With thanks, as ever, to the Rose Theatre in Angel Manor for the ability to borrow their lavish halls.
We thought long on this one, considering last year’s performance, and whether we could pull off the publicity factor this year. But finally, tradition won out, and so the time has come once again. The Flickr group is open for submissions of your finest evening gown photos. Who will be the best-dressed avatar on the Hollywood red carpet when the Academy Awards are handed out? Around the Grid is accepting submissions for its 9th Annual Oscar Fashion Photo Contest!!
The contest group will open for submissions once this article is published, and the prize pool has been placed in escrow (so to speak). Time to talk to your stylists, find your hairdresser and book an appointment, call in favors at the jewelry stores, and decide what you would wear if you became a nominee for the little gold man. For those considered outstanding in their evening couture and artistic portrayal, there shall be (15 minutes of) fame, (a bit of) fortune, and hopefully fun in playing the game.
Entry is free; just submit a photo to the appropriate group on Flickr, or leave a comment with a link to your photo. (However, make sure to read all the rules, okay?) The prize pool is again guaranteed at over L$50,000. First place will receive L$25,000. So, if you want a chance at filling your virtual closet at my expense, come on and enter!
Please read these rules carefully; there have been tweaks, as there usually are, and it will prevent many misunderstandings, letters/IMs/notecards, and headaches. However, if you do have a question, feel free to write to harper.ganesvoort@gmail.com.
- No entry fee is required. Never has been, never will; this is all on Harper’s own dime.
- Photos should be submitted, preferably, by addition to the SL Oscar Fashion group on Flickr. (This does not restrict your adding your photo to any other group.) Please read the group rules before submitting photos!! You may also leave a comment to this or future messages concerning the contest, containing a link to your photo. All accepted submissions from publication time of this article until 12:01 a.m. SLT on March 5, 2018 will be considered for judging. Please note that the group is moderated, and any submissions not meeting the contest rules will be rejected as ineligible for entry. The same applies for comment submissions via blog comments. Repeated attempts to submit “ineligible” photos will result in banning, and the submitting Resident being banned permanently from the contest. (You may, of course, also submit your photo to other groups in addition to the contest group.)
- The theme for photographs is targeted on the day and night of the Academy Awards ceremony, or the immediate morning after. While the red-carpet walk is the focus, much goes on both before, during and after. Photographs may run the gamut from preparing for the night to the after-parties. Suitability to the theme will be part of the judging criteria (see rule 9).
- Multiple entries are not allowed. If you enter, then change your mind and want to do a different dress, the newer entry will supersede the old one. If a duplicate entry is discovered by me, the older entry (based on Flickr or blog date stamp) will be removed. No prejudice to eligibility or judging shall result from multiple entries.
- Photos taken prior to December 1, 2017 (based on Flickr or blog date stamp) are not eligible.
- Still photos only, please; no machinima or storyboards. Post-production is allowed.
- Vintage fashion (simple “vintage” style, or Second Life designers no longer in business) is acceptable. Oscar has been around since 1929; there’s plenty of opportunity to dip into the vintage-style closet and your back Inventory.
- Vendor cards will not be allowed; neither will photos with any advertising text or logos in the owner’s notes or comments. You will, however, be welcome to submit a “stripped” photo for contest purposes; “stripped” means no text, logos or other extraneous material, either in the photo (aside from a signature) or in the description below, aside from the normal list of who designed what. (Such a list of designers is, indeed, encouraged, especially for the gown and hair!)
- Judging: The staff of Around the Grid will review the entries following close of the contest, and plan to announce the winners no later than March 30, 2018 (tentative, subject to change backward or forward). Judging will be based on the appropriateness of the entry to the theme, and the artistic merit. All decisions will be final.
- Publication: By entering, you agree to allow Around the Grid the one-time right to republish a reduced-size copy of your photo in the winners’ announcement article in the blog. This will be the only use of the photograph beyond your own publication and other grants of permission to other venues of publication. Your copyright will be noted in a caption to your reproduced photo. We strongly encourage all submissions to be signed in a corner! All photos will be linked to their respective pages in the article where possible, for readers to jump to the photo page and leave comments, faves, retweets and likes, etc.
- If there are any tweaks needed to these rules, they will be announced in a future article here on the blog, and this article amended, with notes.
- Staff members of Around the Grid are not eligible for prizes. However, we will do at least one article prior to announcement of winners, showing what we ourselves would wear to the big event. (The items we wear will not be indicative of our preferences or choices of winner, but are simply our own choices from available gowns and suits, or items out of our past inventory.)
Prize fund (current as of January 19, 2018)
The total prize pool will be L$50,500, awarded as follows (unless there is a tie):
- 1st Place — L$25,000
- 2nd Place — L$10,000
- 3rd Place — L$7,500
- Honorable mention (4) — L$2,000 each
This prize pool is guaranteed, and will not be reduced. If there is an increase in the pool, it will be announced here and in a separate article, and the prizes adjusted accordingly. Prizes will be awarded to the submitter of a given photo only. If in a duo or family shot, the winners will split the prize. Prizes will be awarded in Linden dollars only; none will be paid in Real World currencies of any form or nationality, in Bitcoins, gift/debit/credit cards, by check, or in any other token/medium of exchange.
Note: we write up some comments about each photo, including the various designers of your choices; so, please, please, please, a list of the content creators in the photo description on Flickr or your blog is extremely welcome.
You can see past winners from this history page; just click on the year. Good luck, and enter soon, please!
NOTE TO BLOGGERS AND REPORTERS: A press release is available for your use. You may also copy the above photo for use in your story.
Around the Grid 