Competition Rules - 2009 revision
Background
Twice each year we will be holding the One-Ring Awards; a series of individual competitions for beginners and experts alike covering various aspects of the hobby.
The awards will normally be opened in
March and
September for the submission of entries, with voting taking place during the following month i.e.
April and
October.
Categories
The Awards are comprised of four specialised categories open to all, and one general category open to
beginners only (see below). In addition to these categories, an extra Committee's Choice Award will be awarded at the end of each competition.
Open Categories
Open to all active members who are experienced in one or all of these aspects of the hobby.
1) Best Painted Miniature
A single LoTR figure, does not have to be from GW but must fit the scale and theme of LoTR.
Members are required to understand and comply with item 2 of the General Rules regarding submission of their own work and the provision of photographic proof if requested.
2) Best Terrain Piece or Diorama
A terrain piece recognisably themed on Middle-earth and for use with 25-28mm scale miniature figures. There is no maximum limit to the size of the piece.
Any diorama must be a Middle-earth themed scene containing a terrain piece and at least one miniature figure. There is no maximum limit to the number of miniatures in the diorama.
Members are required to understand and comply with item 2 of the General Rules regarding restrictions to terrain piece or diorama submissions.
Photographic proof of the terrain / diorama build process may be required by a Competition Committee member to validate your entry. This can be achieved by taking 2 'Work in Progress' pictures during construction.
3) Best Sculpting / Conversion Piece
A single item of 25-28mm scale figure. Proof of the conversion / sculpting process
must be shown in photographic form by supplying a picture of the unfinished entry.
Members are required to understand and comply with item 2 of the General Rules regarding submission of their own work.
It is not essential for your competition entry to be painted but you may wish to submit a fully finished picture alongside the unfinished one.
4) 'One Ring Master Craftsman' - LOTR Themed Challenge
At the end of each sets of competitions, the Competition Committee will suggest a theme for the next awards, this might be LOTR realm based or of a more general nature. e.g. we may suggest Rohan / Winter / Evil as potential themes.
The idea is to try and encourage the members to enter a 'themed piece' that will be voted on by members in the usual way. This might well be a more ambitious piece of work, and might well appeal to the more established hobbyist, although
EVERYONE is welcome to submit an entry.
There will be
no physical prize offered for this category, just the title of
One Ring Master Craftsman and the respect of the One Ring community for the winner.
When voting for this award, members should keep in mind how well each entry fits the LOTR theme, established at the end of the previous competition, in addition to the overall quality of the work itself.
General Beginners Category
Beginners who enter this category can include painted miniatures, terrain models, dioramas, or conversions, so long as they are clearly themed to Middle-earth and intended for 25mm-28mm scale miniatures.
Entry in this competition category is for beginners only and so people who wish to participate must first be approved by the Competition Committee before they can submit an entry. To do this, the member must click on the beginners approval link, made available for the the current competition, and submit a photograph of their work along with a request to enter the competition with a beginner status.
NOTE: This process only applies to the General Beginners category.
All members, including beginners, can potentially enter a
MAXIMUM of FOUR entries for each awards. Please see item 5 of the General Rules for further details.
Committee Choice Award
At the end of each competition, the Competition Committee will award an extra prize. This prize will be open to anyone who enters the awards.
The idea of this extra prize is to reward a member who's entry we feel really deserves extra recognition. This entry might be the winner in it's category, but it might be the last as well. The committee uses many different parameters when deciding on a winner, it's not only about the pure quality of the work. A member who displays a marked improvement in technique or build quality has the same chance as an expert in a particular field.
The winner is decided by the members of the Competition Committee only. Please note that previous winners of the Committee Choice Award are not eligible to win the award in future competitions.
General Rules
1. Members who enter the One Ring Awards agree to be bound by the rules of the competition. Any decision taken by either the Site Administrators or Competition Committee regarding members' entries is final.
2. Each entry must be your own work. Contestants may be required to provide photographic proof of this. Any member who is discovered submitting items that are not their own work will be disqualified from the Awards. This includes miniatures painted on your behalf by another and the submission of major, commercially available, terrain items.
