Thanks for showing an interest in our regular AI Article Writing Contest! This part of our initiative to make people realise the many benefits of writing articles -- specifically about artificial intelligence -- and to give them an excuse to do so...
You don't have to be an expert; it doesn't matter what your background is. Anyone can enter! We'll guide you through the process of seeking for knowledge and learning about AI. If you are trying to learn about AI, we'll expect a little more work from you, but you're more than welcome to joing. Read on!
- What do you have to do?
- When does it happen?
- How do I enter?
- Why enter the contest?
- Who is involved?
- Where does it all end up?
- Official Rules
- Older Competitions
What do you have to do?
It's simple. You have to write an essay, tutorial, or article in English of over 1,000 words about anything related to Artificial Intelligence. The catch is that it must be written within the bounds of the contest -- i.e. after you've finished reading this, and before the deadline! If you're already interested, make sure you check the official rules before you go any further!
Your article may for example be based on these two options (other suggestions equally welcome of course!):
- You may have a project that you've been working on, and want to share the knowledge and experience you gained with the rest of the world. This is a good incentive to get something written up about it.
- Naturally, it helps if you know a bit about the topic, but you don't necessarily have to! Your article can be an introductory article about a technique or application that you want to learn more about. This is a great way of killing two birds with one stone!
In either case, we'll even give you feedback about your submission on two occasions:
- Topic Selection - To make sure you're writing about something appropriate, and to make it a topic as interesting as possible, you may want to consult us before you start writing. At this stage, we will be ideally placed to give you advice on where to look for information, what to read, and how to approach the writing.
- Pre-deadline Review - Once you have a draft you are happy with, you may want us to take a quick look at it. At this stage, we'll be able to spot little inconsistencies, correct details that will improve your chances in the contest. Make sure you make the most of your learning experience by getting our feedback!
Just when you feel ready!
When does it happen?
The Spring Contest has already started, as of March 20th! The deadline is fixed at:
That gives you over a month to fine-tune your article, so get busy!
How do I enter?
The best thing is to first with some preliminary ideas, passions or personal interests. We'll provide feedback on your ideas, and potentially suggest topics to research and places to look first.
Then, enough time BEFORE THE DEADLINE, send us a draft of your essay, and we'll take a thorough read. If necessary, we'll give you some hints on how to structure your thoughts, let you know which bits need more explanantion, and suggest small changes.
Once you have written your article, you must save it as TEXT or HTML format. Keep the HTML code simple! There's only so many tags that are allowed by the content manager, so don't go overboard (valid tags include bold, italics, underline, images, links, headers, lists and a couple more). Images are obviously welcome, with a black background preferably.
Then, zip up your entry, and email it to . You'll get confirmation of your entry once it has been processed.
Why enter the contest?
We'll, this month we're doubling the incentive for you to get writing! Aside providing you with an amazing Game AI Book hot off the presses, we have a jury's award too...
Winner's Prize
The winner, as voted by other participants, will be awarded a copy of Sutton & Barto's highly acclaimed book on "Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction". This is one of my favourite AI books, so you'd be foolish to miss out on this opportunity! Find out more at Amazon US, UK. Thanks to MIT press for providing the prize.
Jury's Award
The second prize is the Jury's prize: Thomas M. Georges' very recent work "Digital Soul": Intelligent Machines and Human Values. I'm currently reviewing this, and it's been a great read for the first 7 chapters. This copy will be awarded by the staff and past writers for efforts made to review existing algorithms and techniques. Find out more at Amazon US, UK. Special thanks to the author for providing the prize.
Publicity
The AI Depot is a high profile website, visited by thousands of AI enthusiasts daily! Your article will get a lot of focus from this AI community (programmers, designers, and employers), as well as game developers. This is a great opportunity for you to show that you are an individual oozing with information, willing to share thoughts and document them.
Knowledge
The main reason for entering the contest, in my opinion, is the knowledge. I've personally been writing articles and tutorials for a while now, both about AI as well as graphics, and I think writing down ideas is one of the most essential components of the learning process. Looking into the problem from a more informal point of view has many advantages. Also, trying to explain things to someone else makes things clearer for you too!
Respect
Together with this you get the unique opportunity to get respect and feedback on your work from people that are the most interested in your work! This is an incredibly valuable experience.
Don't under-estimate this!! Some will say: "But it's just a website..." However, writing articles in your spare time can look great to potential employers (shows interest and time management abilities), not to mention giving yourself opportunities as a technical writer later if you wish. I've had three book offers just based on writing what I'd call average tutorials... my point is, there are people looking!
Who is involved?
Literally anyone can enter the contest. We expect a range of people from many backgrounds to get involved, including hobby AI coders, professional programmers, game developers, and possibly even researchers.
4 signs of interest (22/03)
Every contestant will vote for his three favourite articles. The winner will be the entry with the most votes. In the case of a tie, previous writers here at the AI Depot will be asked to pick a winner.
Where does it all end up?
All the articles will be published online, through our usual feature managing system. The winning entry will be published first, and the rest will be put online with a few days interval each -- in a random order.
The article remains your property; you retain the copyright as the author of the work! You take all the credit. The only catch is that we get exclusive online publication rights; this seems more than a fair trade to us (giving prizes, physically publishing your work online, and promoting it), but we're usually very open to suggestions -- present or future. Besides, we believe there's not much need to publish on any other big sites, as we'll do the advertising, and make sure the search engines find your article!
Official Rules
Make sure you read all of the rules below before submitting!
- Maximum of one (1) entry per person
- Only one (1) writer per entry
- The entry must be an essay, tutorial or article on a topic related to Artificial Intelligence.
- The word count must be above one thousand (1,000). There is no upper limit.
- The entry must be written entirely within the time-bounds of the contest.
- Judging is done by the contestants themselves, each voting for their three best articles. Points are attributed as such: 4 (FOUR) points to the first, 2 (TWO) to the second, and 1 (ONE) for the third.
- Entrants may not vote for their article.
- Failing to submit your votes in a timely manner will get your entry disqualified.
- In case of a tie, a jury composed of previous writers at the AI Depot will be asked to select the winner. Their decision is final and unquestionable.
- There must be a minimum of five (5) entries for the contest to take place. If these requirements are not met, the prizes will be carried on to the next contest.
- Prizes are not transferable.
- Upon entering the contest, you agree to grant exclusive online publication rights of your work to the AI Depot. This applies until the site stops existing.
- Deadlines dates may be subject to change.
- The AI Depot reserves itself the right to modify the rules at any time without notice.
- The AI Depot is allowed to refuse entries that are off-topic, irrelevant, offensive, or for any other reason at the discretion of the organisers.
If you need any rule clarifying, then please . We'll be happy to clarify them for you!