Sample Contest Guide

This isn’t really a "contest" per se, but was meant to show you what a good contest is supposed to look like. It also includes some directions, since it seems like people are having a hard time understanding how to make their contests. This is where you would put a catchy tagline and short description for your contest, one that will inspire curiosity in people looking through the contests and make them interested!

Aniu Caelestis :

(Portraits taken from Balto Source, but the system works essentially the same way.  They will be swapped out at a later date.)

The rest of what is expected and suggested for each and every contest will directly follow this, whereas the guide on how to submit your contest correctly (with pictures!) below, after the line of dashes (-------).

This is where you put all of the actual information regarding your contest!  People won't be able to see this information until they click on your contest from the list in that section.  It's where everything important goes and is essentially the "life" of your contest.

Some important things you NEED to include are:

1.  A suitable description of what your contest is about and why you are having it.  Depending on your contest, this will vary.  For instance, an adoption contest will have the reason these older characters are being adopted out to other people, a little information about the characters in general before you get into in depth descriptions of each of them, and what they were used for/or what you were planning to use them for.  A mate contest will have information about the character the mate is for, a picture of him/her, what s/he likes and dislikes, and why you want a mate for him/her.  The more detail you have, the better it is for those who want to participate.

2.  What you expect as an entry from those who participate in your contest (aka contestants).  Tell them exactly what you want them to do.  Do you want them to draw a picture?  Write a story?  Do they need to fill out a bio for a character they're adopting?  Or is it several of these?  Either way, again the more description you have and detail about what you want people to do for you, the better your contest will be.  It will also help to keep people from being confused about what you expect in an entry if you spell it out for them.

3.  Only things that you own or made are allowed to be in your contests.  You can't have a contest about something you don't own, unless of course it involves one of Universal's characters and only then so long as you do not pretend to claim them as your own.  We don't tolerate any kind of theft here.

4.  An explanation of what the people who participate will win.  Most people just don't really want to do anything unless they're motivated by some kind of a reward, so dazzle them with what you're going to offer them in return for helping you out and using their time.

5.  And of course, once the deadline for the contest has passed and you have decided on the winners, you need a list of who the winners were in a visible place.

6.  Anything else you want to put in your contest (as long as it's relevant!) is up to you.  You can include any other reference materials you think will be helpful, and this is encouraged if you have them.

7.  Of course, it should be obvious that it also needs a title and a reasonable deadline.  No one wants to be sitting around waiting for months and months, or even years to know if they've won or not!

In addition to these things, there are some other things you need to keep in mind about your contest.

- Don't neglect it!  If you want people to participate, you have to keep an eye on it.  Don't just create a contest and forget that it exists, otherwise it'll probably just be deactivated.
- Make sure that it's at least a little bit serious.  Don't make a contest just because it's your birthday and you want people to make stuff for you!  It should have a real purpose.
- Again, keep the deadline reasonable and make sure you remember it!  I really shouldn't have to repeat myself, but you'd be surprised how many contests I see with a deadline set for 2012!
- It will be helpful to Togo and I if you deactivate your contests yourself (and delete them, once you have gotten everything you need from them) after you have selected your winners.  That way our mistakes are cut down and we don't have as many old/dead contests piling up and cluttering the list so that the newer ones aren't visible to other people.
- Try to make your contests as creative and original as possible!  No one likes to see the same old thing everywhere!  Come up with something new that you want people to do/participate in.

This concludes the expectations portion of the contest sample guide!

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This is the tutorial/How to make your own contest portion of the contest sample guide.

If you've ever been confused about how exactly you go about making and submitting a contest, you've come to the right place.  I've amassed many screenshots and I've gathered explanations which should be easy to follow.  All screenshots are in links to the pictures which I've posted on my photobucket account and they should not randomly disappear.  Click them to view them and see exactly what I'm talking about, or feel free to follow along as you work on your contest!

Step 1:  Beginning to create your contest

The first thing you'll want to do to create your new contest is to click that handy little "sent to the site" link underneath the panel with your username in it.  After that you'll be brought to the screen in the picture below and you'll click the link corresponding with contests.  Both are circled in the picture.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto1.jpg

Once you click that, you'll be brought to a screen which displays all of the current rules for contests as determined by the moderators and administrators.  Be sure to read them thoroughly!  Scroll down to the bottom of that box and click 'Continue' to proceed.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto3.jpg

The next screen you'll see will look something like the one below, especially if you've created a contest before.  If not, you might proceed to the next step.  But, if you do, one of these is what you'll see.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto6.jpg
If you have never created a contest before and you come to this screen, click 'Create a new contest'.  If you simply wish to modify a contest you've sent before, you click the name of the contest from the drop down menu (if it was accepted) or click the title if it has not been accepted yet or one of us has deactivated it.

You'll also notice that I put red dots next to each of the options displayed for deactivated/unaccepted contests.  Note that all of those buttons should work, except for the modify button.  (Contact moderator allows you to e-mail Steet, and though you'll get this error message:  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto7.jpg, the delete option does seem to work, and I've found no other successful way to delete a contest and I tried this earlier just to be sure.)  If they do not, please let me know so that I can make arrangements for them to be fixed and edit this.  That said, the only way to edit a contest you've already made is to either select it from that drop down menu or go to the contest's page and select 'Edit this contest' towards the bottom.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto12.jpg

If you are editing an existing contest, you'll be taken to the screen in step 3, and then to the screens in step 2 in turn depending on which links you click.

Step 2:  Filling in the information

After you get through that ordeal, (or perhaps you're already there) you'll see the scree in the picture below, where you can enter some very basic information about your contest including a title, a very brief description, (Think of it like a tagline.  This is the first hint people will get about your contest other than the title of course.) the category or type of contest it is, and the deadline.  Make sure that you fill in all of these fields, and again make sure that your deadline is REASONABLE.  Also make sure that you have allowed file submission so that people can send in image entries.  Then click 'OK'.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto9.jpg

Next you'll be taken to the screen in the picture below where you'll put in all of the information about your contest.  It'll be the body, where all of the things you've read in this guide has been.  Fill it with plenty of detail and information!  Click 'OK' when you've finished entering your information for the contest.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto10.jpg

Step 3:  Finishing and submitting your contest

You're almost done!  You'll be taken to this last screen which will again give you plenty of options to go back and edit portions of your contest.  This will be the same screen that you'll see if you go to modify an existing contest.  The first link with the red dot by it will allow you to modify the first portions of your contest (title, tagline, deadline, etc.).  The second green dot allows you to modify your contest's body itself.  The third orange dot shows you what your contest will look like once finished (with the information you've provided so far).  That next link will change the contest to a project if you decide it is more of a project (be careful when determining this!) and the fifth link is perhaps the most important and the one we want right now.  It is circled in grey and it will allow me and the other moderators to either approve or deny your contest and make it visible on the site for other people to participate in.  Click that when you're done and then just wait for us to activate it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto11.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/Aniu_Blade/BS/Howto13.jpg

That's it!  Congratulations, you now know exactly how to make your own contest on Animation Source!  Please refer to the upper portion of this guide to see what is expected of every contest if you're unsure.




If you have any questions, suggestions, general comments, or if any of this was unclear, please let me know in the comments below, I'll try to check them at least once a week.  Also, if you wouldn't mind, please let me know if this helped at all.  ^.^



Deadline for this contest : December 31, 2012


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