Sandbox Halloween 98 Contest

SUBMISSIONS	Deadline: 10/27/98 midnight
VIEWING	Begins: 10/28/98
VOTING	10/28/98 through 10/30/98 midnight
RESULTS	Posted 10/31/98

Generous Prize Contributors: Scott Baker John Ivory Toylectibles! Greg Brown Adventure Gear Kevin Epling Jeff Goff Steve Blizin DUG Leo Sutedja

NEWS GALLERIES SCHEDULE RULES PRIZES CONTEST RESULTS THANKS

NEWS FLASH, SATURDAY 10/31/98

submission deadline is... past
VOTING IS NOW CLOSED... CHECK OUT THE RESULTS!
(Uh... click on the link labeled "RESULTS".)
The prizes were adjusted one last time to form 10 prize groups.

Check out Kevin Epling's entries to the 1997 contest in the Galleries!!!

WHAT IT IS

THE 1998 SANDBOX HALLOWEEN CUSTOMIZING CONTEST
The purpose of this contest is to get folks to submit neat-o pictures of 12" articulated figures (GI Joes, Sams, Elite Brigades, whatever...) in Halloween themes, and reward those folks for their efforts with prizes! Dioramas are cool, and so are close up shots. Whatever you submit will be added to your page so that when voting time rolls around, they're voting for your page, not a specific picture or a category. So it helps if your page has really kewl pictures on it! Anyway, when the time rolls around, you'll be able to see and vote on the submissions at the contest page. After the voting is closed, the results will be posted at the results page. In the meantime, be sure to check out the galleries: these are not contest submissions, but just interesting Halloweensy things that folks want to share!
Of course you'll want to know who to give your thanks to... they made the contest possible! A special thanks and debt goes to Leo Sutedja who came up with the idea for this contest in 1997 and from whom I borrowed many other ideas used in this contest. Stephen Londergan's great 1998 Sandbox Customizing Contest served as an inspiration, too. The contest entries from Leo's page aren't around anymore, but here's my winning entry for the 1997 Contest, in its original format. -Jimbob

THE RULES

Don't be scared off by all the technical stuff in the rules-- I just like to be prepared in case the going gets weird.

VOTING: A contestant's photos will be considered as one entry for the purpose of voting. Winners will be selected by popular vote, based on point totals accumulated for first, second and third place votes according to these assignments:

1st place = 43 points
2nd place = 21 points
3rd place = 10 points

It is hoped that voting will be conducted honorably, with each individual voting only once from a single e-mail address. Nevertheless, votes may be disqualified under the following conditions, based on the administrator's discretion:

Within a vote submission, the same entry is selected more than once (only the selection awarding the highest number of points will be tallied);
More than one vote submission is received from a single ISP/user address;
a false name is provided;
a false e-mail address is provided.

In addition, because contestants are now guaranteed prizes, contestants may be disqualified if a pattern of attempts to manipulate votes to their advantage (per the rules mentioned above) is detected, at the administrator's discretion.

Votes will be simultaneously sent to me and an independent "Vote Authenticator" (Greg Brown) for tallying. This helps ensure that votes are counted accurately and fairly.

Since this is a "Sandbox" (alt.toys.gi-joe) event, voters are expected to have posted there at least once, verifiable by a search of DejaNews. However, this is not a requirement for eligibility or reason for disqualification.

PRIZES: Prizes will be awarded by winner's selection; The contestant with the most points will be contacted and given first choice of the prizes. Selection of the remaining prizes will continue, based on point totals, until all prizes are distributed. In case of ties, granting of next choice will be randomly determined by the contest administrator (me).

Prizes will be sent directly by the donor(s) to the winner(s). The administrator of this contest (me) will provide the donor(s) with the name and address of the winner(s), but will assume no responsibility for the physical distribution of these prizes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank the following people for helping make this contest possible:

Adventure Gear -- Prize Contributor (web site)
Scott Baker -- Prize Contributor, Gallery Contributor
Steve Blizin -- Prize Contributor (web site)
Greg Brown -- Vote Authenticator & Prize Contributor (web site)
DUG -- Prize Contributor
Kevin Epling -- Prize Contributor
Jeff Goff -- Prize Contributor & Gallery Contributor
John Ivory -- Prize Contributor (web site)
Dave Plesic -- Gallery Contributor
Thor Sadler -- God of Scanning (web site)
Tamara Scherbak -- Gallery Contributor (web site)
Leo Sutedja -- Prize Contributor & Inspiration; he started this grand tradition (web site)

Toylectibles! -- Prize Contributor (web site)

I'd be eternally damned unless I fessed up that I "borrowed" some stuff: The spooky music came from an old computer game named "The Bard's Tale", but it got sort of mangled when I messed around with the voicing a long time ago. The lightning bolt gif came from Bishart's Haunted House. It's got a pretty nifty background midi file. I promise to return this stuff once Halloween's done... ;^)

Finally, I suppose that I should credit myself too, since this has been a lot of work. In case you're wondering who the administrator (me) is, it's Jimbob-- a.k.a. J i m S t e l l i n g... (web site)