a project notices their points decreased between rankings, explaining why would require me to disclose acceptance percentages or formula calculations that are proprietary to individual festivals. However, understanding how the spreadsheet calculates results can help explain final rankings.
For example, at the New Jersey WebFest, our points per award win decreased later in the year as more festivals reported their results. Our points per acceptance increased slightly when final exclusivity metrics came in. The average total points per accepted project remained nearly constant, dropping by just .17 points.
Inherent Issues in the Ranking System
It must be acknowledged that capitalism is deeply woven into this ranking system. To maximize your chances of ranking highly, you need to submit to all Audio Fiction World Cup festivals — which means paying hundreds of dollars in submission fees. We are actively exploring ways to address the challenge of financial access.
Currency presents another challenge: most submission fees are in USD, which can make participation significantly more prohibitive for creators outside the US. While tech solutions like fee localization exist in some industries, they’re costly to implement. FilmFreeway doesn’t currently offer this feature, though we’re actively exploring solutions to make the cup more globally financially accessible.
Festival operations are both time-intensive and costly. Speaking specifically for the New Jersey Web Festival, none of us receives payment — we’re driven by our love for these communities and our desire to help creators grow and connect. Every dollar from submission fees and sponsorships goes directly toward creating meaningful festival experiences in September.
Cost-Saving Opportunities for Creators
Programs like the Tabletop Arts Fund help Actual Play creators by covering early bird submission fees at AFWC festivals. Anecdotally, creators at the New Jersey Web Festival in the past have found grants to help with submission fees and the cost of attending festivals. Some festivals (like us at the New Jersey Web Festival) have scholarship programs to offer reduced fee, or fee-free waivers to submit to the festival.
My best recommendation is to save every cup festival to your FilmFreeway “watchlist.” This notifies you when submissions open and when deadlines are approaching. Submitting earlier means a cheaper fee. You can pay nearly half price by submitting during the cheapest fee period of all festivals compared to their final deadline.
A helpful tip to the above: FilmFreeway doesn’t actually require your file at initial submission — only by the final submission date. This means you can lock in early-bird pricing even if your project isn’t ready yet. Just ensure you upload your file before submissions close.
If other festivals operate like mine, you may receive a friendly email noting your missing file. Simply explain you’re planning to upload by the final deadline. Don’t worry if I check in occasionally — I’m just making sure I batch your submission with others when you’re ready for judging!
Looking to the Future of the Ranking
This was year 2 of the Audio Fiction World Cup. The formulas remained largely consistent between years 1 and 2, as I need more data to make informed adjustments. While no system is perfect, I’ve found that small festivals have a similar impact per project on rankings as large ones. If these small festivals grow, the numbers will scale proportionally, maintaining balanced festival averages. I was pleased to discover top-ranked projects in the 2024 final ranking that weren’t represented at the New Jersey Web Festival. This confirms that my festival isn’t having an outsized influence on final results, a concern I always have. Success requires strong performance at multiple festivals, but no specific festival is mandatory.
One change that’s been proposed to me is giving each festival an equal point pool to distribute proportionally among projects. I have rejected this, because I believe this would unfairly penalize festival growth and discourage submissions to larger festivals.
To me, an increased submission total signals a better creator experience with a festival. When more creators submit, festivals can accept more submissions — a sign of positive word-of-mouth. I want to reward festivals for making creator-focused decisions that make creators want to participate.
If a small festival with few submissions received the same total points as a large festival, their projects would have disproportionate influence on cup rankings. I believe our current per-project averaging system better achieves the Audio Fiction World Cup’s goal of fair and equal evaluation across all projects and festivals.
I’ve also considered implementing an averaging metric that kicks in after a certain number of festival acceptances. This would let a show competing in just five festivals (an arbitrary example) compete equally with shows participating in all festivals. While this might help projects with limited financial resources, I suspect in practice it would overly gamify the submission process and actually reduce total festival submissions worldwide.
Every festival in the cup saw increased submissions from 2023 to 2024. Implementing any ceiling I believe would work against our core mission of expanding awareness and opportunities for independent artists everywhere.
The 2025 Audio Fiction World Cup
The 2025 AFWC is now officially underway!
Cusco WebFest kicks off this year’s circuit, with their next submission deadline on January 9th — fees increase after this date. You can get an 18% discount on your submission fee when you use code HAPPYALPACAS at checkout!
You’ll find a complete list of participating festivals, along with their FilmFreeway links, on our website.
We’re currently finalizing the full 2025 AFWC festival lineup. Festivals can join the circuit through June of this year, so be sure to follow our social media accounts and check the website regularly for updates!
Questions? I’m here to help and try to respond to emails promptly at ned@newjerseywebfest.com. You can also ping me on any social media platform, I’m regrettably quite online.
Happy 2025, I hope this helps answer some questions people might have!
~Ned Donovan
Founder of the Audio Fiction World Cup
If you value my work and want to support me, you can buy me a cup of coffee! To find me elsewhere, check out my other social media platforms.