Grimstonefire
The Magician Technician
Posts: 6,403 - Feb 2007
Group: Retired Staff
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Everything you need to know about the Artisan's and Golden Hat contests.Grimstonefire  11-29-2010
What are these contests?
These competitions are run alternately every two months (more or less).
The Golden Hat is a miniatures painting competition, whereas the Artisan’s contest includes everything but wargame miniatures. So we have things like a rules competition, terrain, short stories etc.
The winners of these competitions gets a medal and a number slaves according to how many people have entered. As that thread says, both competitions have medals according to how many people have entered, if there are less than 10 there is only a Gold.
The competitions are always announced in the Website News section. We officially announce the contest, with a deadline. After this has closed we start a thread with the entries and a request for people to vote, then after the voting has closed we start a third thread announcing the winner(s).
Previous Golden Hat winners are displayed on the main site
What can I enter?
Each contest will have a specific theme. An entry that bears absolutely no relation to the theme (unless it is called an ‘open contest’) will not be allowed. Models have to be fully painted and by the person entering them. Note that you can have someone else convert the model that you then paint.
The Golden Hat and Artisan's contests are always Chaos Dwarf related, you cannot enter models that are obviously from other armies (like a high elf for instance).
When can I enter?
The deadline will always be clear in the announcement thread. It is always based on Eastern Standard Time. So regardless of where in the world you are you need to look up how far ahead or behind this time you are to make sure you get your entry in on time.
No entry regardless of how cool will be allowed to enter after the deadline. There are no exceptions. If someone has made a valid attempt to enter before the deadline but have had technical issues (such as links being invalid), they will normally be allowed.
How do I enter?
There are three ways to enter a CDO competition, the one required will be made very clear in the announcement thread.
> Entering image links by Personal Message
To enter by personal message, you first have to upload up to 4 pictures of your entry to a hosting site. For instance http://photobucket.com/ or http://imageshack.us/. These are both free hosting sites. Note the specific rules below on them not being montage shots.
To enter the contest all you need to do is simply click the link provided (it will always be to the ‘Staff’ account) and send the links to the 4 photos. If you do an album link I will try and ask which ones you want.
> Entering text by Personal Message
Some contests, like the short story based Artisans you can just copy and paste your story into a personal message to the Staff account.
> Entering by email attachment
Sometimes uploading big pictures onto free hosting sites can distort them. So for any like art or terrain we always say you can enter by sending an email to cdostaff@hotmail.co.uk instead. A story will be better done this way as it keeps the formatting better. A rules based entry must be done this way. Note that we will need to know your username if you send it by email.
NOTE: Copy and paste the address: cdostaff@hotmail.co.uk It does not have a fullstop at the end. 
What happens after I have entered?
The personal messages all sit in the Staff inbox until after the deadline has passed. After this time one of us will look through them all and start to save all the entries to our computer. If you need to do something specific, like saying which photos you want to be used, the staff member will send you a pm. It is expected that people will answer any and all questions about their entry (and do what is required) within 48 hours of the competition closing. If they don’t, perhaps because they have not logged in since, the staff member will either make a decision themselves or potentially disallow the entry.
Once we have all the entries, the staff member will do some editing to make them look pretty for the site, and to make sure they all have a similar formatting to make things fair. See rules below for more on this.
The staff member will then make a thread with all the entries and request people to start voting (see how to vote below). After the voting has closed the staff will collate all the votes into a spreadsheet (if there are more than 10 entries) to find the total votes for each entry. Note that this is something all staff members can check, there is no vote rigging here!  Finally we announce the winners, the voting key and assign the medals and slaves.
How do I vote
As already said, if there are more than 10 entries the voting will be done by personal message. Send a pm to the Staff account (as described above) with the 3 entries you consider are best, whatever that means to you. You don’t need to rank them, or give reasons why. You must place three votes, don't know who deserves your last vote? Choose one at random.
You are not allowed to vote on your own entry in competitions. Self-voting is considered cheating and will result in disqualification.
If we have less than 10 votes it will be an open timed poll, you select the one entry you want to win.
What are the Veteran Medals?
These are medals we give as a reward to people who have shown a great deal of commitment in entering successive competitions. The exact details of how you get them are not something the staff discuss.
Judging
If there are less than 10 entries, Artisans contests will always be judged by an open poll to determine the winner. If there are more than 10 it will be by pm 3 votes to staff account.
