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Season 3 Finals

IWSC
  • The New Headmistress
  • An Interview with the Hooties
  • IWSC Awards
  • An Interview with the Hoggies
  • Trivia and Puzzle Winners
  • Creative Corner Winners

Follow all important events of the International Wizarding School Championship here in the Wizarding World News. We also have a live Twitter feed, Facebook and an Instagram account for you to get day by day updates!

The new headmistress is…

As you know, we had a application for the Mod Team out. We need a new Headmistress due to Headmistress Ruhi taking some time to focus on real life and stepping down to Admin, and Admin Hope is stepping down to be a student! As such, we asked who was interested. 

Hogwarts is Heamistressless, but do not fear, the great Accio-Broom is here! But her friends know her as Headmistress Accio. She’s new to the job, and this was her first year at the IWSC, but she came in full throttle and was fast a core member of Ilvermorny team. Her dedication knows no bounds, and she swears, Hogwarts will have their place in the final for Season 4. 

I don’t know about you, but this gets me even more excited for Season 4! And in Issue 1, we’ll have an interview with Headmistress Accio so you can get to know and love her just as much as Ilvermorny school does!

An Interview with the Hooties

Welcome to NinjaDevil, SeleneBlackburn, and 3cheersforidiots. This formidable trio are key members of the Mahoutokoro team, who have had a place in the finals every season. I for one believed it was your year, so commiserations from me, but know you should be proud of all you achieved. 

Hi Guys, this must be a tough season for you. In season one, you showed just how dedicated you were, going from last place to second. Your team work must be vital to this kind of turn around. Can you tell us a little bit about the Mahoutokoro dynamic?

Sophie: First off, please feel free to call me Sophie 😀 Second off, we don’t really have anything special going on for us, but we do support each other through thick and thin. You should see how intense our Discord gets during crunch time, near the end of rounds!

Despite our differences in taste, I’ve found it really easy to work with the team this year, and everyone was incredibly supportive. We treat each other as equals, and we have a whole system of extracurriculars going on. I’ve found that the mood in our team is quite relaxed, but honestly, I like that, because I think it makes people feel welcome and comfortable.

Selene, you weren’t a part of the IWSC in season 1, how did you find joining an established team? 

Selene: At first I was extremely nervous. I had never written fanfiction before, and I am a non-native english speaker, and I had just joined a comp haha. Also I remember the newly formed Honeydukes server on Discord and everyone was chatting there, almost a hundred messages everyday. It was pretty overwhelming xD

But my team was amazing, and Lun and Mason (Ninja) were always there to help me out. I never had any issue with anyone, and I feel I fit in pretty quickly. After a few rounds I got the hang of it, and now I don’t think I’ll never not participate in this comp.

Ninja – You are synonymous with this competition because you have been here since day one, but have always been eager and excited. How did you find taking up the position of Deputy this year?

Ninja: I was nervous it would be overwhelming at first, but I was still excited. Once the seasons got started, however, I loved it. I like leading, so it was nice to partly lead the team alongside Lun. I like the responsibility and even though it can sometimes feel like pressure, I like the idea of someone like a headmistress depending on me. Plus, this was a great team to be working with and leading this year <3.

3cheersforidiots, you passed on the baton, as it were, to Ninja, as you were helping Lun out in season 1, before all the teams had someone in that position. Did you miss being in the Deputy spot? 

Sophie: Yes and no. I enjoyed being Deputy in Seasons 1 and 2 because I like the responsibility that comes with it, because I like being in the midst of the action and helping new people out in getting comfortable with competitions, and because when everything goes right, it’s super rewarding to see my team flourish. I’m a bit of a control freak and I generally feel comfortable in leadership positions, so it’s the perfect job for me 😀

With that being said, though, I passed the Deputy spot on this year for a good reason. With this being the last year of my undergrad, I knew I wouldn’t be able to put forward my best effort, and looking back at it now, I am glad I didn’t have that on top of everything else.

Also, I knew I would be leaving the Deputy spot in more than capable hands with Mason, and she absolutely delivered. She was an excellent Deputy this year, and more than anything, it was clear that she had her heart and soul in the game, which is all anyone could ever ask for.

This is the question no one wants to ask, but everyone wants to know the answer to. How did it feel realising that Durmstrang could overtake you, and when they ultimately did? 

