BuizelBoy's Guide to Running a Successful Contest.

Hello, its BuizelBoy again, you may have noticed my last rant about critiques which seems to have been totally ignored, I'm back with a guide on how to make a successful spriting tournament. I am currently coming to the closing stages of my spriting tournament, which has proven extremely popular with both participants and spectators, and produced some excellent sprites. I want to be able to share a few tips with the rest of you, on how to make a successful contest. If the moderators think this would be useful to other members, then I give them permission to sticky it.

STEP 1: Choosing a name.

This is much more important you may think, I would skip straight past a contest which was called 'TEH BEST SPIRITERS EVAR CONNTESST!!!1111!!!1!'. [Username]'s Spriting Contest is fine, but a little bland, why not hype it up a little? After all, it's gonna be great, huh?

STEP 2: Choosing your theme.

A lot of spriters don't like themes to be too general. In my opinion, a theme like 'Zombies' is a bad idea. How about Splices, or Pixel-Overs? There's a lot of room for creativity there, rather than having to make a zombie. Why not incorporate it into your title: BuizelBoy's Splicing Contest?

STEP 3: Organising a topic.

Your topic must be organised, otherwise people will be put off joining. Here is a template you could follow:

Quote:

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Welcome to 'TITLE'

Intro referring to who you are and why you made the contest. Is it public or private?

Announce the theme. What style? Any specific generation/Pokemon/type? Size limit?

How many contestants? How many rounds? When are the deadlines? Can you reserve spots? Can you change your entry?

Are you the only judge? Will you be inviting some through PM? Can anyone apply to be one?

List of participants with LINKS to their sprites. (links help keep the thread tidy.

Reminder of the deadline, and outro.

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Remember, the customer comes first. Make sure they know everything important. If you change a deadline, announce it so that every participant is aware, through PM or VM. Also, be quick with our judging and have trophies ready before the winner is announced. Be friendly towards the contestants, and don't reveal anything until the deadline. Don't say things like 'WOW, this could definitely win!'.

Finally, the most important thing, STAY ACTIVE - don't miss the deadline, you wouldn't miss your own birthday party, would you? Don't abandon the contest, make sure you finish it, and on time too.

So, a final checklist:

DOs
Use an inviting, exciting title.
Choose a generalized theme rather than one too specific.
Organize your topic well.
Use links to keep the thread tidy.
Be friendly to your contestants.
Keep them updated with everything.
Finish the contest on time.

DON'Ts
Fail to use proper grammar in the title or topic.
Be disorganized.
Choose a stupid theme.
Moan when nobody joins.
Reveal your opinions before the deadline.

Hopefully this guide will help you to become a better host. -BuizelBoy.

This is nice, thank you for this!!!!!!!!!!!

ill do better in the next contest i make. thanks!

Why aren't you a mod in this forum yet? XD

Very helpful, as always.

^ Yes, why aren't you a mod yet?? XD lol

Maybe I'll try to go make a contest now. I just need to make a good theme....