We will not instruct people what to consider when judging, except against things that are not supposed to be included (for instance standing an awesome model on terrain and judging the model, not the terrain). Other than this it is entirely up to them to judge on whatever grounds they want to determine the winner(s). We may give suggestions to help people.
GOLDEN HAT CONTESTS
> Entry Rules
The model must be painted to a reasonable standard, certainly more than just an undercoat. The model must be painted by the person entering it. Just to be very clear about this, if a company/sculptor has made something you like you can enter it even if you didn’t make it, but you must paint it.
Each person can enter only once. Any member of CDO can enter.
No entries submitted after the deadline will be allowed, no matter how cool it is.
No model that has already been entered in an online painting contest can be entered.
If the model breaks forum rules by its appearance it will not be allowed.
Photos cannot be replaced after the deadline, unless by specific instruction.
> Anonymity Rules
The entry photos cannot contain any writing that isn’t on the model or base. I.e. you cannot put your username on each photo. If this can be cropped out the entry will be allowed, if it cannot it won’t be.
The competition is supposed to be anonymous, so please do not post pictures of your entry online until after the voting has ended. Do not start a WIP blog of your entry as you make it, we may not allow it to be entered.
If you have just finished a model that is ideal for the competition, but have already posted it in the forum just ask one of the staff if it is ok to enter it still. Preferably people will not say which entry is theirs until voting is over, but this is not 'rule breaking'.
If your username is on the model/base it will not be allowed.
> Staff discretion and editing
If more than 4 pictures are submitted, or an album link is provided where there are more than 4 pictures, if the entrant does not respond adequately within 48 hours after the deadline the pictures will be selected by me.
If the pics provided are in poor lighting or in need of cropping it is automatically presumed that I will do some editing of the pics as I see fit in order to improve them as best I can. If you specifically do not want me to do any editing you must let me know at the time of submission! Bear in mind your entry will remain the same size as everyone else’s, so poorly cropped pics etc will only work against you.
If you are unhappy with the quality of the final montage after the voting has started let me know ASAP. Changes can be made, but the voting won’t be restarted or anything just because. I will check each montage shot before posting the thread.
The Staff decision is always final on any matter, it is not open to public debate (unless we ask it to be).
> Artistic interpretation
We encourage creativity, so when we say (for example) 'the theme is a black orc/ slave', this means people are free to interpret this however they want, as long as it still looks Chaos Dwarf themed.
Bear in mind that people will be considering how well your entry fits the theme when they are voting.
If you are in doubt please ask a member of staff, otherwise you risk having your entry disqualified if it is too far from the theme.
> Basing
Basing is up to your discretion.
Finally… If you have a specific rules question about something you are unsure about please PM one of the staff and don’t just ask it in the announcement thread. It may be missed.
ARTISANS CONTESTS
General rules
Each member may only enter once. Any member of CDO may enter.
Staff will not do any editing for grammar, punctuation or spelling. Any winning entries that appear in the Word of Hashut may have these edits.
Unless by specific permission, nothing can be changed after the deadline.
If the entry breaks forum rules by its appearance/ content it will not be allowed.
Specific rules
Short Story Artisans
You can write your entry in the form of a story OR as a description. When it comes to judging people must remember that we have said both are equally good. This is not only for short stories.
There is a maximum word limit of 2250 words, and a minimum word limit of 1000 words, so PLEASE double check before sending it. It’s so easy to check that there isn’t really a reason not to. It would be handy for people to state their word count on submission.
People will be contacted after the deadline if they are over the limit. They will have 48 hours to delete and rework, but if they don't get back to me by then anything over the word count will be deleted.
NO ART OR MODEL PHOTOS are allowed.
Entries made by email attachment or by pm, though formatting may be lost by pm.
Each member may only enter something they have written.
Rules based Artisans
Rules of the Competition
You MUST have the following per entry:
1. You must state the classification of the unit, which must be one of the following: Infantry, Monstrous Infantry, Cavalry, Monstrous Cavalry, Chariot, Warmachine, Swarm or War Beast. You cannot have mixed units.
2. You must state which slot it falls into; Core, Special or Rare in a Chaos Dwarfs/Dwarfs of Chaos army. If other armies can take them you can state this, but you must state which category they are for the CD as a minimum.