Sophie: As competitive as I am by nature, I was surprisingly okay with it. The prospect of being taken over was never too far this season; I think we had the fiercest competition going on between Durmstrang and us, out of any team. Of course, it’s always a bummer to miss out on the finals, but I’ve come to realise that I’m here for my team, the lovely community, and my love of writing. Winners come and go, but the people stay, and I’m genuinely happy for the friends I have in Durmstrang because I know that they put an incredible amount of effort into catching up.

Selene: I’m not going to lie, I was pretty confident that we would make it into finals. We had an approx twenty point lead, and though it wasn’t much, it was good enough.

The surprising part was when we realised that Mahoukotoro didn’t win a single JP in round 7. I think losing out on those precious few points pushed us to the fourth position.

I was a little sad that we didn’t make it, as I wanted to get one more feedback before I started on some personal projects, but other than that it was alright.

Durmstrang worked very hard and they absolutely deserved to be in the finals. Besides, as Sophie said, winning is great but we’re here to have fun. 

Ninja: I was constantly worried lol. I won’t deny that I’m a very very competitive person, so realizing how much the points gap was closing was really weighing on me. I tried to get us every single point we could. Art submissions, reviews at the end of the day, beta-reading as much as I could. I think I tried to deny how close Durmstrang really was getting until maybe round 5 or 6, and maybe that’s part of why we couldn’t keep up. 

I’ve been here three years and never won, so seeing another chance at finals starting to slip away really hurt. I agree with Selene; when we learned there were no JPs for us, that’s when I kind of threw up my hands, tried to let go, and say, “See what happens.” I really wanted to be there at finals; I wanted another chance at the title. 

Durmstrang did work hard though, so I am… happy for them. 

And all in all, it might be good that we didn’t make it because I was starting to get burnt out, and would hate to have not been able to give my best. 

Finally, there is something for everyone to be proud of during a season of competitive writing, so can you each name one story you were especially proud of this season, and why? Also, if you can, name a story from a team member you think deserves special attention. 

Selene: The fic that I’m most proud of is The Elevator Ride. It was the first fic that I wrote this season, and also the first piece of writing after last season. It focused on Ron and Percy’s bond. I find both Ron and Percy difficult characters to write, so I was pleased when my fic got a JP.

There were so many amazing fics from my team mates, but one of my favourite stories from this season was Hard Rock Cafe by Sabine(Kokoro893). It featured Lucius who enjoyed cross-dressing (Sabine never mentioned if he enjoyed, but I’m assuming as its such an awesome headcanon), and some Drarry. I’m not going to say more than that. Everybody needs to read it as it’s such a fresh concept. It was a very creative fic, and I would have loved more of it.

Ninja: My favorite and “proudest-of” fic this year is definitely Demolition Lovers. It was a massive AU, something I’ve never even tried before, with a pairing – Arthur/Narcissa – that I had never even pondered before. But I loved it. And I loved writing it. I got to use so many ideas and inspirations from my favorite films, I got to research weapons and places and settings. I wish it had gotten JP, but overall, I didn’t really care because I loved it SO much and got full points everywhere else. 

And as for my team, there’s too many stories to name that blew me away, but one that immediately comes to mind was The True Menace by Liz. She’s captured the heartbreaking essence of a young Snape perfectly, as well as Eileen and Tobias. When I was beta-reading it, I remember having to pause a few times because I had to spam comments and yell about how amazing it was lol. 

Sophie: My proudest story? Ooof. Difficult to say, because story-wise, there are a couple I was fairly proud of. I think the best put-together story I wrote for this season is Dance de l’Oiseau de Feu (from Round 2). I really think I put some of my best effort into that story, and I think it showcases a lot of the little artistic touches I like to put into my fics. Also, I love writing about ‘lesser-written’ Golden Trio-era characters, and while Pansy isn’t entirely ‘lesser-written,’ it’s rare to see character explorations like my fic. Funnily enough, I think this story got the lowest score out of all of them, but I’m the proudest of it nevertheless.

As for a rec from my team… Honestly, there’s so many. I loved The Hidden Game by Rayana from Round 4 (that’s also a Pansy story, though with considerably more Hermione… I think there’s a pattern here), it was such a genius way to use our theme. I loved Achilles, Achilles, Achilles Come Down by Mason in Round 3: it’s so rare nowadays that you see such lovely explorations of Harry and Ron’s friendship. And because I want to round off with three stories, my last honourable mention is Regret by Notyou from Round 2; Sirius/Marlene is quite a commonly written ship, and yet, the twist at the end still made me emotional.

THE iwsc awards

Each season, we give you feedback, judges picks, and points for all the things you do, but now it’s your turn. You cast all the votes for the IWSC Awards, which will be locked at 1 pm UTC 19th May.

