How Palo Alto Online runs its Short Story Contest on Dapple
Palo Alto Online has hosted one of California's most beloved community writing competitions for four decades. On Dapple, they replaced email and spreadsheets with a single workflow for entry intake, blind review, judging, payments, and entrant communications.
Background
What is the Palo Alto Online Short Story Contest?
Now in its 40th year, the Palo Alto Online Short Story Contest is one of the Bay Area's longest-running community writing competitions. Run by Palo Alto Online, it invites local writers from across Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Los Altos, Redwood City, and surrounding communities to submit original short fiction.
The contest runs three age-based categories: Teen (ages 12–14), Young Adult (ages 15–17), and Adult. Entry fees apply — $20 for Adult entries, $10 for Teen and Young Adult — with prize money up to $500 for Adult first place and gift certificates for the younger categories. First-place stories are published in print and online.
Entries are reviewed blind by separate panels of local published authors. Managing that process across hundreds of entries and multiple independent panels had become a serious logistical challenge.
The Problem
What broke down when running a multi-category literary contest without the right tools?
Running a writing competition across three age brackets, with separate judging panels, entry fees, and a blind-review requirement, pushes the limits of email and spreadsheets.
Before Dapple, administration relied on a fragile combination: web forms for submission, manual file handling to strip identifying information, and email chains to coordinate judges.
Entries arrived as attachments or form submissions and had to be sorted manually by category
Blind review required manual checking and renaming of every PDF, with no audit trail
Separate judging panels had no shared workspace — feedback was collated by hand
Entry fees were handled outside the submission flow, creating reconciliation delays
Outcome communications required manual individual or bulk email sending
"We'd been doing this for years, but there was always this frantic scramble between when submissions closed and when we could actually get stories in front of judges. Dapple removed that entirely."
Heidi Hartley, Director of Marketing and Audience Development, Embarcadero Media
Getting Started
How did Palo Alto Online set up its first Dapple-powered contest cycle?
Setup was straightforward. Dapple's customer success team worked with the contest coordinator to map the full submission journey before building the form: categories, fee structure, judging stages, and communication touchpoints.
The form was configured to collect category choice, author contact details, and payment, while keeping story files clean for blind review.
The Solution
How did Dapple handle entries across three age categories and two judging panels?
The contest structure is operationally complex: three age categories, two judging panels, and blind pre-screening before the main panel review. Dapple handled this through built-in category routing and panel workflows.
Once submissions closed, entries were managed in Teen, Young Adult, and Adult pools. Judges logged into personal workspaces to read, vote, and comment independently, while admins tracked progress centrally.
Entries split into Teen, Young Adult, and Adult categories within the platform — no manual sorting
Separate judging panels assigned per category with individual accounts for each judge
Blind review maintained automatically — story files reviewed without author names visible
Judges used voting and written comments to assess each entry in their assigned pool
Admin moved shortlisted entries into a final round for collective group assessment
Full audit trail maintained throughout — every vote and comment timestamped and logged
"Having the judges log in directly to the platform rather than emailing their notes back to us was the single biggest time-saver. Everything was in one place and I could see where we were at a glance."
Heidi Hartley, Director of Marketing and Audience Development, Embarcadero Media
Payments
How did Palo Alto Online handle entry fees through the submission process?
Entry fees are core to the contest: $20 for Adult entries and $10 for Teen and Young Adult. Previously, payments were managed separately from submission, creating reconciliation work and occasional gaps.
By connecting Stripe to Dapple, payment moved into the submission flow. Entrants paid at the point of submission, so every entry in the system was paid — no chasing and no cross-referencing spreadsheets.
Stripe connected directly to the contest submission form
Payment required as part of submission — no separate invoicing or follow-up
Adult ($20) and Teen/Young Adult ($10) fee tiers handled automatically by category
Payment records visible alongside each entry for easy reconciliation
"The submission and payment flow finally became one process instead of two disconnected tasks."
