Announcing the launch of three contests: The mascot 2009 contest, the program book cover 2008 contest, and the pocket programming book cover 2008 contest!
Artists, here's your chance to make your work a part of Kumoricon. The winner of the mascot contest will receive a free Artist Alley booth at Kumoricon 2009!
The mascot will be prominently used in Kumoricon art and publicity material for the 2009 convention year, including but not limited to the web site, promotional flyers and posters, advertisements, merchandise, and badges/membership cards. It should be an immediately attractive, original, anime-style character or characters reflecting the "cloudy" theme of Kumoricon, typically with an umbrella. We need two versions: one adult or teen, and one chibi.
The cover of the 2008 convention program book introduces attendees to the convention upon arrival; every attendee receives one. It is full color and letter size. Fully detailed, colorful backgrounds and foregrounds work best.
The cover of the 2008 pocket programming guide is a smaller, simpler design, in grayscale. Lightly detailed and shaded or all-white backgrounds, with strong, contrasting shades, lines, and geometric patterns work best.
All contests:- Entries must be received by Sunday, July 6, 2008, 11:59:59 PM, Pacific Daylight Time.
- Entries must be emailed to publicity@kumoricon.org, with the files included as attachments. If the files are too big to attach, you can use YouSendIt or a similar service (please one that does not require registration for the recipient), or ask at publicity@kumoricon.org to arrange alternate delivery.
- Entries must be accompanied by
1. The full name of the entrant or entrants.
2. The name or nickname, if different, to display as the credit for the entry in the gallery, once voting is closed.
3. Entries must be sent from a working email address at which we can contact you.
- Entries should in some way represent themes of Kumoricon, such as the "cloudy" theme, ("kumori" means "cloudy"), the location, color schemes (blue is a prominent Kumoricon color), or other unique aspects of Kumoricon. Umbrellas are a tradition in the Kumoricon mascot and art.
- Winning entries become the property of Kumoricon. Therefore, by entering the contest, entrants commit to the possibility of their entries becoming the property of Kumoricon. If, after winning, the entrant is requested to or makes alternate or modified versions, or Kumoricon or its staff or volunteers create alternate versions on behalf of Kumoricon, these are also the property of Kumoricon.
- Entrants give indefinite permission for Kumoricon to display all entries in contest galleries, and to use selected entries as ancillary art in program material for the 2008 and 2009 conventions, including those entries which do not win.
- Entries must be original work, and solely the work of the entrant or entrants. Entrants must be authorized and able to assign ownership of the entry to Kumoricon, and to grant Kumoricon permission for the described uses, per the above rules describing such.
- More than one person may contribute jointly to an entry, but all people must be identified in the submission.
- Entries may not have been previously used for publicity purposes by any organization. (It is acceptable, however, if the entry was previously or is currently displayed in a gallery; for example, a portfolio of that artist's work.)
- Entrants must not talk about or link to their entries, or discussion about their entries, or any entries in the contest, on the Kumoricon forums, private messages, mailing lists, or other Kumoricon communication systems, or bulk messages of any form to staff, until we have announced that a winner has been determined. (Non-entrants are also obliged to obey this rule, as a rule of the forums.) This is to help ensure fairness in the voting.
- Content and theme: Entries must be appropriate for all ages. Content, design, and themes of the entries must be appropriate and suitable for their intended uses.
- Entries displayed for voting in the contest must be anonymous, and not have identifying marks. All displayed entries will be credited to their entrants after the close of voting. Entrants, if they wish, may submit a second version containing a signature or marks which will be used for future display in contest galleries.
- An entrant may enter more than once, but each design must be completely unique from others by the same entrant. (That is, if two different people had produced them, neither could be said to be copying from the other.)
- An entrant may send an updated version of an entry prior to the due date for entries, replacing the prior entry.
- Entries recevied very shortly after the due time of 11:59:59 PM may be accepted at our discretion, but if they are, we reserve the right to apply a score penalty to those entries in the voting formula based on how late they are. Because we usually receive some late entries, this is probably the most fair way to handle this situation in order to be fair both to those who entered on time, and those who may have experienced delays uploading large files.
The mascot contest:- Each entry must contain an adult or teen mascot, and chibi mascot, of the same character and style. Both must be received prior to the due date for entries.
- Although typically the mascot is one person or character, it is allowed to be two characters or more, or to feature sidekicks. We recommend only doing this if the characters are shown interacting in an interesting or unique way (as opposed to just showing two characters side-by-side). In this case, all characters should be drawn in both adult and chibi form.
