Beta Awards 08 - Guidelines & Submissions

[Ms. Poe]

There was a Fan Cel catergory last year... I know as I took 1st in it. ^_^ As I remember the section had plenty of entries, and was one of my toughest choose.

Actually now that I look back it was general a "Fan Art" to include more than just cels: http://www.zetsuai.eu/5thAnnualBetaAwards/fanart.php

Looking at the winners page for fan art...All of the winners were cels. I would like to give better odds to fan art.

Plus...All of the cels in that category were reproductions of an actual image. Isn't the definition of "Fan Art" a rendition of an existing characted in your own light?

[Belldandy16]

quick question,
when would we need to have the trophy graphics done (or when is the end of the contest)?

i actually havent asked my friend yet but even if he cant help i can brainstorm with him and make something up.

how big would the graphic need to be (dimesions and KB)?
thanks!

oh also, do you want a different trophy for all the different catagories or do you want just one general trophy for all?

thanks!

[RoboFlonne]

quick question,
when would we need to have the trophy graphics done (or when is the end of the contest)?

i actually havent asked my friend yet but even if he cant help i can brainstorm with him and make something up.

how big would the graphic need to be (dimesions and KB)?
thanks!

oh also, do you want a different trophy for all the different catagories or do you want just one general trophy for all?

thanks!

Trophies are Presented When the Winners are Announced, So It'll be a Surprise on How Cute and Beautiful they are!!!

You can make the Trophy as large as you want... Then we can shrink it!

[Belldandy16]

okay!
does everyone want a different trophy for different catagories or do you want a single one for every catagory?


thanks!

[HotIce]

Looking at the winners page for fan art...All of the winners were cels. I would like to give better odds to fan art.

Plus...All of the cels in that category were reproductions of an actual image. Isn't the definition of "Fan Art" a rendition of an existing characted in your own light?

It makes some sense that cels would win since it was mostly cels that were entered. 7/8 entries were cels. I'm not saying the one that wasn't a cel is bad, in fact I think it's the one I voted for in that category. (yes I vote for items outside my own if I like them enough/think they fit category x better.) It's just the odds/chance are more with cels getting chosen. I think there would have been more items that were outside of cels that you would have seen a non-cel winner. Its not the category's fault, just people posted cels... As for me, at the time, I didn't own any 'non-cel' fan art that I could have added to the category. However, I've bought more non-cels than I have cels(fan or production art). Since non cels are way more in my current "can afford this" price range.

Do you mean you want fan art to be of images you've done yourself, not purchased from anyone else? or art you specifically commissioned? Would cels not be allowed at all? Or just "original" images, meaning images are original in creation and are not a reproduction of another image?

I know WC and the other organizers had a reason for not wanting to make the "fan art" section strictly self-done pieces of art work. I don't remember what the reason was, but I think it was something about self-done work is more personal to the people creating it, and could be more offensive if they lost to a piece that the creator finds "not as well done" as theirs. Something about it probably causing more hurt feelings than normal.

[Ms. Poe]

No no ^_^! Fan Art section can have anything not painted on plastic in it...And you don't have to have done it yourself. Sorry for the confusion ^^;!

[wELCOME cONSUMER]

A big reason why I called last year's category "Fan Art" was to hopefully entice some entrants to submit entries that were non-cel or even non-two dimensional. I know some people make plushies, for instance, or even hand made jewelry. The more creative the better, but as Poe said, most entries ended up being cels. Nevertheless, those non-cel entries were/are just as important. I honestly don't think there's enough non-cel fan art to merit its own separate category when you can easily lump them together. Having both a Fan Art category and a Fan Cel category eliminates the possibility of having another theme category, such as the Death/Dying category that has been proposed. At that point, you're splitting hairs and curtailing variety.

CB, the idea of a poll concerning the separation of cel and sketch is a good suggestion, especially if you're wanting to put out those feelers in the community and tailor the BA as much as possible to public opinion. However, if you feel like you have a good enough sense on what to do and want to run it your particular way, I would suggest making your decision based on what you think is best. As a whole, the community will not agree 100% on anything and I can understand your position in wanting to make as many people happy as possible. There's always next year and whoever organizes it then.

[Leedz]

I would just like to say that I support allowing all regions of animation art into the contest rather than just anime. I never knew that was a previous rule, and I'm a little shocked it ever was. Anime may be a dominant force, but it's not the ONLY kind of art. I hope to see it opened up to art from all areas of the world.

[cutiebunny]

quick question,
when would we need to have the trophy graphics done (or when is the end of the contest)?

i actually havent asked my friend yet but even if he cant help i can brainstorm with him and make something up.

how big would the graphic need to be (dimesions and KB)?
thanks!

oh also, do you want a different trophy for all the different catagories or do you want just one general trophy for all?

thanks!

Going by previous year time frames, I'd say that we'd need the trophies by sometime in December. Last year, there were two varieties - a medal and a trophy. I preferred the medal version for posting purposes, but, surprise us, Belldandy.

Previous years have also had the same stock design for all catagories, just a different color used to differentiate between first, second and third place. I don't recall the dimensions of the prizes last year so I'll have to dig through emails to see if I still have mine.