3. The unit must conform to the typical minimum unit size for each classification:
Infantry (core for CD army): 10+
Infantry (special or rare for CD army): 5+
Cavalry: 5+
Monstrous Infantry: 3+
Monstrous Cavalry: 3+
War Beasts: 5+
A War Machine must have crew.
Obviously if you want to state a maximum that's up to you.
4. Basic points cost for the minimum unit size (the base cost before all upgrades or options) must be included. This includes any named champions.
5. Basic Points cost for any additional models.
6. The cost for upgrading command models. A named champion should be included in the basic points total in point 4 above and not as an upgrade. If you have a named musician or standard bearer you can include them either in the basic total in point 4 above or as an upgrade.
7. A profile for everything in the unit including mounts if there are any. This must follow the GW format. M WS BS S T W I A Ld etc
8. If the unit is armed with a missile or combat weapon that is not a weapon type in the 8th Edition Warhammer rulebook, the rules for this must be described.
9. If the unit have any special rules that are not in the 8th Edition Warhammer rulebook, the rules for this must be described.
If your entry does not include all the above by the deadline it will probably not be included. I may consider an entry if it's 99% of the way there and only needs a couple of things adding quickly. No promises though.
Additional rules may be applied depending on the theme of the rules contest.
Background
The background part is optional, but I suggest you include something as everyone else probably will.
There is a 1000 maximum word limit on this. It would be handy for people to state their word count on submission.
This includes all text that is not directly describing what the rules are. Stating what the fluff behind 'Iron Will' rule is for instance will be included, as will fluff descriptions of things like magic banners etc. What the actual rules are for these things will not be included, they are rules, not fluff. There is no word count for the rules themselves, but you don't want people to get bored reading them!
People will be contacted after the deadline if they are over the limit. They will have 48 hours to delete and rework, but if they don't get back to me by then anything over the 1000 words will be deleted, starting with rules fluff (things like what the 'Hashut's Chosen' rule is fluffwise or how a magic banner looks etc), before deleting from the background section.
NO ART OR MODEL PHOTOS are allowed.
Entries made by email attachment, not by pm.
Each member may only enter something they have written.
All entries will be amended to be the same format regardless of how they are sent, a condition you automatically accept by entering.
Terrain based Artisans
The maximum size limit is 30cm x 30cm x 30cm (unless otherwise stated in the thread).
The model can be bought/ commissioned, as for the Golden Hat models, but it has to be fully painted by the person entering it.
Entries made by pm, 4 links to where the pics are.
People are advised to ignore any models that are not part of the terrain piece for the purposes of judging, they would only be for display purposes.
Entries may be edited for lighting/contrast/cropping as best I can, a condition you automatically accept by entering. However, if you do not want this to happen, you must send me a pm to say so before the deadline closes.
Art based Artisans
There is no size limit, the only limit is your imagination.
This is an illustration contest, so we will not accept artwork in any other medium than drawn/rendered (i.e. no sculptures/ videos/ stories/ photography/ whatever else classes as 'art' these days).
It does not have to be drawn/ painted by hand, it can be drawn on a computer. HOWEVER, every part of the image has to be produced by you, you cannot merge/ edit existing artwork done by someone else.
If you put a decorative border on, or some text etc, you have to produce this all by hand (you cannot just type it in on a computer).
Each member may only enter something they have produced.
Upload ONE image to the internet, this cannot be a montage shot. PM the link to the Staff account. If you feel the place you are uploading shrinks it too much (as I think photobucket may), email it to cdostaff@hotmail.co.uk
Objective Marker based Artisans
The maximum size limit is 20cm x 20cm x 20cm (unless otherwise stated in the thread).
Entries made by pm, 4 links to where the pics are.
People are advised to ignore any models that are not part of the objective marker for the purposes of judging, they would only be for display purposes.
The model can be bought/ commissioned, as for the Golden Hat models, but it has to be fully painted by the person entering it.
Entries may be edited for lighting/contrast/cropping as best I can, a condition you automatically accept by entering. However, if you do not want this to happen, you must send me a pm to say so before the deadline closes.
FAQ
Where did I come in the ranking? How many votes did I get?
Both of these are done by private message for whoever asks. We don’t list where people come publically, unless they are in the top three. Occasionally we say who came 4th/5th.
Why doesn’t CDO have a judging panel?
This is something that has been asked a few times. CDO is a community for the many, not for the few. Because of this, we think it is vital that the community decide what entries are best by a majority vote and it’s not done subjectively by a small panel of people (who cannot obviously have entered themselves).
