Beauty Contest

The Beauty Contest is a weekly art competition that began on February 21, 2000. Users submit pictures of their Neopet to be voted on by other players. A new round begins every Friday at 4:15 PM NST (or 3:15 PM DST). Unlike other art contests such as the Art Gallery and Random Contest, the quality of art is irrelevant; the number of votes is the sole basis for determining winners. For this reason, the Beauty Contest is sometimes considered to be an advertising competition. On the other hand, this allows users of any skill level to enter, provided they follow the rules.

Also unique to the Beauty Contest is its lack of Neopoint and item prizes. This is so users may enter their pets on side accounts without violating the Terms and Conditions.

Participants are encouraged to advertise in the special Beauty Contest Neoboard. Creating off-topic threads outside this area may be considered spam.

Rules

Because the outcome of contests depends on user votes, the Beauty Contest is closely regulated. Participants must abide by specific rules regarding their behavior and their artwork.

Artwork

All entries must be a maximum of 75 KB in size and either a JPEG or GIF file. After submission, the image is reviewed by contest_judge (a staff account) to gauge whether it is acceptable. Users are notified by Neomail if their image is rejected, but they are free to resubmit after making corrections. Some images are mistakenly approved at first and removed mid-competition.

Some common causes of rejection are:

• Too human-like. The Beauty Contest allows for anthro artwork, but entries that resemble humans more than Neopets are rejected.
• Does not resemble a Neopet enough. Although users have a lot of leeway, the drawing must be distinguishable as the appropriate species.
• Too realistic. (Photography is disallowed.)
• Includes copyright symbols or language. However, it can be signed with a username, as long as the account actually belongs to the submitter.
• Not completely the work of the user.
• Links to offsite websites, such as Deviantart.

Advertising

Each user has exactly one vote per species. Intentionally voting on multiple accounts or on a side account is a freezable offense. Buying, selling, or trading votes in any way is not tolerated.

Each person may only advertise for her own pet and only on the account that the pet is entered on.

Placing

Originally the rules were that users could only enter the pets on their main account. Along with receiving a trophy, the prizes awarded were...

Overall Winners	Species Winners
* First Prize - 20,000 NP + one rare item	* First Prize - 10,000 NP
* Second Prize - 10,000 NP + one rare item	* Second Prize - 5,000 NP
* Third Prize - 5,000 NP + one rare item	* Third Prize - 2,500 NP

However, starting on April 4, 2008 the rules of the BC were lifted to allow users to enter the pets on their side accounts provided any advertising was done from the appropriate account. This meant that the Neopoint and item prizes were discontinued although all winning pets would continue to receive a trophy.

Trivia

• The Beauty Contest was originally called the Neopian Beauty Expo.

External Links

• Beauty Contest
• Help: How do I dress my Neopet for the Beauty Contest?, Beauty Contest Help and FAQ
• Editorials: 200, 216, 235, 239, 244, 251, 257, 335, 337, 364, 397