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THE GREAT BANNER AND BACKGROUND CONTEST
The Argent Archives wishes to record the faces of the world and promises thousand gold coins to the best portrait in the Archives and thousand gold coins to the best written background.

The Board of Scribes will pick two grand prize winners. Both winners will receive a grand prize each of 1000 gold coins! Not to mention that all participants will be eligible for a random prize draw!

So journey to the Archives and have yourself registered into our great library, whether it is in Ironforge or through our caravans in Orgrimmar and Silvermoon!

Great portrait example: Dumelore

OOC:
How to participate?
1a. Write your background in the background field of your profile.
1b. Create your 590×150 portrait and have it appear on your profile.
2. Then upload the portrait into your gallery.
3. Name the image you upload “Profile banner for <Name>”.
Example: “Profile banner for Alabast”.
4. Create a story and name it "AA Profile Contest <Name>"
Example: "AA Profile Contest Alabast".
4a. Link the image to the newsitem.
5. Insert the image you made into the story.
6. Link the story to this newsitem.
Now the judges can easily see that you are participating and thus investigate your profile. Submissions not linked to the news this way will not be considered!

Don't know how to insert an image into a story? Look to the FAQ for how to illustrate your stories.


Advertisement: This Contest is made possible by the sponsorship of House of SharTal

Criteria:
- The character portrait must be made by you, regardless of it being based on a screenshot or artwork.
- If you have someone else legally make it for you, it must contain a mention of this person and a way to contact him/her.
- Your character profile must be complete. Empty profiles will not be considered. This means that you both need to create a character portrait as well as a background story to participate in both contests.
- The character portrait must be the correct size. 590×150 pixels.
- Remember: You need to both have a character portrait and a character background in your profile, regardless of what prize you are aiming to win.
- Profiles with OOC content in it (unless it is embedded in a link), will automatically be disqualified. Learn more about using brackets and links by reading this document:
http://www.argentarchives.org/brackets

Atmospheric portrait example: Xaliús

Tip:
A good background should not recap your entire life. Write a background that gives people an idea of who you are and then invite them to read the rest of your background in your story section.

Deadline
Contest starts today and ends September 16th.

Grand Prizes
The best portrait receives 1000 gold coins. The best background receives 1000 gold coins. The prize is IC and will only be paid to the character that won.

Judges Award Prizes
The five best banners and the five best backgrounds will receive a special “mention” within the Archives, making them easier to find.

Random Prizes!!!
Five random participants in the contest will receive 100 gold coins for their participation!
Five additional random participants will receive a “mention” in the Archives.
What is a mention? It’s an URL that allows people to easily access your profile. Example: http://www.argentarchives.org/alabast

You don’t need to be a Photoshop guru to make great portraits.
This portrait is from Merilees

FAQ
I just want to write a background! Why do I have to make a portrait banner?
We want to see more of both portraits and backgrounds. Uploading the portrait allows us to feature your face in the article if you win.
I don’t know how to make a portrait! Even if I knew it would suck!
Having a portrait is what counts. Have a friend make it for you and then focus on participating in the Background part of the contest. Remember, you may always win one of the random prizes!
I don’t want to! Its always just Acrona or someone famous who wins!
Not this time. The usual suspects are hired as judges, and we have added the random and Judges award prizes. Everyone has a chance!
I made my portrait and background ages ago! Can I participate?
Yes! Just make sure to upload the image to your gallery and link it to the contest etc.
Why do I need to upload it into a story?
This makes it a million times easier for the judges to review the entries.

For questions:
Contact Alabast or send an email to contact@argentarchives.org