- Entries should be as high a resolution as possible. Target at least 300dpi at typical sizes (the mascot filling most of a printed 8.5" by 11" page).
- For best results, send your entry in a non-lossy-compressed format, such as PNG, PSD, or AI. If you use JPEG, use as high quality as possible, and we may request an original version if you win the contest.
Program book cover contest:- Entries must be at an aspect ratio of 8.5" width by 11" height (this is a portrait orientation). Entries must be at least 300dpi. Entries in a different aspect ratio will be cropped or stretched as needed. Entries in a severely wrong ratio may be disqualified, at our discretion.
- Entries should be full color.
- Entrants may enter the same or similar design for the convention book cover contest and the pocket programming guide contest, but if both win, then the Kumoricon board may decide, at its option, to use only one, and select the second-place winner for the other book, to increase the variety of art used.
Pocket programming guide cover contest:- Entries must be at an aspect ratio of about 8.5" width by 5.5" height (this is a landscape orentiation). [Note: These are the corrected dimensions. Please see my post later in the thread for a note about this change.] Entries must be at least 300dpi. Entries in a different aspect ratio will be cropped or stretched as needed. Entries in a severely wrong ratio may be disqualified, at our discretion.
- Entries must not be color. Full grayscale is allowed.
- The rule for entering the same or similar design for both cover contests applies (see above).
Contest administration details:- We will confirm to entrants that their entries have been received. We will send confirmations as we receive entries. Entrants are responsible for entering soon enough so that if there is a problem with the entry, it can be re-sent by the due date for entries. We reserve the right to accept late entries in individual cases if there is a problem due to our error, but entrants are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their entries are received in time.
- Voting is open to staff who have officially registered (submitted signed form and paid dues) by the start of voting. Staff registering after this point may still vote if we enter their data before the close of voting.
- Voting will be done online shortly after the close of voting. Voting will be performed using the Schulze method, which is a type of Condorcet method. In this method, voters rank their choices in order rather than selecting just one. There are many systems of ranked voting which compute the winner differently. The method used here, the Schulze method, has been selected because among all known ranked voting systems, it most encourages voters to rank their choices in their true order of preference, rather than using "strategic voting". For example, if voters were to only select one choice, then voters would be discouraged from picking their true favorite if they didn't perceive it to be popular, because it would be "wasting" a vote. However, with the Schulze method, it is in each voter's best interest to list their true entire preference order. Ultimately, this system makes it most likely that the true preference of the voters, as a group, is selected as the winner. Voters don't need to rank every candidate on their ballots, but it is in their best interest to do so. (Voting for just one does not increase the weight or "strength" of that vote.) You can learn more about Schulze voting here: http://wiki.electorama.com/wiki/Schulze_method.
- The mascot contest winner will be announced at the Closing Ceremonies of Kumoricon 2008.
- The cover contest winners will each be announced between the close of voting and the time at which each of those publications becomes available.
- Entries which do not meet the criteria in the rules may be disqualified, and entrants not participating in the contest according to the rules may have their entries disqualified. If this is discovered after a winner is announced, the award may be revoked.
- Kumoricon reserves the right to pre-screen entries before voting begins. This helps the voting process if there are large numbers of entries.
- If an insufficient number of entries is received, an unsuitable entry is chosen in the voting, or if, for any reason, the voting cannot be completed, for reasons including, but not limited to, technical problems with the voting, loss or corruption of ballot data, or insufficient number of votes received, then the Kumoricon board reserves the right to extend the due date for entries, change the start or end dates of voting, annul the voting, run a new election, or choose an entry as the winner, at its option. If, for any reason, the selected winner is not the winner determined by the voting, Kumoricon will release a statement identifying such fact.
- Kumoricon reserves the right to add or modify rules, or make special allowances or changes to the contest, at its discretion, to resolve any unforeseen circumstances or problems which may arise, in the interest of ensuring fairness and seeing that the contest is completed according to the intent and spirit of the rules.
Mascot contest prize:- The winner of the mascot contest will receive a free Artist Alley table for Kumoricon 2009. Please note, that this is the year after the up-and-coming convention. It is the year for the convention for which your mascot will be used. It is for the year after because the winner is only announced at the 2008 convention. (This prize applies only to the mascot contest; not the cover contests.)
Galleries of past contest entries are
online, for browsing and inspiration.
Good luck!
