The First Brigade Contest - Judges are voting

  Hello everyone! The time has finally arrived for the First Brigade Contest! An event we would like to host to celebrate the milestone of reaching over 700 watchers on Deviant Art. I hope that it will also be an opportunity to have some fun and show your creativity in the spirit of good-natured competition. 

Update:

    The time for submitting contest entries has run out! I would like to thank everyone who chose to participate in the contest, be it as a contestant, donator or judge. We at the Brigade have enjoyed working with you and sharing all the information we could about the characters and events that piqued your interest. All of the submissions are wonderful, creative and show real effort!

    Now comes the exciting part - the contest entries are being sent to our judges - 6 of them in total, who will carefully select one third of the entries that will continue into the Final, public voting round. The judges need time for their deliberations, and starting now, they have 7 days for their decision making! The list of the judges will be made public after they cast their votes.


Last day update: 

   The grace period of 1 day for those confirmed working on submissions is running. Once it concludes, we will update the journal . 

    Last day of the contest is upon us! You still have chance to submit your contest entry. The deadline is 25th June, 15:00 CET. If you are working on a contest entry but expect to miss the deadline narrowly, please comment on the contest journal and state that you are still planning to enter - as written in the journal, there will be a short grace period (maximum 1 day) for those in similar situation to submit their work.

   With today's submissions, we have unlocked all 3 Prize slots and the end of the contest is nearly upon us. All judge seats have been taken and the judges are awaiting the final list of submissions, before they can get to work. 

Final week update: 


  Hello everyone! The contest has entered its final phase. There is only one week left to go. I would like to remind everyone that the deadline is 25th June, 15:00 CET. If you are planning to join the contest, you need to submit your entry/ies before this time. If you are planning to submit an entry, but predict that you will miss the deadline narrowly, now is the time to contact me and talk about possible exception. If you are uncertain about the character/s you would like to portray, please do not hesitate and contact me. I'll be happy to help with any questions and details.

   The judging will be conducted in two phases - first one will take place between 25th June and 2nd July. A panel of six judges will take a look at all contest entries and select a group of entries that will enter the public voting finals. In the public voting finals (roughly between 2-9th July), the DA community will select the winners by casting their votes in a special journal.

 - The public vote is open to anyone
 - Each participant will have to cast two votes (3 in case the number if final entries will be 9+)
 - Several restrictions regarding the accounts apply. The voter accounts have to be at least 1 month old and show some form of activity other than voting on contests. Final say about account's validity will be on the select few judges who will help us with overseeing the public vote
 - Any suspected foul play will be investigated and penalized
 - in case there is 15 and less entries in the contest, only 2 prizes will be drawn (as mentioned in the journal). In case we have 16+ entries, the 3rd prize will be unlocked. 
 - upon reaching the deadline, all contestants who submitted an entry will be given a unique Brigade 30% discount token they'll be able to treat in any way they desire (turn in, trade, hang on the wall ). 
 - the Donator giveaway will be conducted during the voting period - In case you would like to donate a last minute prize to the contest, this possibility is still open until 23rd June, 15:CET


Two weeks to go update: 

  Hello everyone! The contest is nearing its finale! We have 2 more weeks to go. Nearly all the judge seats have been taken and we are all excited to see what the final weeks have in store for us. We have received some amazing entries so far! Many thanks to all those who have decided to take part. Remember, if you are uncertain about the character/s you would like to portray, I'll be happy to help you with that, all you need to do is contact me. Don't forget that the Brigade gallery is being constantly updated with new characters. We accept all media, as long as you have fun, follow the rules and show creativity! You can check the contest entries in the link below. 

IMPORTANT : I've spoken with the Brigade members, and we have decided to spice things up even more! To reward ALL who participate in the contest and as a way to thank for the amazing work, we have decided to put up a special prize! In addition to the prizes and the donator giveaway, EVERY contestant whose entry is accepted will receive ONE Brigade 30% Discount token - a tradable unique token that allows you to get a 30% discount with me when you turn the token in.  As mentioned, the token can be traded/gifted to your friends, so even if you don't plan on commissioning me, you can still make good use of it .

