Be sure you are familiar with the calendar's background before tackling an entry.
We wish to use the calendar to highlight underappreciated 1 and useful Perl modules. These are typically on CPAN but may be a part of the CORE, or housed elsewhere. These modules tend to be a bit older and more mature, but up-and-comers are also welcome, as is the occasional utility in Perl.
You should consult the calendar archives for an idea of what we're looking for, and what to avoid duplicating without good reason. Code which is generally useful to larger numbers of people is more intersting, but modules for specialized fields such as BioPerl can provide readers with a window into the wide variety of arenas in which Perl is used.
Note: We generally consider writing about your own module a conflict of interest, besides which you're probably too close to the material. Only rarely do we cover an Acme:: module, for variety.
Ideally an article title would relate to both the topic at hand as well as Christmas. This can be quite difficult so suitably geeky/punny titles only relating to the topic are also acceptable.
Please consult the 2006 and especially 2005 calendars' entries for an idea of the writing style. We prefer entries that are a bit "tighter" than a typical magazine column about Perl i.e; Step-by-step annotation of the code sample's purpose/writing process should be avoided. Think "suitable for a quick break at work." There should generally be only a single code sample at the end of the article, which is commented as necessary and easy to understand after the body of the article has been read. The sample serves as a simple example of module use and a seed for cargo-culting by readers experimenting further with the featured module. Submissions requiring less editing are more likely to be accepted.
Additional style considerations include:
Be advised that submissions may be edited for style and only rarely for content. Upon submission we will provide inital feedback for you to consider and incorporate. We try to be open about the editing process and will do our best to provide you with a sample before hand, though this may not always be possible and we will not wait indefinitely for follow-up.
Be aware that entries are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License. See the FAQ for further details. If you have stong ethical objections to this, we may accept an alternative license at our discretion.
Decisions to publish are at the discretion of the editor and final. When submitting an entry please also indicate if we may keep it on file for future consideration.
Hopefully all of the details have made things clearer, not scared you off, and you're ready to contribute and have some fun.
Best of luck.
1. Underappreciated is not wholly exclusive of being listed on the Phalanx 100, but it's much harder to make the case for something that's downloaded so often as being underappreciated.