Our 2009 fund drive for the Writercon Scholarship Fund is about to get underway. What's March Madness? It's a friendly competition that runs throughout March to see whose fandom(s) raise the most money. Each day will bring a new battle, as fan favorites (characters, shows, pairings) are pitted against each other, and the one with the most donations/votes from our list of contenders will be declared that day's winner. No matter what, all fandom wins -- because this scholarship means we'll have the pleasure of the company of even more fans when we have our big fannish party in Minneapolis this summer.

Each weekday has a theme, and here are the challenges for the first week of March Madness:

3/1 Straight Shipper Sunday: Buffy/Angel (BtVS), Wash/Zoe (Firefly), Hardison/Parker (Leverage), Booth/Brennan (Bones)

3/2 Monday's Men - The Woobiest Woobie in Woobieville: Dean Winchester (SPN), Spike (BtVS), Logan Echolls (Veronica Mars), Lex Luthor (Smallville), Severus Snape (Harry Potter)

3/3 OTPs and OT3s (YMMV) Tuesday (het, slash and threesomes): Sam/Dean (SPN), Willow/Tara (BtVS), House/Cuddy (House), Roslin/Adama (BSG), Doctor/Rose/Jack (Doctor Who)

3/4 Wednesday's Women - Kickass Women: Buffy Summers (BtVS), Starbuck (BSG), River Tam (Firefly), Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)

3/5 Wildcard Thursday: Lesser Represented Fandoms (per the Writercon interests poll) Life on Mars, Farscape, Friday Night Lights, X-Files, Smallville, Naruto

3/6 Friday Night Fights!!!! Multi-fandom Jack-Off: Jack O'Neill (SG1), Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who/Torchwood), Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), Jack Shephard (Lost), Jack Hodgins (Bones), Jack Bauer (24), Jack Fenelli (Ryan's Hope)

3/7 Saturday Slash: Spike/Xander (BtVS), Xena/Gabrielle (Xena), Jack/Ianto (Torchwood), Lupin/Sirius (Harry Potter)

So come check out the first challenge on March 1, and each day throughout the month. We'll be reporting the totals/winners of each faceoff, and we'll see how much money we can raise on behalf of our fellow fans!

(And if you don't see your fan favorites in this week's competitions, keep watching -- we're here all month!)