One of our favorite parts of our challenges is awarding the little postage stamps that we give out to challenge participants. There is just something delightful about an online hoard of brightly colored prizes that are worth absolutely nothing but their commemoration of creativity or interaction with another creator.

For the past two years, we've been asking artists to help us in making these stamps. Doing so lets each month have a unique style or approach and, we hope, draws some attention to the stunning work the artists on our site are doing!

If you would like to help with creating stamps for the 2025 challenges, it is that time of the year! You can reply to this email or contact the mods through any of our usual channels. Next week, we will share a sign-up document with bare-bones descriptions of the 2025 challenges. (Note that if you want to be completely unspoiled about the challenges, you should probably not volunteer for this one!) Our call for stamp creators has more information, and note that all creators are welcome to volunteer. There is no level of expertise in art required.

In addition to our ongoing Potluck Bingo challenge, the SWG is really happy to be able to provide a home for the Festival of Lights Fest this year. This Hanukkah-inspired event runs annually and encourages works about or inspired by Hanukkah. Fanworks might directly depict Hanukkah (e.g., a modern AU with Jewish characters), might relate to Hanukkah (such as an in-universe celebration similar to Hanukkah), or might just be inspired by our Hanukkah prompts. Because the Festival of Lights Fest runs alongside Potluck Bingo this year, FLF mods Indy and Janeways have added two Hanukkah-themed bingo cards to the collection—and yes, you get stamps for Potluck and Festival of Lights Fest if you complete a prompt on one of the Hanukkah cards!

Finally, Tolkien Meta Week begins in just over a week! Yes, this might be timed because we also have an open call for meta/scholarship for our 2025 Mereth Aderthad event ... but more broadly, Tolkien fans are brilliant people who tend to underestimate their brilliance, and both Tolkien Meta Week and Mereth Aderthad are intended to encourage all of you out there to shine! Tolkien Meta Week includes optional daily prompts, but really? We just hope people will become more comfortable sharing their ideas about Tolkien! Note that while Meta Week on the SWG archive follows the usual rules for what is eligible as a "Silmwork" for the SWG, we are also running this event on Tumblr and would love to reblog any Tolkien meta, whether it is eligible for our site or not! Make sure to tag #tolkien meta week and we'll do the rest.

And a brief erratum from last week: In a rush to get out the door to a work conference, I forgot to include Anérea and Varda delle Stelle's Mapping Arda, Part III: The Second Age as a featured article in the newsletter. If you haven't checked out their exploration of Second Age maps and geography, it is well worth the read and is linked below!