Why doesn’t CDO have multiple categories depending on skill?
This is more work than it’s worth really to be honest and the current system of voting doesn’t always favour the same people over and over. Having a category that only one person wanted to enter would be stupid and people would resent being moved into that category if they knew they would lose. At the end of the day even an ‘eavy metal painter could only enter one model, leaving the other medals up for grabs.
What happens if we get a draw?
For a competition where we are voting by pm (as there are more than 10 entries):
Draw for Gold = 2 x Gold and Bronze awarded
Draw for Silver = Gold and 2 x Silver awarded
Draw for Bronze = Gold, Silver and 2 x Bronze awarded
Multiple draws = vote off on all of them by public poll.
For competitions decided by a public poll (less than 10):
Draw for Gold = 2 x Gold
I never seem to win 
Not a question as such… We may not all be great painters, but the taking part is what counts and not only do you get to improve your skills but you also get a painted model at the end of it (or a story, terrain etc). You may eventually get a Veteran Medal for your troubles. So all the effort is not wasted and it can be all you need to motivate you to actually paint something!
How do I take good pictures of my model(s)?
There is a basic guide here people may find helpful.
Ever the best of friends Mum. 1953-2011
This post was last modified: 05-08-2019 03:06 AM by Admiral.
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Bloodbeard
Master Hellsmith of the Artillery Forge
Posts: 3,622 - Aug 2013
Group: Retired Staff
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RE: Everything you need to know about the Artisan's and Golden Hat contests.Bloodbeard  02-05-2015
Update: As of February 2015 self-voting is no longer allowed in competitions.
How do I vote
As already said, if there are more than 10 entries the voting will be done by personal message. Send a pm to the Staff account (as described above) with the 3 entries you consider are best, whatever that means to you. You don’t need to rank them, or give reasons why. You must place three votes, don't know how deserves your last vote? Choose one at random.
You are not allowed to vote on your own entry in competitions. Self-voting is considered cheating and will result in disqualification.
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Admiral
Auxilliary Moderator
Posts: 7,278 - May 2011
Group: Hashut's Admin
Market Rep: 10
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Admiral
Auxilliary Moderator
Posts: 7,278 - May 2011
Group: Hashut's Admin
Market Rep: 10
Slaves: 587
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RE: Everything you need to know about the Artisan's and Golden Hat contests.Admiral  05-08-2019
Update: The above-mentioned blank background rule has been dropped, and likewise rules on basing and display bases have been removed and boiled down to:
> Basing
Basing is up to your discretion.
This is not only to reflect the new scene where different wargames use different base shapes and sizes (that has been in effect for years now), but it also mean that dioramas and display bases are permanently welcome, going forward.
Chaos Dwarfs Online started out with a mission to claw back Chaos Dwarfs into a full army book faction, which translated into contest rules on base restrictions to better play ball with Warhammer Fantasy standards in order to play up the army list legitimity. However, long experience has time and time again shown that rules on basing was an unnecessary limit to creativity.
Both the blank background rule and the basing limits were born out of a tendency toward fairness across the board, but that's not really what these competitions are about: These contests are all aiming to encourage creativity, beautiful hobby work and community fun, by exploiting the competitive tendency of human nature.
Who cares if there is a magnificient display base to go along with the miniature, or a scenic diorama take on a contest theme, or a gorgeous background to enhance the impression? It's beauty and creativity that we're after, in the end. If someone wants to go the extra mile to make their entry pop, then let him or her do so. It'll give us good display pictures to show what this hobby is all about. Stickling to fairness considerations in these instances limits creativity, which runs counter to our hobby purpose. 
Please note that photoshopped background images are still not allowed, though! The modelling & painting contests are about handiwork and physical materials (including printed 3D-sculpts).
Join us on the new forum. Come help us test it out! https://discourse.chaos-dwarfs.com
Etsy shop
And thus there was Chaos. And Squats. Hobby Group Auxillia Work. On Dark Tides. Miscellaneous Commercial Sculpts. Flayman Tutorial.
Chaos Dwarf Writings: Fables. Songs. Proverbs. Quotes. Monumental Inscriptions. Religious Texts.
There's fourteen ways to skin a dwarf. Chaos Dwarf Warband Rules. Ninth Age concepts.
This post was last modified: 05-08-2019 03:42 AM by Admiral.
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