The Holly Poly Exchange

This is a reminder that the deadline for posting your assignment is 11:00am UTC on 25 January 2026, which is less than a day away. Please click here to see a countdown.

Please remember that we're only allowing extensions of 48 hours as standard. If you'll need one, send an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com before the deadline gets here.

We have two outstanding Pinch Hits that we really need a creator for so reveals can move forward as planned. Check out the latest Pinch Hit post to see them.

Posting your assignment

You have two ways of posting your assignment:

1. RECOMMENDED - Go to your Assignments page (https://archiveofourown.org/users/[YOURUSERNAME]/assignments), find Holly Poly 2025 and click Fulfill. AO3 will fill in the collection and recipient details automatically so you just need to fill in the rest.
2. Go to the AO3 Collection and click Post to Collection. Fill in the deatils as any other work you post on AO3. Don't forget to add your recipient in the field Gift this work to (copy/paste your recipient's username to make sure you have the correct one).

Posting your Treats

To post a Treat for someone you weren't assigned to, for a Pinch Hitter (find Pinch Hitter requests here), or to the Collection:

1. Go to the AO3 Collection and click Post to Collection. Fill in the deatils as any other work you post on AO3. Don't forget to add your recipient in the field Gift this work to (copy/paste your recipient's username to make sure you have the correct one).

Make certain that your assignment is actually posted by the deadline and not still a draft.

• For fics, if you're posting something that's multiple chapters then make certain all chapters have been posted by the deadline. If a work is still clearly unfinished at the deadline, it will not count as being posted even if you've started to post it.
• For podfics, check you're able to stream/download your work properly. We'll be checking for placeholders.
• For art, moodboards, gifs and videos, make sure you've embedded the correct work and that it is publicly viewable. Double check your image is hosted properly and won't be taken down before reveals.
• For fanmixes, make sure your fanmix is publicly available and that all songs listed on the tracklist are available

We'll be working hard reviewing and approving works during the following days. If your work has not been approved yet but you have not received an email from us, don't worry, we're still working on the queue.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment. Comments on this post are NOT screened but Anon is available. You can also reach us at holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com


Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2025
Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/25541
Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/holly-poly.bsky.social
Google Groups - Holly Poly Updates: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-updates
Google Groups - Holly Poly Pinchhits: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-pinchhits

Assignments are out! You should have received your assignment already, if not do let us know. Countdown timer links for both the default deadline and the fanworks due deadline have also been added to our schedule post and the collection profile now, so that you can keep track of when they are in your time zone.

There are seven initial pinch hits that we'll be sending out within the next day. They will be posted first to the Google Group for pinch hits and any not claimed over there will then be posted here/to our other socials. We'll also be putting up the Pinch Hitters Treats post soon as well, so keep a look out for that if you claim a pinch hit or if you might be interested in treating any of our pinch hitters.

If there's any issue with your assignment, or if you have any queries for us to pass onto your recipient, please send us an e-mail at holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com ASAP so that we can try to get it resolved.


Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2025
Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/25541
Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/holly-poly.bsky.social
Google Groups - Holly Poly Updates: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-updates
Google Groups - Holly Poly Pinchhits: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-pinchhits

The nominations are now all processed (final count: 401 fandoms and 2208 ships in the tagset) and signups are now open. They will remain so until 11:00am UTC on 26 November. You can see when the deadline is for your timezone at this countdown timer link.

If you nominated ships under Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena or Disney - All Media Types (for crossover Disney ships) - please contact us to let us know what you nominated as those fandoms are showing up empty and we think the nominations have been lost.

The sign-up form is here. If you have any difficulties, let us know by commenting on this post or sending an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com. Please make sure to familiarise yourself with the updated rules and the minimums for each type of fanwork, as well as reading through this post - you can find the rules over here.

