Here are the steps needed to set up the contest (minus the marketing - MassMessages, watchlist notices, etc; that needs to be handled separately):
Determine the contest start and end dates for the first and second rounds; historically, these have each been two weeks.
Create the contest home page. You can just copy from the previous year's page (for example, Commons:Picture of the Year/2023). Make sure to update anything that needs it (eg. "is the eighteenth edition" -> "is the nineteenth edition"), and add the previous year's winner to the gallery.
Install the admin script by adding importScript("User:Ingenuity/poty-admin.js"); to your common.js page.
Ensure you are listed at MediaWiki:POTY/committee.json, and that you have autopatrol or admin rights so you won't be stopped by abuse filters.
Navigate to Commons:Picture of the Year/2023/Admin This page doesn't exist, but that's fine. The script should open an interface (see image to the right).
Click the "Initialize contest" button. Keep the tab in focus and do not close it until you see "Done!" This may take up to 10 minutes. If it takes longer than that, open the console to check if there are any errors.
Navigate to Commons:Picture of the Year/2023/Gallery. Go through each of the categories, and make sure that everything is in the right place. Pay particular attention to the "Uncategorized and other" section; some of the images there may not be eligible, or should be in another category (also see this discussion). Recategorize or remove anything that needs it.
And that's it! The actual running of the contest is even simpler:
On the start date of the first round, navigate to Commons:Picture of the Year/2023/Admin and click the "start first round" button. Keep the tab in focus and do not close it until you see "Done!" This should only take a few seconds. If it takes longer than that, open the console to check if there are any errors.
Go to a category page to make sure you are able to vote.
On the start date of the second round, navigate to Commons:Picture of the Year/2023/Admin and click the "start second round" button. Keep the tab in focus and do not close it until you see "Done!" This may take quite a while, since it needs to check each user's eligibility individually. If it takes longer than an hour, open the console to check if there are any errors.
Go to the finalists category page and make sure you are able to vote. The raw results will be posted to Commons:Picture of the Year/2023/Results/R1; do some spot checks to make sure the votes were counted correctly. If the number of ineligible voters is high, this is a sign something could be wrong.
On the end date of the contest, navigate to Commons:Picture of the Year/2023/Admin and click the "end contest" button. Keep the tab in focus and do not close it until you see "Done!" This may take quite a while, since it needs to check each user's eligibility individually. If it takes longer than an hour, open the console to check if there are any errors.
The contest results will be posted automatically to Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2023/Results/All. You may also wish to post these results in another location, which needs to be done manually.
If you experience any errors, please let User:Ingenuity know.