The rules
-  The First Brigade Contest begins 25. April 15:00 CET, and will be running for two months
-  The deadline is 25. June 15:00 CET 
-  The deadline might be extended under special circumstances (lack of entries etc.)
-  2 contest entries per person only, contestant can win only one prize spot (no multiple placements despite 2 contest entries)
-  This contest is focused fully on The Brigade, our mercenary company that roams Azeroth and beyond, and their allies. 
-  The goal is to depict/portray one or more of The Brigade characters at your leisure
  - The available characters that you can depict are in The Brigade folder of my gallery on Deviant art
  galder.deviantart.com/gallery/…
  - there are over 60 characters available right now, most, if not all have detailed descriptions in their respective deviations. 
  - if you are interested in learning more about the characters, all information available will be given to you at your request
  - The Brigade and their allies number in hundreds, if you are interested in learning about/depicting a different character that
  might have been mentioned in the description of one of the pictures, all the relevant information will be made available. 
  For example in the deviation depicting Old gran Malise,   there is mention of at least 4 other Brigade related characters that are all eligible to be depicted as a contest entry.
  -  If you still haven't found the character/s you would like to use for your contest entry, feel free to note/contact me and together
  we can search for a character that would suit you!
-  We appreciate creativity! Writing, cosplay, crafts, drawing, painting, music, wmv edits..all is welcome!
-  Contest entries will be accepted as long as they show effort and creativity. Stick figures would most likely not pass the watchful eyes of our judges anyway. 
-  The Brigade's history is rich on many events, both dark and joyful. Each of the characters has a personal story associated with them, that stretches back up to 5 years and will be made available upon request. To reflect this nature, we do accept grim/mature themed entries, but would like to ask that you avoid unnecessary gore or adult themes (tasteful nudity and romance is welcome). 
- The entries that have been submitted so far are gathered here - Warchief's Echo - AnimatedThe First Brigade Contest - Contest Entries
    This is a collection of all the entries that have been accepted into the First Brigade Contest listed in the order of being submitted. 
    The time for submitting contest entries has run out! I would like to thank everyone who chose to participate in the contest, be it as a contestant, donator or judge. We at the Brigade have enjoyed working with you and sharing all the information we could about the characters and events that piqued your interest. All of the submissions are wonderful, creative and show real effort! 
    Now comes the exciting part - the contest entries are being sent to our judges - 6 of them in total, who will carefully select one third of the entries that will continue into the Final, public voting round. The judges need time for their deliberations, and starting now, they have 7 days for their decision making! 
1.  by :devDamien
- To enter, you need to be a watcher, both old and new watchers may participate. Sharing the contest journal in your own status post/journal is not required,but greatly appreciated. 
- Donators may take part in the contest, Judges may not

How is the winner going to be picked?

  - There will be two rounds of voting for the contest winners
  - First round will be done by a panel of judges, who will pick 30%(rounded up) of the contest entries that will enter the final voting round. The names of the judges will be revealed first in June to avoid any foul play
  - Entries that were selected by our judges, will then enter the Finals. This round will be an open voting round, where everyone votes for 2 (3 if the number of entries in finals is above 9) entries
  - To be eligible to vote, the account has to be at least 2 months old and show some non-contest/giveaway related activity
  - Any suspicious behavior, attempts at cheating or influencing the public and/or judges, will be dealt with swiftly, any contestants connected to foul play might face being penalized/disqualified.




The prizes -
1st place -
  - One Brigade Large Supply Chest (Random assortment of goods, might contain multiple items including all kinds of art, prints, points, features, core and more. Contains more items than standard supply chest) OR 75 Euro as a monetary prize
 
  - One colored headshot from LauraMegara
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  - One colored Halfbody from LeilaAscariz

  - One b/w sketch from sylessae

  - One custom fractal from Mythiril
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  - journal features at TheArtLounge , ArtInOurHeart and ArtHasSoul provided by Mythiril
  - One Colored portrait from Majalth


  - One colored portrait from GreySparkle
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  - One portrait and feature from Aya-Lunar

- feature in manga-anime--art provided by MetalPorSiempre

2nd place -
  - opens up as long as there is at least 8 entries in the contest
  - One Brigade Supply Chest (Random assortment of goods, might contain multiple items including all kinds of art, prints, points, features, core and more.) OR 50 Euro as a monetary prize

  - journal features at TheArtLounge , ArtInOurHeart and ArtHasSoul provided by Mythiril
  - One digital bust shot by LacrimareObscura 

  - One detailed b/w portrait from LeilaAscariz

  - One b/w portrait from Majalth

  - 300 dA points from MightyGalacticFeline
- feature in manga-anime--art provided by MetalPorSiempre

3rd place -
  - opens up as long as there is at least 16 entries in the contest
  - One Brigade Supply Chest (Random assortment of goods, might contain multiple items including all kinds of art, prints, points, features, core and more.) OR 50 Euro as a monetary prize

  - journal features at TheArtLounge , ArtInOurHeart and ArtHasSoul provided by Mythiril
  - one portrait by Aya-Lunar

  - One basic b/w portrait from LeilaAscariz 

  - One b/w sketch portrait from Majalth


  - 200 dA points from MightyGalacticFeline
  - feature in manga-anime--art provided by MetalPorSiempre

Brigade Supply Chests - for those who are unfamiliar with them, these wonderful boxes contain random assortment of loot, that can range from dA points and features to art and prints. For details please check this journal, that shows the first use of these as a prize.
The First Brigade Raffle - WinnersHello everyone! 
   The First Brigade Raffle winning tickets have been drawn by the General himself! The winning numbers are 40 and 48! I will be contacting the winners shortly and the Brigade will prepare the ceremony of handing over one Brigade Supply chest to :iconLmih: and one to :iconJenLaFayette: . We have not reached full 100 tickets for two rolls, but the Brigade has decided to honor its allies by awarding an extra supply chest. The chests will be opened once all is set up and the whole event will be recorded for your amusement . 

  Big congratulations to our winners and big thanks to all who took part in the raffle. We will be doing another one just like this soon, so stay tuned . The next event on the list will be a Brigade related Art Contest. 
UPDATE:The chests have been opened! The recording from the event is of a low quality though (for which I'm really sorry ). We have been taking screenshots though, an

If you have any questions about the contest, please feel free to contact me through notes or discord.