We have a wide range of categories, but you vote for the winners. To vote, please follow the link. Please remember to read all the stories you haven’t already read before voting. 

Please vote for your favourites!

Peeves Hilarious Hijinks Award

This is the award for the best comedy fanfic from Season 3, and it just goes to show that Hogwarts were really having a blast with more comedy nominations than any other school!

Remus’ Cry and Cuddle Award

These are the stories that broke our judges hearts, remember to grab a hankie and dig into four fantastically hurt/comfort nominations. Ilvermorny were quite clearly determined to make everyone cry!

Fluffy’s Favourite Fluff Award

Fluffy Fanfiction is everybody’s guilty pleasure, and I’ll be honest, I don’t feel that bad about it. Beauxbatons dominated this category with four submissions!

The Erised AU Award

The best thing about fanfiction is that you can throw out the rule book and write it your way. This is a collection of all of our favourite alternate universes from season 3! It’s something that every school seems to be a dab hand at.

The Headmistresses also awarded two awards to the team members that truly helped their team. We didn’t feel it was right to put a vote on these awards because every single one of them has been outstanding.

Severus’ Snape’s Award for Prolific Reading and Reviewing

These students reviewed the most this season. This award was going to be the most reviews sent, however, there were a good handful that submitted the absolute maximum available. Therefore, we want you to vote for the best our of the reviewers below. Who’s reviews were the most uplifting, or did one particular reviewer help you grow the most?

  1. Durmstrang – KeepSmiling
  2. Durmstrang – Claude Amelia Song
  3. Beauxbatons – Ash Juillet
  4. Beauxbatons – Bea Weasley
  5. Ilvermorny – QuickSilverFox
  6. Ilvermorny – Accio-Broom

The Kingly Keeper Award 

These are the team members who put their heart and soul into beta reading! They worked hard, they did as much as they could and then a little bit more! So congratulations to the winners!

  • Beauxbatons – Ash Juillet
  • Ilvermorny – Accio-Broom 
  • Durmstrang – Viola Moon
  • Mahoutokoro – 3CheersforIdiots
  • Hogwarts – Butterflies765

The Hermione Granger Award

These are the team members that we just can’t live without. They put in a ton of effort and were always there to help someone out. These were especially hard to choose because it’s clear this competition breeds friendship, and even if you name isn’t called, you were a star!

  • Beauxbatons – Janie-Ohio
  • Ilvermorny – DrarryMadhatter
  • Durmstrang – Keepsmiling
  • Mahoutokoro – Ninja
  • Hogwarts – Be11atrixthestrange

Statistic-based Awards

We are taking a moment to acknowledge the sheer point scoring ability of some of our students. The attention to detail is clear from the volume of points they have managed to acrew over the last seven rounds. 

Outstanding O.W.L’s Award

This is the award for the highest average score for Writing School. This awards the person, who on average, submits both consistently and scores the highest on average! This shows how much skill the writer has or has learned and displayed through the techniques this season in Writing School. 

PACESO – Beauxbatons

With one of the highest averages this season and more submissions than most, Paceso has proven (yet again), that her technical skills are to be marvelled at! Congratulations!!

Runners up were:

  • LoverLoverLover – Beauxbatons
  • Be11atrixTheStrange – Hogwarts
  • Lady Sloane – Beauxbatons

Outstanding N.E.W.T’s Award

This is the award for the highest average score for Main Story submissions. The person who gains this award has had to focus on the multiple judged areas of writing. They have come out with the highest average score over the course of season 3.

LOVERLOVERLOVER – Beauxbatons

A highest average overall, nearly always towards top marks, LoverLoverLover has excelled. She’s proven that although she’s new to the IWSC, she means business! Congratulations.

Runners up were:

  • Lady Sloane – Beauxbatons
  • Janie-Ohio – Beauxbatons
  • Leprechaun – Ilvermorny

Fleurs Award for Amazing Exchanges

Exchanges are an important part of this competition. We have off days, busy weeks and real life comes and bites us in the butt. These exchanges managed to bag more points because they stepped in when they were needed the most. The highest average points for an exchange goes to:

SECRETFANFICLOVER – Durmstrang

Runners Up were:

  • LittleTee – Durmstrang
  • The Starry Writer – Ilvermorny
  • Liz Jean Tonks – Mahoutokoro

An interview with the hoggies

Welcome to Hogwarts Deputy, NightSerupticious, Emmy and DanceSpirit. Hogwarts, the first winning school of the IWSC decided to sit back and have fun this season, and we’re going to find out just how much fun they had.