As requested, I added a poll concerning dividing all respective catagories into a cel and sketch section. I want to take a general polling, however, even if the consensus is to divide, it may not happen. It's going to depend on time, submissions, etc. I definetely want to avoid having to send last minute e-mails to those whose catagories have less than the required amount of submissions asking them to find something else to submit. Additionally, with 5 standard submissions per entrant, unless we're bombarded by participants this year, I can't see how dividing catagories will be a reality if we want to maximize the amount of participation.

I am going to put my foot down and state that the amount of standard entries per person will be five entries. If a partcipant chooses to submit artwork to both the option Hentai and Animated catagories, then the maximum amount of artwork submissions will be seven.

This number has not changed in many years, and I do not feel that it should change. If a catagory has to be eliminated due to the division in artwork, then it will be eliminated. It's unfair to request that, in the event of not enough artwork, than both sketches and cels be combined in order to keep the catagory. That complicates the voting procedure, the award process, etc.

The poll will go for 6 days. I'm going to post the accepted catagories on Friday. In the interest of giving people time to decide their submissions, I'll also have to post on the diving decision that weekend.

[zerospace]

Thanks for the poll, CB -- but really, if you have objections (of any kind), it isn't necessary to poll everyone. I've said over and over that from the organization side of things, it can be done easily. I realize that you may or may not believe me on it, but I can assure you, it can be done with minimal impact on you (or even me for that matter). It is far easier to write 10 lines of script that can do the job for you than to sit and spend hours pouring over entries and editing line after line of plain html.

I wasn't looking to start a war on this subject -- in fact, had no one spoken up in agreement in the first place, I probably would have let it go days ago . Sorry

[cutiebunny]

I'd like to give everyone a fair chance to be heard and to hear their imput. The Beta Awards have always been a member event, and I'd like to keep it that way rather than assuming control and implementing only what I want. That wouldn't be fair or fun for anyone else.

I put my foot down about the number of possible submissions for two important reasons, with 'tradition' not being one of them. When you're limited to five standard entries, you pick you best items. You sit, look at your artwork and contemplate your artwork, look at the colors and execution used, and decide which ones fit which catagories. When you start increasing number, then, some of that spirit is lost. Artwork that may be loosly associated with the subject or perhaps not drawn as well will be submitted, especially if a participant is the type that wants to maximize the amount of medals they will win and will submit anything they possibly can.

The second, and probably the most important, is the logistical nature of it. Last year, 'Male' received the most entrants at 21 entries. Let's assume that the majority of participants enterred that catagory, leave some leaway, and claim, for the sake of easy numbers, that there were 30 possible participants. That's 150 standard entries to go through, ensure that they are follow rules and modify artwork that does not comply. And if 1/3 of those participants have problems ranging from previously submitted artwork to being out of town during the submisison period, that's going to take some management.

Also, there's the issue of trophies. I don't want to wait until the last minute(posting of submissions) to eliminate catagories and then put an order in with Belldandy's friend as to which catagories require which medals. I don't know if this friend is a member of Beta/RS, but around the holidays, I'd hate to impose short deadlines. If this person is making trophies for us as a nice favor, it would be unfair to demand that they're finished within a week.

I think it was Darksuzaku that mentioned that he was concerned that if two sequence mates were submitted, one would get more votes than the other. As I recall in the past, the awards did not allow sequence mates to be posted(unless there's a serious difference between an A1 and an A40end) in order to prevent this issue. Additionally, with the case of rilezu/studio repro, whoever submits the item first will have theirs posted. All additional applicants who submit an item where other studio copies have been made will be informed if their item has been previously submitted by another participant and informed to change their entry.

[Leedz]

I definetely want to avoid having to send last minute e-mails to those whose catagories have less than the required amount of submissions asking them to find something else to submit.


If a catagory has to be eliminated due to the division in artwork, then it will be eliminated.

T_T So submissions ARE going to be tossed out simply due to a catagory being unpopular? I'm sorry for being a pest, but I still have to ask, why are those entries any less valid than those in catagories with dozens of entries? Shouldn't they still be permitted their chance to compete, regardless of the scale of competition?

[RoboFlonne]

T_T So submissions ARE going to be tossed out simply due to a catagory being unpopular? I'm sorry for being a pest, but I still have to ask, why are those entries any less valid than those in catagories with dozens of entries? Shouldn't they still be permitted their chance to compete, regardless of the scale of competition?

Well if there were only 5 entries then like half would win awards... That's why.

Don't worry... You can always resubmit into another category! (female, male, creature, children, etc) So nothing is tossed out!

[Leedz]

I'm not satisfied with that answer. I may not have any control over this, but I'm never going to support that policy.

The fact that eliminated entries can be re-submited into a more popular catagory is hardly a comfort, because if it was best-suited to that catagory, it'd have ended up there in the first place. This contest is supposed to feature the best we all have. Tossing entries out simply because there's not a flood to that catagory seems completely counter-productive to me, because it forces those contestants to then settle with less than their best. It forces people to either submit artwork into a less-than-suited catagory, or if that can't be done, settle even more by submitting a new entry all together that's inferior to the one that was eliminated.

Which is exactly why I cannot and will not support this idea.

[RoboFlonne]

I'm not satisfied with that answer. I may not have any control over this, but I'm never going to support that policy.

Oops! I'll have to work on my Satisfaction Rating!... We always post which categories don't have enough entries every day or 2...

Many people will fill up those categories to try to have a better chance at winning and therefore I don't think any categories will be removed!

I don't think any categories were eliminated in any of the awards I've participated in!

If this answer is satisfactory please let me know!