As a reminder:
- You can request/offer 3-10 fandoms
- You can request/offer 1-20 relationships per fandom
- If you would like to request/offer any nominated relationship from a fandom, tick the "Any" box
- Make certain to choose which medium or mediums you are willing to create for each fandom

We'd like to ask you to check the tagset in its entirety before asking us about a fandom, as some fandoms have been renamed for disambiguation purposes. You can more easily search the tagset using the Auto AO3 App link here.

Please remember that Any really does mean any. Do not request or offer Any unless you mean it. Any does not mean "any relationships except for these certain ones" or "any relationships involving this character" or "this relationship that I really like but forgot to nominate." It means any relationship whatsoever that was nominated under that fandom and is currently listed in the tag set.

It is fine to include prompts asking that a fourth/fifth/sixth/etc. character be added to the relationship you've requested but this must be included in the optional details of your request, not just in a linked creator letter. (For example, if you requested Eleventh Doctor/Amy Pond/Rory Williams, you can include a prompt along the lines of: "... and if you want to have Jack Harkness join in, that's fine with me!") As with everything included in the Optional Details box or Dear Creator letter, though, please note that any such request is optional. Your creator is only required to create a fanwork for the specific relationship that you matched on.

Under the Requests section of the sign-up, there is a field to put a link to a Dear Creator letter if you have written one - it can be a placeholder link during signups but it should be filled out by the time assignments go out, and please make sure it's publicly accessible so your assignee can see it. There is also a box for Optional Details where you can put Do Not Wants, prompts, and various other details. While the optional details section of signups is optional, it is strongly suggested that participants include DNWs, which can be used to also provide guidance if the canon has some important bits you don't want mentioned. Any DNWs or triggers included in the signup itself will be enforced by the mods as long as they are reasonable (ie, something that the mods can easily look for and that isn't extremely subjective). Please do not put Do Not Wants behind html cuts in your signup, they should be clearly visible without needing to click on anything to ensure no one can miss them.

A note on requesting All Media Types fandoms:
All Media Types really means All Media Types: any version of the characters will be considered as fulfillment of the prompt. Please consider this in your sign up and add a note in the Optional Details box much like any other request. Note that any such request is optional. Your creator is only required to create a fanwork for the specific relationship that you matched on.

Any DNWs listed in letters but not the signup itself, as well as any general likes/dislikes/prompts/etc. listed in the signup or in letters, are optional for the creator.

Anyone requesting vids or other visual media is encouraged to list any accessibility requirements they have in their sign-up alongside other DNWs, such as no flashing lights, no fast-moving cuts, no high contrast, no songs by [insert artist here], etc. Please try to at least provide details about general music that you like/dislike as well if you request either vids or fanmixes. Providing aesthetic preferences for visual fanworks (including face claims if applicable for the fandom) is encouraged too, to give the person creating for you an idea of what you like.

For anyone requesting podfics, please indicate whether or not you'd like your own fanworks podficced and gifted to you. If possible, try to provide more information about your likes/dislikes as well so that the person creating a podfic for you can try to make sure the fic they're recording is one that you will enjoy.

When you submit your sign-up, there is also an Optional Details box located under the Offers section. If there is any specific topic, or rating, that is a strong DNW or trigger for you and you don't want to receive an assignment that mentions said topic even as an optional prompt, please provide details in that box. We will do our best to accommodate such requests when doing matching but cannot make any promises. You are also welcome to send an e-mail to the above address, if you prefer.

Participants will be matched on fandom, relationship, and medium (fanart, fanfic, fanvid, podfic). Please note that you only need to create a fanwork for one of the relationships requested; if you match on more than one, it is your decision which one (or ones) to choose.


Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2025
Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/25541
Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/holly-poly.bsky.social
Google Groups - Holly Poly Updates: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-updates
Google Groups - Holly Poly Pinchhits: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-pinchhits

Nominations are now closed and we're entering the nominations clean-up stage, which is where we finish processing any nominations left and check the tagset for errors before we open sign-ups. If your nominations aren't yet approved, they are either awaiting clarification if we've mentioned them in our first clarification post or will be checked by us within the next couple of days. If there are any issues with how your nominations were processed, please let us know.