Hi guys. Hogwarts is one of the only teams that wasn’t already an established team at the IWSC. Did you guys know each other before? How did this affect your team dynamic?

Emmy: I knew some people from other competitions but not all of them. I think it makes a difference in the fact that a conversation gets started faster with people you know vs with people you don’t know. So I think a team that knows each other might be quicker in plotting together and helping each other. For me it didn’t make a difference that I didn’t know a few people in the team, as I knew enough others to talk to and plot with. 

DanceSpirit: I knew a couple of people and some I got to know in other competitions. It’s easier to talk with people you do know and start up conversations. However that didn’t affect how I interacted with everyone else.

Nightsurreptitious: I don’t feel like it affected that much, to be honest. Since finding new people to chat with and get along with has always been the fun part of the comp for me.

There’s no secret that you guys didn’t partake in as many extra challenges as the other teams, and the goal was just to have fun. What I would like to know is, did you succeed, and if so, what was the most fun thing about the IWSC and being part of Hogwarts team? 

Emmy: I’m finding this a hard one as I ended up only writing one round, only joining in very late. I definitely had fun, but I knew that I would enjoy it before joining. Even though I didn’t have time for the challenges, I do enjoy scrolling through them and having a look at the puzzles and writing school. It’s something that I enjoyed last year too and really wish I had the time for this year, but RL unfortunately got in the way. 

DanceSpirit: IWSC was a lot of fun for me. I liked the prompts and how they were both open and directed. I find it hard when the prompts are too open like in some competitions so how they were written and directed was great. The people in Hogwarts were amazing too so it was great to get to know them.

NightSerupticious, you joined Hogwarts late in season 1, and followed Ruhi as her deputy in Year 3. How did you find taking on the deputy role this season?

Nightsuppeptitious: It was a little hard and there were a lot of things I wasn’t used to, but I think we managed somehow.

If you guys could steal a theme from any school this season, which would it be? 

DanceSpirit: I rarely checked other themes and I can honestly say nothing really marked me.

Nightsurreptitious: I think Ivermony’s found family theme in round 3

The finals have been underwraps and revealed slowly this season, allowing first and second place to choose their themes out of the three we had written. My question is, which of the three themes would you have chosen? 

Emmy: I think I would have gone for fear. I think it’s the one with most potential, especially as I do like to explore how a character is feeling or dealing with those feelings. Fear can be both very obvious and very subtle, giving loads of options.

DanceSpirit: I would go with Fate, I like to create a universe where Fate is a person that intervenes at an opportune time to change things. I wrote a story like that forgot if it was for QL or IWSC. 

Finally, can you name one story you were especially proud of, and why? As we pride ourselves on teamwork, name a story from a team member you think deserves special attention?

Emmy: There’s a few of mine that I’m proud of, but that’s probably because they challenged me the most. One of them is Finding the Truth, which I wrote last year for this competition (round 1 if my memory is correct). We had to write a genre we hadn’t done before, and I tend to not do genres as I find it hard to define which genre it is. But this one pushed me to do what I hadn’t done before and also showed me that I don’t only love reading mysteries, but enjoyed writing it too. 

As I joined late, and wasn’t very active, I don’t think I beta’d any fics for my team members, so I can’t name a specific story. I feel like I would be doing injustice to them if I went and looked for one, because I’m sure I would miss some great ones. But it’s definitely on my to do list to read fics from other people both within my team and outside of my team and start to review them. 

DanceSpirit: Okay this is a hard one since I have written a couple of stories that I am really happy I have written that were inspired by your prompts. Those that stand out are round 2 round 4 and round 6. But The Fall of Icarus round 4 was the one I had the most fun with. The special pairing rule made me think of something that had never crossed my mind or would have. James/ Rita pairing was a hard one but turned out really fun to write. It was both a funny and interesting spin on things.

I have Betaed a couple of stories for the team and loved all of them but I can’t point out the titles of any of them. 

Trivia and Puzzles

In this season’s feedback, there was a suggestion made about some of our challenges, and while all changes for season four aren’t finalised, we do have one change we will let you know about now. Trivia and Puzzles are now a team sport! 

Each school will work together on trivia and/or puzzle, the first school to get the correct answers will gain the five points, all other teams that get the correct answers will gain three points! We really hope you enjoy this change, and we hope it reinforces the team spirit we love at the IWSC.

