This is a growing community helping talented minnows accelerate their growth on Steemit. 

<center><b>Signup here for the opportunity to be in the next "Six of the Best"
The best minnow content creators will receive:
<em>==> a share of special post rewards <==
==> increased visibility to attract new followers and upvotes <==
==> free upvotes and resteems <==
++> a dedicated chatroom open only to MAP participants <++
++> a chance to be published in "Tales from the MAP Room" [NEW!] <++
^^> a chance to enter our NEW Collaborative Contest for MAP Memebers only [NEW!] <^^
!!!-->and the chance to win 200 SP delegated for 7 days! <--!!!</em></b></center>
 
<center>http://i.imgur.com/66Fl64X.png</center>

<h3>TLDR: The Short Rules</h3>

$ Add a Comment below stating your desire to participate in a MAP contest.
$ Upvote and resteem this post - as a small thank-you for my reading your blog.
$ If you are chosen then I will reply to your comment.
$ If you are not chosen, then you may try again in the future; I may leave a comment with suggestions.
$ That's it! Look forward to seeing our highly creative Steemian on board!

<h3> The Proper Rules</h3>

As of today, the Minnows Accelerator Project (MAP) is on its *19th MAP contest* with *over 100 MAP members*. Every few days a NEW Signup page is published to encourage fresh participants. The latest Signup page can always be found on the @accelerator Homepage website link. The Minnows Accelerator Project is managed by me, @rycharde, but has outgrown my personal account, hence the creation of @accelerator.  Please follow this account for all updates, contests and publications.

So how will this work? Please read the rules carefully. They are not complicated but there are a few steps involved.

<h3>Step 1 - Are you a minnow? [UPDATED]</h3>

As the Steemit platform grows, so the definition of "minnow" needs to be flexible. After some thought, I am currently setting the definition as a user with less than 1000 SP (excluding any delegated SP) and fewer than 1000 followers. If you have under 1000 SP because you have cashed out, then you don't count as a minnow. You must also be a Steemian for at least one month. I am prepared to be flexible to any outliers, just tell me in your comment.

<h3>Step 2 - Sign up with a comment to this post.</h3>

Very simply, if you wish to be considered then just add a comment below, then upvote and resteem this post. I will look through each blog in the order in which comments are left based on their timestamp. I shall also repost the Signup pages when they get too full; there will always be a link to the latest page on the @accelerator profile page. 

<h3>Step 3 - Six content creators chosen for Step 4</h3>

I will select the first six good content creators to be included in a post entitled "Six of the Best".

I know there is a subjective element to this, but I do read a lot of posts and am also a published author of non-fiction. To avoid disappointment, let me highlight a very short list of the qualities I shall be looking for. This Signups post will be reposted at the start of every month, so if you have made significant strides in your blogging skills you are certainly welcome to add your name again.

= I shall be looking at your recent blog posts, not just one article.
= Your posts must be your own work. It is very easy to check for plagiarism online, even if the bots don't catch it.
= If you are mainly a writer, please check for punctuation and spelling. The editors on Steemit and chainBB will underline spelling errors but it is up to you to correct them.
= Images must be appropriate, resized to fit the text and give balance and aesthetic appeal to the article.
= If you are mainly posting artwork or videos, it really helps to add at least a paragraph about the content or the inspiration behind the work.
= I shall not select bloggers whose main topics are political or religious, or any other topic that is by its nature partisan and potentially divisive. [NEW!]
= And finally, I shall be scanning your comments and replies to see that you are already engaging with other established content creators. I expect all winners to use their delegated 200 SP wisely.

<h3>Step 4 - Six of the Best up for votes [UPDATED]</h3>

Every 1 or 2 days I shall publish a "Six of the Best" article with a list of the six chosen content creators. The rest of the community can vote on their favourite minnow authors. Voting currently takes place using both online polls and upvotes. I will ignore bot votes.

These six minnows are *already winners*! I will use a feature known as Reward Distribution, available within chainBB, to give each of the minnows a 10% share in the author rewards generated by each post. These will automatically appear in each user's account on payout, and will be paid in 100% SP. I will also upvote and resteem at least one recent article from each participant. Each person will also be invited to a private chatroom dedicated to MAP participants to help in future growth.

At the end of the 7-day reward period, the person with the highest number of human votes will win 200 SP delegated for 7 days! If the voting is very close, I will consider having more than one winner.

MAP members are also now published in the community magazine, "Tales from the MAP Room"; this also uses the Reward Distribution feature to share the post rewards with each author. A new venture is also being launched to promote collaborative posts across different creative disciplines. Stay tuned by following @accelerator!

<h3>Step 5 - Repeat Steps 3 and 4</h3>

I will continue to go through this Signup list of comments and select six authors every day or two. There is no need to leave multiple comments. I will create a new Signup page about every 10 days. 

<center><h3>The aim of the Minnows Accelerator Project is to help talented minnows accelerate their progress on Steemit.</h3></center>

<center>You may also leave questions if anything above is unclear.</center>

<center>If you wish me to read your blog, you may use the magic phrase "read me!"</center>

<center>If you just wish to leave a comment, don't use the magic phrase!</center>

<center><h3>Support the Minnows Accelerator Project</h3></center>

<center>You can support the MAP community and all its content creators by:</center>
<center>Following @accelerator, reading and upvoting [the authors on the Best Feed on Steemit!](https://steemit.com/@accelerator/feed)</center>
<center>Resteeming our articles so that more quality content creators will join MAP</center>
<center>Donating or delegating SP to @accelerator so that we may reward our authors - this could include you!</center>
<center>Vote for @rycharde as [a witness](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@rycharde/witness-introduction-part-1-balancing-witnesses)</center>
<center>Thank You!</center>

<center>http://i.imgur.com/7mXSeol.png</center>


<center>Current "Six of the Best" contests</center>

<center>["Six of the Best" MAP24 Minnow Contest [Vote Now - Win Upvotes]](https://steemit.com/minnowsupport/@accelerator/six-of-the-best-map24-minnow-contest-vote-now-win-upvotes)</center>

<center>["Six of the Best" MAP23 Minnow Contest [Vote Now - Win Upvotes]](https://steemit.com/minnowsupport/@accelerator/six-of-the-best-map23-minnow-contest-vote-now-win-upvotes)</center>

<center>["Six of the Best" MAP22 Minnow Contest [Vote Now - Win Upvotes]](https://steemit.com/minnowsupport/@accelerator/six-of-the-best-map22-minnow-contest-vote-now-win-upvotes)</center>


<center>http://i.imgur.com/BwTXiCZ.jpg</center>

The Minnows Accelerator Project was created and is managed by @rycharde. Please consider [voting for me as witness](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@rycharde/how-to-vote-for-a-witness-outside-the-top-50-and-what-not-to-do).