6.23 ARTISANAL CONTEST
Note: Bardic/Artisanal winners can be seen on the Achaea wiki at http://wiki.achaea.com!
People of Achaea! The Artisanal Fellowship of Scarlatti do invite you all to share the power of your creativity and imagination throughout the land! To honour and acclaim your wisdom and artistry, we have decided to encourage the fine arts by holding occasional writing and visual arts contests. The winner of this competition will be ascribed rank within the artisanal orders in our Fellowship, as well as receiving a healthy reward of the currency known as Credits.
The current Artisanal and Bardic contest has now closed.
Rules
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Bardic entries must
1 - be original works (literature, history, poetry, or philosophy)
2 - be in written form. Words only; no recordings.
3 - be distinctly Achaean*, within the proper mythology, culture and worldview.
Artistic entries must:
1 - be completely original artistic works, done by you only. This means no clip art, no stock photos, no pre-fab or pre-drawn models, 3d or otherwise. If you didn't make it from scratch, you don't use it in your art!
2 - be distinctly Achaean.
3 - not be collages.
4 - cover any Achaean subject (history, portrait, map, etc.)
5 - be black and white, colour, 2d, 3d, whatever.
Completely Original
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Every part of your piece must be original to qualify. Clip art is not original, even if you fix it up with Photoshop or some similar tool. Stock photos, pre-fab/pre-drawn 3d models, and the like are also not original.
For artistic pieces, a written explanation may be beneficial.
What if it isn't original? If it's not entirely original work, then the entry is eliminated. You also stand a good chance of experiencing in-game repercussions if plagiarism is detected, up to and including loss of your character.
Distinctly Achaean
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- using the name of something Achaean (city, race, etc) is not enough.
- creating a work that corresponds in great detail to in-game Achaean descriptions is probably quite enough.
We ask - "Does this faithfully depict, in a reasonably detailed manner, an Achaean scene (one not likely to be found elsewhere)?" If yes, then it's very likely to be distinctly Achaean.
If the scene could have been anywhere, then it's probably not "distinctly Achaean."
Just any old warrior will probably not make it. Just adding the name of a city or house doesn't make it uniquely Achaean. Bewinged Atavians with runes on their armour and weapons and tattoos on their bodies, or even acting out Achaean abilities - this is more likely to be convincing.
More on "Distinctly Achaean"
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This is on a spectrum from
- "totally obviously Achaean" (top end), to
- "has elements that are likely Achaean" (somewhere in the middle), to
- "could really be anywhere: nothing especially Achaean about it" (bottom end).
The lower a piece is on this scale, the lower its desirability.
Things near the bottom will likely be eliminated, even if high quality. Things near the top will likely win something even with lower quality art.
Everywhere else in the spectrum is a judgement call. "Achaean-ness" is weighted in there with quality.
Collage
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If it's a collage, it will probably be eliminated, likely without in-game repercussions.
Entry Submission
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All Bardic (written) and Artisanal (visual) entries for the contest must be submitted by email to either artisanals@achaea.com or bardics@achaea.com.
Submissions must include the name of your character and any additional appropriate information required to judge the entry.
Please ensure that EVERYTHING you wish to submit is included in this email - multiple emails regarding the same submission are unlikely to be reviewed favourably.
NOTE: Your character is assumed to have created the work in-role. This character will be the one to receive any forthcoming reward.
Regardless of how many characters you play on Achaea, you may only submit one
entry toward the contest.
These contests are held by discretion of the Achaean admin team, typically when in-game events or (rarely) OOC moments of significance provide an inspiring platform for creativity. The closing date for each contest will always be announced at the same time as the contest itself. After submissions are closed, a judging period of one to two weeks will take effect, after which results will be announced and prizes awarded accordingly!
Formats
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Bardic submissions should be sent either in a plain text file (properly formatted where appropriate), or in the body of the email itself. Please do not send direct copy-pasted content from Word or the equivalent! As a reminder, the bardic submissions email is bardics@achaea.com
How To LOSE with your BARDIC Entry - Guaranteed!
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Just copy and paste from Microsoft Word. If you have smart quotes anywhere, then you'll be disqualified instantly!
Just use notepad, wordpad, or any other text editor. Or use Writer from OpenOffice.Org, which is free and comparable to M$ Word.
Or learn how to disable smart quotes in Microsoft Word. Look here: Tools -> Autocorrect Options -> Autoformat As You Type, and then make sure the box is UNchecked that says "Straight Quotes" for "smart quotes".)
Artisanal Submissions
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To submit an Artisanal work, attach the submission to the email with any additional information provided. You may submit .jpg, .gif, animated .gif, or Flash formats. The total size of your submission must not exceed 10MB. As a reminder, the artisanal email for submissions is artisanals@achaea.com
In either case, submitting an entry is a very serious step. When you submit an entry, you are saying:
- that you were the original creator of the material, and
- that there is no material in your submission that is copyrighted by anyone else.
If you submit material that you didn't create yourself, or that has been copyrighted by someone else, your character or characters will be shrubbed. You may also have BROKEN THE LAW: submitting someone else's copyrighted material (or any intellectual property) may be a violation of US and International law. ORIGINAL WORKS ONLY!
Rewards
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There are 3 levels of success in the contest. One winner, up to three creditable runners up, and any number of minor merit awards. A character may only enter three times per contest. Success in the contest brings with it the following
rewards:
Winner : 4 points and 600 credits
Runners up : 2 points and 300 credits
Merit : 1 point and 150 credits
Winning (and runner up) entries will be announced in game and on the Achaean website! Prizes will be allocated to the winning characters shortly afterwards, and the actual entries shall go on display on the Achaea wiki following that!
Each time you hit increments of 4 points in the Artisanal contest, you will gain a new rank in that Order, as well as some credits. That is in addition to the credits you get for being the winner, runner-up, or merit contestant see above).
There are 7 ranks. Your current rank is displayed in your HONOURS. The rank titles are as follows:
Artisanal:
1 - Associate - 100 credits
2 - Fellow - 200 credits
3 - Master - 300 credits
4 - Artisanal Master - 400 credits
5 - High Master - 500 credits
6 - Laureate - 600 credits
7 - High Laureate - 700 credits
Copyright Notice
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All submitted works of whatever nature become the sole property of Iron Realms Entertainment, LLC, with all copyright assigned to Iron Realms Entertainment, LLC.
NOTE: The reason for this is that we wish to be eternally free to display winning works on our website. If you still have a problem with this, consider that the only works that will win are ones that have something to do with Achaea, and you couldn't sell those anyway. We don't mind you also posting the art or stories on your website however.
