Celebrity Dead Pool 2010

It’s that time of year again.

Well, it’s actually well and truly past that time, but there you are.

Time waits for no man.

And neither does Celebrity Dead Pool 2010!

Because of my dreadful tardiness we’ll begin the competition a little late this year, on the completely arbitrary date I’ve chosen of Sunday 17 January.

That gives you ghouls a whole ten days to put together your nomination lists and email them to me at ilikeportello@gmail.com.

Scoring and rules are more or less the same as last year but really, it’s not rocket science.

Write a list of 10 celebrities you think are not long for this world and send it on in.

Of course, if you’re the sort of person who’s into details you can read all the fine print below.

And if you’re looking for some inspiration, check out some of last year’s nominations.

Get tipping, people … and good luck!

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The Rules

1. All nominated celebrities must be human and must be alive as at 12am on 17 January 2010.

2. If you make a nomination and the person dies before 12am on 17 January 2010, you may substitute another name. You will have 1 day's grace, and the substitution must happen before 12am on 18 January 2010.

3. Nominated persons must be famous or infamous in their own right, not (for example) because they're sick, or because they're very old, or because they're hideously and tragically deformed, or because they're about to undergo an extraordinary, ground-breaking and very risky operation.

4. For a death to be valid, it must be reported by at least one major mainstream media outlet. Examples include AP, AAP, Reuters, a major national or metropolitan newspaper or a major national or metropolitan TV network. Your blog doesn't count.

5. The death of a local celebrity will only be valid if their death is reported by a national media outlet, or by a major media outlet in another city.

6. If a nominated person is on death row or known to have a terminal illness at the start of the game, no points will be awarded if they die of the expected cause. Similarly, if a nominated person is being held hostage at the start of the game, no points will be awarded if they are killed by their captors or in a rescue attempt. Points will be awarded only if such a nominated person dies from another unrelated cause.

7. Each nomination list may have at most 10 names.

8. Any attempts to influence the result via homicidal acts (direct or indirect) will result in immediate disqualification.

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Scoring

1. The score awarded for a correctly predicted death will be equal to 100 minus Age at Date of Death.

2. A person's "age" will be defined as their Age Last Birthday. This figure is incremented at the instant of 12am on the date of the person's birthday. This means that if a person dies on their birthday, their age is taken as the age they had just become that day.

3. If a person is over the age of 100 at their date of death, the score will be zero.

4. In the event of dispute about a person's precise age, the issue will be investigated by the moderator (me) and a decision made based on the best available evidence. The moderator's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered in to.

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