Nominations are open, and they'll stay open through 11:00am UTC on 8 November - you can see a countdown timer at this link. You're allowed to nominate up to 10 fandoms, with up to 10 relationships per fandom. This year we have imported a subset of the tagsets from Holly Poly 2023 and 2024 via our pre-nominations phase to try and reduce the workload for us mods - please make sure to check the tagset before you nominate a ship to see if it is already included in the tagset. We recommend expanding all tagset categories before searching the page for any ships since some fandoms may not be in the section you expect due to us using slightly different fandom tags in some cases.

The tag set is located here: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/25541

You can also view this year's tagset on AO3 Automagic app at the link below to more easily search for ships included in it already, but it needs a re-scrape requested periodically to ensure it's up to date: https://autoao3app.firebaseapp.com/#/holly_poly_2025/tagset

In order to nominate a relationship, simply click the Nominate button located in the top right-hand corner of the tag set. If you do not have an account on the AO3, please let us know, and we should be able to get you an invite. On a similar note, if you have any questions, or if you're nominating something that you think might be confusing, please either post a comment to this post or send an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com if you'd rather keep it private.

For relationships that do not already have canonical tags, please nominate them in alphabetical order by last name (and, if they don't have a last name or multiple characters share a last name, then by first name). For example: Anders/Fenris/Bethany Hawke/Carver Hawke/Isabela/Merrill/Varric Tethras/Aveline Vallen, or Astrid Beck/Eadwulf Grieve/Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, or Sirius Black/Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks.

Please don't panic if we add some type of disambiguation to relationships that you nominate. Especially for ones where the same characters fall under different fandoms (various comic fandoms, movie/TV show vs. book fandoms, etc.), as doing so helps keeps tags from wandering to fandoms where they don't belong.

This is an exchange for romantic and/or sexual relationships, not friendships, so make certain to nominate relationships that use a "/" rather than a "&". If you want to request that a relationship be asexual/queerplatonic/etc., then that's something to include in your optional details when signing up.

Please make sure to read through the extra information below as some fandom disambiguations have changed from previous years. In general, when nominating a fandom or ship consider whether there are multiple sources/versions of either the canon or any of the characters and how to nominate in a way that makes it clearest which version you want. Please also keep an eye on the community during both the nominations period and the nominations clean-up period in case we post any clarifying questions about your nominations.


EDIT: updated on 28/10 to add in more info for Critical Role nominations

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( Information about how to nominate relationships for many of the larger or more complicated fandoms under the cut. )

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Please note that while [Specific Character]/[Specific Group of Characters] is acceptable as a nomination, [Specific Character]/Everyone is too broad.

For example: Lex Luthor/Lionel Luthor's Board Members is acceptable because "Lionel Luthor's Board Members" involves a finite group of people. The same goes for Voldemort/Death Eaters, Shipwrecked Sailor/Mermaids, and Peter Pan/Lost Boys. While Carol Danvers/Anyone and Everyone or Jack Harkness/Everyone He's Ever Met are understandable, they're too broad because it could essentially involve an infinite number of people.

If you have any questions about a relationship you want to nominate that might potentially be too broad, leave a comment or send an e-mail.

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RPF characters must be 18+ at the time of nomination. Significant others/children/etc. of public figures are not permitted unless they are public figures in their own right. For smaller RPF fandoms, providing information/links to help us verify the characters are eligible would be appreciated and will speed up RPF noms.

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If you have any questions about what fandom to use when making nominations, or any other questions in general - or if you find any errors in the tagset - please feel free to leave a comment on this post. You can also send an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com.



Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2025
Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/25541
Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/holly-poly.bsky.social
Google Groups - Holly Poly Updates: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-updates
Google Groups - Holly Poly Pinchhits: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-pinchhits