10 Items or Less 2025 Masterpost

[pendulumscale]

The 10 Items or Less Exchange welcomes authors and artists from all fandoms to request and create works for any ship with 10 works or less on ao3. Ships must be tagged with a / (no & for this exchange).

Ao3 collection | FAQ | Tag Set | Nomination Form | Sign Up Form | Ao3 AutoMagic Request Sorter

Schedule

• Nominations: Aug 24-Sept. 6 (closes at 7:00 PM ET)

• Sign Ups Open: Sept. 7 at 9:00 AM ET

• Sign Ups Close: Sept. 21 at 9:00 AM ET

• Assignments Due: Oct. 25 by 11:59 PM ET (Countdown)

• Works Revealed: Oct. 26 at 9:00 AM ET

Nominations

Nominations take place for 2 weeks, and participants are allowed to nominate 5-10 ships for unique fandoms. Ships must have 10 or fewer works in their tag, allowing for use of otp: true (See this post on otp: true for more info). RPF is allowed as long as the people requested are 18 or over. Character/Reader and OC/Character ships are not allowed since that's not the focus of this event. This event uses the honor system for nominations, so if I'm told that a ship does not fit this criteria, it will be deleted from the nomination pool.

Sign ups

Sign ups will take place over 2 weeks. Participants can sign up with 5-10 requested ships and can share an optional sign up letter. DNWs are limited to only 10 bullet points and must be listed in the ao3 sign up or else they will be unenforceable. You may share as many likes or prompts as you'd like! All mediums are welcome for this event, and requests may not be limited to only fic or only art.

You may must offer fills for 10 fandoms (ao3 set this as the max limit) with up to 20 ships per fandom in your sign up. It's strongly encouraged that you offer fandoms and ships outside of what you requested in your sign up to increase the odds that you'll be matchable. If you want to sort current requests, look here https://autoao3app.firebaseapp.com/#/10ItemsOrLess_2025.

Once match ups happen, if you cannot be matched, I will make a pinchhitter post on Dreamwidth and allow 2 weeks for claims. If you are still unmatchable after this, unfortunately your request will need to be dropped from the event.

Creation Period

Participants create their fanworks over 1 month. All mediums are welcome for this event, and there is no minimum for any medium. If you personally would be happy receiving the fanwork you're creating, then it is welcome in this event. If not, then try again, idk lol :).

If you think you'll need to drop out after you've been given an assignment, please contact the mod immediately via email at whimwitch @ protonmail . com (remove spaces). If you drop out without ever saying anything and do not post your fanwork during the posting period, you will be banned from participating in future runs of this exchange.

Posting

All works must be posted and revealed by the posting deadline. Works will be anonymous for 1 week, then authors/artists will be revealed after this. If you want your piece to remain anonymous after reveals, add it to the anonymous collection. ANONYMOUS WORKS MUST ALSO BE PART OF THE 10 ITEMS OR LESS COLLECTION! DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THE ANON COLLECTION FOR THIS EXCHANGE! You can de-anon at any time by removing your work from the anonymous collection.

Works must be complete by the posting deadline. If a work is not posted by the deadline, it will be assumed that you've dropped out without warning. Extensions are not granted for this exchange.

Please thank your gifter for their work after your receive it! This is not an enforced rule, but it's super rude to not verbally acknowledge someone that created something for you.

Comments

[loveisshort]

Thanks for organizing this, I love to see tiny ships be given an event to get the spotlight! Question: are crackships allowed in this event?

[pendulumscale]

Crack ships are totally fine to nominate as long as it meets the requirements!

[badass_tiger]

Hi! I can't get the link about the otp:true filter to load no matter what I do, is there anywhere else I can read about it?

[pendulumscale]

hi! here's the link in case you're having trouble clicking on it https://ao3commentoftheday.tumblr.com/post/734811399737491456/all-about-ao3s-otptrue-filter

if it still doesn't work, there are other posts out there if you google "ao3 otp: true".

[badass_tiger]

Oh yes that works, thank you!

