I also think that a shorter period is better - three months, preferably. Four months, tops. Just like cookielaura said, otherwise there's no motivation and things get ignored till the very end (and then it's panic time) or everything's ready at the beginning and then frustration sets in because of the long waiting period.

I haven't voted on the art questions obviously *g* but experience in other fandoms show me that shorter periods for both artists and writers help keeping things running smoothly.

As for the starting date, I went with June for the simple reason that I'll be on vacay in May and therefore very likely not online for pretty much a week, and I might miss important dates. Yes, I'm totally selfless. *g* Generally, I wouldn't mind May though. But yeah, LET'S GET RID OF THE CURRENT MOD ALREADY!!11! ;P