Spring Thing
Spring Thing is an annual competition to highlight works of text adventure games and other literary works, also known as Interactive Fiction.
Adam Cadre, author of several works of Interactive Fiction, including Photopia and Varicella, announced the Spring Thing in 2001, both to promote works that would be longer than those entered into the Interactive Fiction Competition, and to encourage authors to submit works to the general public during other times of the year. It was run in 2002 and 2003, but Cadre did not host it the following year. Greg Boettcher picked up the slack, and hosted the Spring Thing from 2005 until 2013. As of 2014 it was run by Aaron A. Reed.
As with the better-known Interactive Fiction Competition, works submitted to the Spring Thing must be released as freeware or public domain. Unlike that competition's limit of two hours per work, judges may spend as much time as necessary with an entry in the Spring Thing. The authors need to submit a small fee to enter.
List of winners to date
- 2002 -- Tinseltown Blues, by Chip Hayes - the sole entrant in that year
- 2003 -- Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus, by Dan Shiovitz and Emily Short
- 2004 -- No competition
- 2005 -- Whom the Telling Changed, by Aaron A. Reed
- 2006 -- De baron / The Baron, by Victor Gijsbers
- 2007 -- Fate, by Victor Gijsbers
- 2008 -- Pascal's Wager, by Doug Egan
- 2009 -- A Flustered Duck, by Jim Aikin
- 2010 -- No entrants
- 2011 -- The Lost Islands of Alabaz, by Michael Gentry
- 2012 -- The Rocket Man From The Sea, by Janos Honkonen
- 2013 -- Witch's Girl by Mostly Useless