The rules for this year's painting contest are quite a bit more complicated than they used to be! They have been placed in spoiler tags below to avoid a "wall of text." They can be downloaded from the MBS website by clicking the link:
http://www.manbattlestations.com/hostedfiles/MBS2016PaintingContest.pdf[spoiler]MBS 2016 Painting Contest Rules
The Goal
This competition is designed to provide naval gamers and modelers to encouragement to paint their minis and share the fruit of their efforts with the MBS community. Everyone is encouraged to enter, no matter how good or bad their painting and converting skills are!
The Deadline
This competition will open on 1 February 2016. The deadline for submissions is Friday, 1 April 2016.
The Awards
There are three separate awards that make up the MBS painting contest:
1. The Admiralty Award: The winner of this award is chosen by 3 designated judges.
2. The Member’s Choice Award: This award will be voted on in the MBS forums via forum poll. There are several sub-categories in this award, and a winner will be selected in each category.
3. The Commander’s Choice Award: Just like last year, this award will be selected by me (Ruckdog) to recognize an outstanding entry that did not otherwise place in the voting and selection processes for the other awards.
The Awards Explained
The Admiralty Award
All entries to the painting contest will be considered for this award. Each entry will be evaluated by a panel of 3 volunteer judges that will be selected by MBS. Judges must be selected from the MBS community (specifically, the judges must be members of the MBS forums at the time of their selection). Their identity will be announced prior to judging on the forums. The judges will individually evaluate each entry using a set of scoring criteria. Each criteria will be rated on a 1-10 scale, which each score being weighted as per the criteria sheet to produce an overall score for an entry. These scores will then be averaged across the three judges and ranked highest to lowest. The top rated entry wins! In the unlikely event of a tie, the 3 judges will vote on the tying entries to determine a winner. Judges are naturally barred from entering models for the Admiralty Award, though they can still enter the Member’s Choice competition. The results of the Admiralty Award will be announced after the voting for the Member’s Choice Award is done, to avoid influencing the voting for the later.
The Member’s Choice Award
Entries will be submitted to one of 4 categories (see below). Once the submission deadline has passed, the entries for each category will be posted in a thread on the forum to be voted on by MBS forum members. If there are more than 5 entries for a category, voting for that category will be split into heats. The winner of each heat will go through to the next round until a winner is determined for that category. The voting period for each heat will last 7 days, and the voting results will be shown after the poll ends. Entries will be placed into heats in a randomized fashion, with the stipulation that multiple entries from one participant will be spread among more than one heat.
● Member’s Choice Award Categories:
○ Space: Any space ship miniature or miniature, from any manufacturer, is eligible.
○ Steampunk: Victorian sci-fi! This is primarily for Dystopian Wars, but any steampunk minis (Leviathans, etc) are fair game for this category. Landships and airships are also acceptable entries for this category!
○ Fantasy: These are for minis from games like Uncharted Seas or Dreadfleet. Any models that don’t fit into the other categories also go here.
○ Historical: From the Age of Sail to the modern era! Any ship that existed “In Real Life” are permitted. Ships that were planned or started and never completed (such as the USS MONTANA) are also permissible.
Commander’s Choice Award
This award will be selected by me to recognize an outstanding entry that was not selected for any of the other prizes. All entries, regardless of category, are fair game for this award and are entered for consideration automatically.
Prizes
The below table summarizes the prizes to be awarded, by category. In addition to the prizes below, each winner will receive a Certificate Suitable for Framing that will be mailed to them following the end of the contest. It is possible for a single entry to win two prizes; the Member’s Choice award for its category and the Admiralty Award. All decisions are final, any prizes are non-negotiable and the competition organizers reserve the right to remove competition entries or request that they are resubmitted or altered. The below list of prizes is subject to change; the gift certificate prizes are fixed, but other items may be added after the contest begins. If you have something you wish to donate as a prize, please contact Ruckdog (ruckdog@manbattlestations.com) and let us know!
