A Beginner's Guide to the Random Contest

What is the Random Contest? Well, the Random Contest is one of the many contests that Neopets has to offer. The name says it all. Each week starting on Friday there is a brand new contest, and each week the contests are completely different from the last ones. You may be asked to make something, be it a drawing, diorama, or a sculpture. Or you could be asked to write something: a story, a recipe, or even one sentence about something. You may even be asked to record your voice saying something humorous, or telling a story. All of the subjects will of course be Neopets related, and are completely random, so if you are good at drawing and want to enter a drawing of yours into it, you may have to wait a week, two weeks, or even longer to find a contest requiring your artistic skills. You might have better luck with the Art Gallery contest, or even the Beauty Contest.

Have you finally found a contest that fits you, and would like to enter it? Then it’s time to actually make your entry. Being a three time winner myself, (one second place and twice winning third place) I have come up with a few things you might want to think about to improve your entry before you send it in.

Does the current topic involve anything artistic? If this is the case, then consider the following:

Take your time! You have a week to do the contest, and that’s quite some time to work on it. The better the quality, the better the chances are of being chosen.

Is art your calling? If it is, and you are very good at it, then you also have a good chance. If it isn’t exactly your thing, you might not enjoy it so much and your chances of having your entry win are slim to none.

Does the topic involve drawing or painting? If so, you might want to do the drawing on your computer. The quality is much better. If you do decide to use paper and colored pencils, you might not want to take a picture of the drawing. It can turn out badly, and the lighting could be too bright or too dark. Your best bet would be to use a scanner. Most printers come with these nowadays. It copies the drawing directly to the computer. If your picture is a wall diagram, or big poster, you should probably take a picture, though.

Does the contest involve writing? If it does, these tips are for you:

Use proper English! You probably hear this all the time, but don’t use chat speak in your entry. Anyone’s story that starts like this, “0nc3 u40n a t1m3…” will most likely be rejected.

Check your spelling and grammar. Add commas where commas should be, and periods at the end of every sentence. Use a dictionary on words you are unsure of.

Lastly, keep on topic! Don’t be writing about a journey to Kreludor, then start rambling about the time you ate smoothies on Mystery Island. You will lose people and confuse them.

There are more contests that aren’t exactly art, and don’t require writing. These are what I call “Other” projects. You may have to use colored paper, cardboard, and printed images from the computer. Or you may be required to sew, knit, or embroider. These projects could include making a model of an item, making dioramas or anything else. My only tip about this is to be neat and again take your time! Just do your personal best.

Yay! After plenty of hard work, you are ready to send your entry in. If you need to send in a picture, first make sure that it is in .gif or .jpg format. They must be in lower case as well! It won’t take .GIF or .JPG. Also, a good idea for entries is to make a collage with maybe a couple different picture views of the project, and list materials, the title, and your username on it. You can look at previous contests for ideas if your need it. Then save the picture onto a picture file on your computer. Go to the submission form, then search through the files until you find it. Also make sure the size is within the limits. You may have to resize it accordingly.

Now you have your picture all ready, so what’s this description area that you see? Well, this is the area where you write a little bit about your project. List materials, how long you worked on it, and even what it’s supposed to be about. This is for the judges and won’t show up on the page if you have won. The last thing to do is cross your fingers, wait for the following Friday and hope that you win!

In the Random Contest, you can either win first place, second place, or third place. The first and second place winners get the honor of having their pictures displayed on the winning entries page. They are also awarded a nifty trophy, an avatar, 10,000-5,000 NP, and a valuable item. If you win third place, however, there is no way to know until you get a neomail from theneopetsteam, because the picture is not shown on the page. Third place winners also get 2,000 NP and an avatar.

With that being said, that’s basically all you need to know about the Random Contest! If you don’t win the first time, don’t give up! Since each contest is different, your chances of winning are also different. Just do your best, and hopefully you will win. Good luck!