The use of commercially available hobby moulds is restricted to the creative use of simple blocks or the occasional use of a specialist mould. Any member requiring clarification about this restricted use should contact a member of the competition committee for a ruling on their potential entry.
The modification of miniatures, terrain items, sculpts etc. with smaller, commercially available, accessories is allowed as embellishment to the submitted piece.
3. The digital enhancement of images is not permitted. The Competition Committee or Site Administrators reserve the right to remove any entry they feel has been doctored using a graphics package to significantly enhance it's appearance. NOTE: The removal of coloured backgrounds and minor adjustments of brightness will usually be considered acceptable.
4. Members found to be encouraging other members to vote for their entry will be disqualified from the current One Ring Awards. Potential further action may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
5. The aim of the General Beginners category is to encourage
True Beginners to the hobby. With this in mind, any beginner is eligible to enter
one Painted Miniature,
one Terrain Piece or Diorama and
one Sculpting / Conversion Piece for each awards, i.e a maximum of
Three pieces. This is the equivalent of a more experienced member submitting an entry into each of the
Three Open categories.
As stated above, ALL members are eligible to enter the 'One Ring Master Craftsman' - LOTR Themed Challenge so everybody can potentially enter a
MAXIMUM of FOUR entries for each awards.
6. If you win the General Beginners Category you will be no longer be considered a beginner and will have to enter the Open Categories in future. In addition, if you are good at one aspect of the hobby, say terrain making, but poor at miniature painting then you will NOT be considered a beginner. You will be expected to enter the appropriate Open Category. If you have an entry accepted for the General Beginners Category you will not be allowed to also enter a Open Category in the current competition. i.e you cannot be a beginner if you are entering any of the other categories. The 'One Ring Master Craftsman' - LOTR Themed Challenge is an exception as it is open to all.
7. Any member who is not entering the Beginners Category is normally eligible to enter the maximum of one entry for any of the Open Categories they wish to enter. The exception to this rule is that a member placed first in the previous awards for a category must 'sit-out' the following Awards. e.g The winner of the March Best Painted Miniature category cannot enter the September Best Painted Miniature category. They are eligible to enter any of the other open categories to encourage them to try a new field of the hobby.
8. A unique piece of work must be entered for each category you decide to enter e.g. you cannot use a miniature you have entered as a Painted Miniature and then also include it as part of a Diorama. Also an entry placed First, Second or Third in a given category is not eligible to be entered in future One Ring competitions. This is to encourage new work to be created for the One Ring Awards.
Selection and Voting
1. Entries will be accepted up until the closing date and from then on all entries may be voted on by members. Each member may vote for up to three entries per category. Their first vote is worth 5 points, their second vote is worth 3 points and their third vote is worth 1 point. All votes must be used within a category to validate the voting process. The exception to this is a category with less than 3 entries.
If you have already cast your vote, clicking on the button will only display a message informing you that you have voted for this category already.
You are allowed to cast a vote for your own entries to the One Ring Awards. At the end of the voting period, the votes are tallied up and the entrant with the most votes is declared the winner.
2. To enter the One Ring Awards you must be a registered 'active' member and not have been banned from the One Ring site. A message will be displayed if you have. If so, you should contact the Admin team to find out why. If you have registered and are not banned and you still cannot log in then check and double-check your username and password. Usually this is the problem; if not, you should contact the site Admin team.
3. The competition is intended for members of the One-Ring community website and is not open to outsiders, so we are trying to discourage people from joining the site just to enter the competition. As such, we ask that entries are limited to only those members who are regular visitors in the forums, galleries, chatrooms and chatbox.
Prizes
1. The provision of physical prizes for the One Ring Awards is not guaranteed. Prizes depend upon the level of site funds from donations received from general members and the goodwill of the Staff and Admin team. In addition to the main physical prizes for 1st place, 2nd and 3rd places will be rewarded with One Ring gold coins.
2. As stated earlier in the rules, the 'One Ring Master Craftsman' - LOTR Themed Challenge will never have a physical prize awarded to the winner. Since it may well appeal to the more established hobbyist, it is assumed the honour of this award will be reward enough. In addition, no gold coins will be awarded in this special category.