Welcome to the 2009....
AnimeSuki Banner Contest!
Our banner contests always have a theme and in recent times we've given you the option of sticking to it or including our mascot in the entry. You will have the same options this time: the theme for this contest will be "Friendship/Family". In other words, your banner must: convey "Friendship/Family" to us, contain actual images or elements from anime/manga that relate to friends/family in some way, or include depictions of Kairin our mascot.
I'm going to ask that everyone submits (up to three) banners using the supplied gradient. In other words, one gradient for all, just as we have in past contests.
As usual, banners may contain anime artwork from any source, including your own art. They must be anime related and appropriate for our forum though. Feel free to use your imagination, but I will invalidate anything that I think doesn't fit the theme, unless it contains an image of Kairin of course! Hopefully we'll see lots of original artwork of our lovely mascot. Lastly, as NoSanninWa has said in the other contests:
Many people use fanarts in their banners and while we encourage you to ask the artist for permission many times this is just not possible even with the best googling skills. Consequently we wish all artists to know, if you see a banner that contains your fan-art and you haven’t given prior permission for its submission and would like its removal, please contact us.
If you want to know more about the previous contests, please look them up in the General Chat Thread Index.
Good Luck!
What happens next?
- Submission Stage
This will be the longest part of the contest. First, you will need to post your submissions in this thread, which is to be used for entries ONLY. The official start date is the opening of this thread. The closing date for submissions will be February 14th, 2009 (Midnight, UTC).
Note: Any nominations in this thread will be ignored. However, you can (and we suggest you do) discuss with each other which banners you like, what works and what doesn't.
- Nomination Stage
After this thread closes, a new thread will be created in which everyone will nominate their favorite banners. Nominations will run for another week, i.e. until February 21st, 2009 (Midnight, UTC) at which time the nomination thread will be closed.
- Vote Stage
The 10 most popular banners will be selected from the Nomination Stage and put to a poll. Everyone who joined the forum before the contest started will be eligible to vote. The poll will close on February 28th (Midnight, UTC), after a week of voting.
Note: Each contestant will only be listed once regardless of how many banners entered. Also, be aware that polls close automatically, so please check the poll for information concerning when it will close in your time-zone.
- Announcement of the Winners
The three most popular banners will be put in a priority rotation at the top of our forum.
Terms and Conditions
- All entries must have Kairin or a Friends/Family theme.
- Banners are 760x100 and a maximum of 60KB in size.
- Banners must blend into the supplied gradient as it will form the background of the whole top bar.
- Entries must be static and in GIF, PNG or JPG format.
No animations will be accepted in this contest.
- Each member may submit a maximum of 3 banners.
If you submit more than three, you must specify which banners are to be used or we shall select the last three posted. Don't confuse me!
- Members will only have until February 14th, 2009 (Midnight, UTC) to create banners in this stage.
You can also check World Time Server or Time Zone Converter to help you work out what time this is near you.
- We may disqualify any banner deemed to be offensive or inappropriate and as such reserve the right to veto any entry.
- All banners submitted shall become property of AnimeSuki and may be used now or in future years without asking your permission.
The Gradient -
A broader explanation of the Theme -
Since this theme might be confusing to some initially, I wanted to offer a more in depth commentary on it.
Essentially, the theme is about common bonds between family and friends. We're not looking for romantic love, instead we're looking for emotions like comfort, warmth, togetherness, that sort of thing. Love isn't discouraged, but it should be demonstrated in a way that can't be taken as romantic interest. Think of things like a parent and child hugging, a family picture, etc.
If there are any questions about if your source is acceptable or not, please feel free to post it here in the thread or ask me privately.
Keep in mind that I am trying to keep this theme very open. I will likely allow most sources as long as the entry doesn't require a leap of imagination to demonstrate the theme.
Two final notes -
This contest will be heavily moderated. Any attempts to stir up trouble will
not be tolerated.
Also, I am fairly lenient on start and end dates (with the exception of poll ending dates of course). That being said, I will post a warning before closing each phase. I encourage anyone interested in competing to not wait until the last minute to submit entries. You will only increase your chances of not being allowed to progress to the Nomination Stage.
Let the contest begin!