Admiralty Award
● $40 Gift Certificate to the War Store
● Set of Island Terrain from Danaussie
Member’s Choice, Sci-Fi ● $15 Gift Certificate to The War Store
Member’s Choice, Fantasy ● $15 Gift Certificate to The War Store
Member’s Choice, Steampunk ● $15 Gift Certificate to The War Store
Member’s Choice, Historical ● $15 Gift Certificate to The War Store
Commander’s Choice Award ● $20 Gift Certificate to The War Store
Entry Guidelines
● You may submit as many entries as you wish, but you are limited to a single picture per entry, no more. Each photograph should be no more than 3 megabytes large and no more than 1024 x 768 pixels. Pictures not meeting these size requirements will be cropped and resized by MBS.
● Any model not already entered in a previous MBS Painting Contest is eligible for entry.
● To submit an entry, email the picture to: competition@manbattlestations.com. To ensure proper sorting, make sure to list the Member’s Choice competition category in the email subject and a brief description of the entry (game system, model name/class, etc) in the email.
● Alternatively, you may use the entry submission form on the MBS Blog:
http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2016-painting-contest/● You do not need to be a member of the MBS forums to submit an entry. However, non-members will suffer a small penalty in the Admiralty voting, and will not be able to vote in the Member’s Choice portion of the contest, either.
● All entries will be posted as a photo gallery on the MBS blog for future viewing. The entries may also pop up from time to time on MBS in various ways, including headline photos for blog entries and in forum banners. If you do not desire to have your photo(s) used in this manner, please state so in the body of the email.
Good luck and happy painting!
MBS Painting Contest Admiralty Award Judging Criteria
MBS 2016 Painting Contest
Explanation
Miniatures will be evaluated using the following criteria. Each entry will be awarded a score between 1-10 points for each area. The various areas will be weighted in the following manner:
● Difficulty: 15%
● Creativity: 10%
● Workmanship: 10%
● Painting Skill: 30%
● Presentation/Overall Effect: 30%
● Community Involvement: 5%
Difficulty
● How challenging was the miniature to paint? A detailed and well-proportioned miniature is easier to cope with than one which must be extensively re-worked. While intricately painted detail is impressive, flats are often more difficult since a genuine feeling of roundness must be achieved with brushwork alone.
● How much conversion work was done? A minor conversion would consist of only a small change, one in which the original design is plainly evident. A complete conversion leaves very little of the original model.
Creativity
● Color Scheme: Is the color scheme original? Do the colors work together to create a miniature that is pleasant to look at?
● For historical models, how well has the painter re-created the subject? Have there been any modifications of the basic mini to turn it into something more “accurate”?
Workmanship
● Has the miniature been prepared for painting? Mold lines have been removed, pits and voids filled, flash removed, etc.
● For multi-part miniatures, all joints are neatly made with no gaps.
Painting Skill
● Neatness: no bleed-over between areas of different colors; separations between regions of different colors are crisp and defined.
● Shading, if applied, is neatly and subtly done.
● Weathering, if applied, gives the impression of “real-world’ use and matches the environment the model “lives.”
Presentation/Overall Effect
● Photography: Since the judges will not be able to view the physical miniature, this is a critical part of the contest. Photos that are clear and well-lit will show the miniature to better effect. Photo “collages” that show models from multiple angles are also advantageous. Consideration is also given to added effects, such as ocean backgrounds, smoke effects, etc. However, these effects should not detract from the actual modeling and painting done on the miniature.
● The overall effect of the miniature is the most subjective area of judging. In general, this is the judge’s evaluation of the “wow” factor of the entry, and how well the various other elements of the judging come together as a whole.
Community Involvement
● MBS is first and foremost a community, and those entrants who are members of the MBS Forums will receive additional consideration. A flat 5 points will be awarded for being a member of the forum. Additional points will be awarded based on the member’s post count as of 1 March 2016, on the following scale: 0-10 Posts: 1 Point; 11-20 Posts: 2 Points, 21-30 posts: 3 points; 31-40 posts: 4 points; 41+ posts, 5 points.
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Good luck and happy painting! If you have any questions, please feel free to post them below.