Round 7 winners:

Trivia: 

  1. Leprechaun123 – Ilvermorny
  2. Ash Juillet – Beaubatons
  3. QuickSilverFox – Ilvermorny

Puzzle:

  1. Lady Sloane – Beauxbatons

Creative Corner Winners

In the final Creative Corner, you were asked to send us the newest shop on the wizarding highstreet! We had a lot of truly creative ideas, but there were three we just couldn’t choose between. 

  1. Janie Ohio – Beauxbatons
  2. LoverLoverLover – Beauxbatons
  3. Viola Moon – Durmstrang
Janie-Ohio – Beauxbatons

Shop: Arthur Weasley’s Muggle Mysteries —  Enchantments for the Enchanted

Arthur Weasley’s Muggle Mysteries is a shop selling enchanted muggle items, specializing in electronics. It began after the war as a small section of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, but the popularity soon earned its own storefront. He retired from the ministry to work at the shop full-time. 

Stocklist: 

  1. Electronics: such as laptop computers and televisions that use magic for power and pick up wireless internet and stations from any location
  2. Kitchen Appliances: such as toaster, microwaves, blenders. These run on magic, but also have magical settings. The toasters will also butter and jelly the bread for you, the microwaves automatically know when something is done, and the blenders pull ingredients from the bar to make the drinks. 
  3. Enchanted Muggle Toys: such as quacking rubber ducks that fly and flying aeroplanes that don’t require remote controls and will swoop the players
  4. Party items: such as disco balls that play music and rotate based on the mood of the people in the room and ferns that automatically vanish drinks (and other stuff that might be deposited at parties)
LoverLoverLover – Beauxbatons

Trelawney’s Transportation 

“Sybill Trelawney can take you anywhere! To Sheffield, Belfast, and even the great beyond!”

Griselda Marchbanks, York

“Hogwarts never deserved Sybill Trelawney! Her shop is amazing!”

— Howard Harris, Canterbury

After finally leaving Hogwarts, Sybill Trewlaney opened a Divination shop to help the ungifted population see their future — to be transported to the great beyond. Trelawney read palms, gazed into crystal balls, and analyzed tea leaves for all manner of people. 

She soon realized her shop’s name didn’t reflect the true purpose of her mission. How silly of people to not look beyond the known and obvious! So she expanded and is now the foremost supplier of Portkeys in Scotland! She’ll also provide free Floo powder, as long as the customer pays for her to read the way the ashes fall! 

Head over to Trelawney’s Transportation and browse her shelves, learn your future, and make your travel plans!

Stock List: 

  1. UK National Portkeys 
  2. Tea Sets & Tea Leaves
  3. Fortune Readings
  4. Tarot Cards
  5. Homemade Sherry
  6. Floo Powder
  7. Crystals & Cleansing Herbs
  8. Bead Jewelry & Shawls
Viola Moon – Durmstrang

Welcome to Dobby’s Sock Emporium! Staffed entirely by free elves! Upon entry into this woolen paradise, your personal shopper elf will create the item of your dreams. While Dobby may no longer be amongst us, we share his love of all things knitted, and therefore our products are handcrafted and customised to the customer. 

You want one spotted sock, one striped? No problem! 

Got to get a present for that person who just has everything? We got you covered!

Or maybe you want a house scarf to show off your gender identity, ask Winky for details about our Pride collection!

Dobby’s Sock Emporium, the leaders in wizarding knitwear. 

Stock List: 

  1. Pride knitwear – enchanted to show the wearers gender identity with built-in discretion function for those who aren’t out yet. 
  2. Customisable socks according to your outfit. Just place the sock on top of the item of clothing and it will change to compliment it. 
  3. Now the official seller of Hogwarts scarves and gloves
  4. Stockings with built in climate control and pain relief for older witches
  5. House Elf Fashion
  6. Onsies enchanted with a number of themes to fit the child’s personality.

The International Wizarding School Competition League Table

School Place Final Points
Beauxbatons 1st Place1813.25
Ilvermorny 2nd Place 1677.75
Durmstrang 3rd Place1527.25
Mahoutokoro 4th Place1524.5
Hogwarts 5th Place 840

Feel free to contribute to other aspects of the paper by sending a private message to the Competition account. We are always looking for pieces of fanart, and even your thoughts or recommendations. Even if you want to send a message to someone in the competition that you think has excelled, or maybe they helped you out? Send it to Aunt Molly! Anything else should be sent to Wizarding School Championship. In the Subject should be Wizarding World News: [Name the section of the paper you are writing about] depending on what you’re messaging about.

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