Heidi Hartley, Director of Marketing and Audience Development, Embarcadero Media
Judging
What did the panel workflow look like for the Short Story Contest judges?
Palo Alto Online relies on local published authors as judges. The contest runs two panels: one for Teen, and one for Adult plus Young Adult.
In Dapple, each judge received a personal account with access only to assigned entries. They could read, vote, and leave comments independently. Once individual scoring finished, shortlisted entries were moved into a final group assessment stage for consensus.
Each judge had a personal account with access only to assigned entries
Two independent panels supported in one contest cycle
Voting and written comments captured directly in-platform
Individual review completed before group discussion stage opened
Final-round consensus managed centrally by the coordinator
"The judges were used to receiving a pile of PDFs by email. When they could just log in and see their assigned stories already waiting for them, in a clean reading view with space to leave their thoughts, it changed the dynamic completely."
Heidi Hartley, Director of Marketing and Audience Development, Embarcadero Media
Applicant Communications
How were all entrants notified of the contest outcome?
Communicating results is one of the most labour-intensive parts of running a writing competition, especially at high entry volume.
Using Dapple's bulk email tools, the coordinator sent segmented outcome notifications directly in-platform — winners, shortlisted entrants, and unsuccessful entrants — without exporting to a separate email system.
All entrants updated on their outcome via email sent through Dapple
Outcome communications segmented by result — winners, shortlisted, and unsuccessful entrants
No manual export to a separate email platform required
Communications sent on the day results were published without delay
Post-Call Admin
How did the team manage final-round and post-decision admin?
After judging rounds closed, contest admins could move shortlisted stories, confirm outcomes, and keep entry history and panel feedback in one system.
The result was a cleaner operational handoff from review to publication and announcements, without rebuilding context from email threads and spreadsheets.
Entries remained fully searchable and filterable after decisions were made
Outcome status and judge feedback retained in one record
Coordinator could manage finalist movement without external spreadsheets
Platform history supported cleaner handover and year-on-year continuity
Administrative overhead reduced without changing contest standards
Post-Show Analytics
What reporting visibility improved after moving the contest to Dapple?
With all submissions, category assignments, payment records, and judging activity in one place, Palo Alto Online gained a cleaner operational record for each contest cycle. Optional exports can be used with tools like Claudefor deeper analysis.
This improved continuity between editions and reduced the time spent reconstructing decisions from fragmented systems.
"The biggest win was visibility. We could see submission status, judging progress, and communications in one place instead of hunting for answers across tools."
Heidi Hartley, Director of Marketing and Audience Development, Embarcadero Media
Results
What changed when Palo Alto Online moved its contest to Dapple?
The same contest now runs to a higher operational standard with substantially less manual effort.
| Metric | Before Dapple | With Dapple |
|---|---|---|
| Entry intake | Web form submissions sorted manually into categories | Entries collected and categorised automatically on submission |
| Payment | Separate from submission, requiring manual reconciliation | Stripe integrated — payment required to complete entry |
| Blind review | Files manually checked and renamed to strip identifying details | Entries reviewed through Dapple without author info visible to judges |
| Judging panels | PDFs emailed to judges; feedback collected by email | Judges log in to personal accounts; voting and comments in one place |
| Final round | Shortlists collated manually for group discussion | Admin moves entries into final round directly in the platform |
| Outcome comms | Individual or batch emails composed and sent manually | All entrants notified through Dapple on results day |
Why It Works
Why does this workflow work for literary contests?
Dapple keeps intake, payments, panel review, and entrant communications in one operational system, which is exactly what high-volume community contests need.
Instead of stitching together multiple tools at every stage, teams can run a repeatable annual process with stronger quality control and lower admin burden.
"We didn't change the standards of the contest. We changed the system around it, and everything became easier to run."
Heidi Hartley, Director of Marketing and Audience Development, Embarcadero Media
Running a competition or open call? Dapple handles the whole process — entries, payments, judging, and communications — without the spreadsheet scramble.