[trashgaylie]

interestingly I noticed that the Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005) tags are under "Books & Literature", while the Chronicles of the Avatar tags are under "Cartoons & Comics & Graphic Novels". were they mixed up? The Chronicles of the Avatar is a novel series, i wouldve expected it under books & literature :3

by the way, are we allowed to submit entries to the 10 items or less collection if we don't sign up for the event? i cant sign up because i more likely than not wouldn't be able to participate, but i do happen to spontaniously find the time to, id love to be able to add a work to the collection

[pendulumscale]

i don't have control over where a pairing is categorized, so it's an issue with ao3's tag wrangling. id recommend messaging ao3 directly about it. anyone can nominate ships. only people that are signed up and given an assignment can add works to the collection.

[ziazippy5379]

Are crossovers that meet the criteria allowed for this event?

[pendulumscale]

yes, just pick whatever fandom will be the "main fandom" for the pairing since you can't pick more than one fandom for a nomination. there was already a crossover pairing nominated as a crack ship.

[lukadian]

Hello, is there still time to sign up? This post indicates that sign ups are open till Sept. 7th but it looks like the AO3 link shows that sign ups are closed! I’d love to squeeze in for this if there’s still room!

EDIT: I CANT READ IGNORE THIS, looks like sign up OPENS the seventh. I did toss a few nominations into the ring!

[pendulumscale]

No worries! Glad you could make nominations and I hope you'll also be able to sign up!

[flaskbringer]

I can't nominate more than 1 ship per fandom?

[pendulumscale]

Correct. See the FAQ on Ao3.

[hikarimew]

I'm a bit confused by the sign-ups. Do we need to wait for a nominated ship to have a full Request before we can pick them up for fills?

[pendulumscale]

You can wait if you want. I would suggest signing up offering whatever you'd like! Many times in exchanges, people re-review requests to see if there's anything they're interested in towards the end of sign ups and edit their sign up accordingly. For now, I'd just suggest offering fandoms/ships that aren't exactly the same as what you're requesting.

If it's easier to filter requests using Ao3 AutoMagic, here's a link: https://autoao3app.firebaseapp.com/#/10ItemsOrLess_2025

If no one signed up requesting whatever you've offered, then I can reach out and see if there's anything else that can be worked out with anyone else that's unmatchable.

[hikarimew]

And our requests don't have to be stuff we nominated? We can steal others' nominations if they call out to us?

[pendulumscale]

Yep, anything in the tag set is fair game. Plenty of people might miss nominations but make it to sign ups.

[ultra_fic]

'You may offer fills for 10 fandoms...' I took this to mean that I MAY offer 10 fandoms, but that I didn't have to, but the sign up form won't let me submit unless I have 10. Makes me sad, because now I can't sign up, but I thought it might be worth pointing out my misinterpreting of the rules, just in case you want to reword it to 'You MUST offer' or something? Just a suggestion.

[pendulumscale]

Originally it read "you may offer fills for 10-20..." Ao3 only allows 10 max (didn't learn this until setting up, which is unfortunate!). Didn't change the wording for that specific word, so I'll make an edit. Thanks!

[ultra_fic]

That makes sense - best of luck with the exchange :)

[27twinsister]

Will people be able to claim a pinch hit without being signed up for the exchange?

[pendulumscale]

Yes! Anyone can claim a pinch hit once these are shared up until 2 weeks before the post deadline.

[bring_me_sugar]

Are there any length limits?

[pendulumscale]

From Creation Period above:

Participants create their fanworks over 1 month. All mediums are welcome for this event, and there is no minimum for any medium. If you personally would be happy receiving the fanwork you're creating, then it is welcome in this event.

[bring_me_sugar]

Oh for heaven's sake, how did I miss that?! thank you.

[pendulumscale]

No worries!

[loveisshort]

I was wondering, if there's any missing pieces after the deadline is due, will there be a pinch hitting announcement here like there was for assignment placement?

[pendulumscale]

Unfortunately, if people do not complete their assignment, then the requesters prompt will not be reassigned. Anyone that does not complete their assignment on time will not be able to participate if I run this in the future, but people are welcome to treat as much as they want.