kristof65 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Maybe in the meantime we can consider a "Best Conversion" medal, though? I think that would be spiff. Can we get Froggy disqualified from that medal? Maybe by naming it after him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyHorde Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 A Best Conversion medal sounds like a great place to start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heisler Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Seems irrelavent to me considering that is what the open class is already for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaperbryan Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Seems irrelavent to me considering that is what the open class is already for. I don't believe that any of the special awards are irrelevant. Best Traditional Fantasy Adventurer Model or Party would be an excellent tribute the the hobby as a whole, including the gaming side that provides Reaper with so much of our inspiration, and might be seen as "redundant" against the backdrop of the volume of General DHL models that will be entered. Conversions might be best suited to Open, but Open will be so much more than that. A Best Conversions Award, an Ed's Choice Award, a Classic Adventurer Award, a Most Humorous Award or any other is simply a way to recognize work meritorious in its' arena. Let's assume 10 golds go out in Open. Maybe one of those wins B-I-S. Great! But the Open B-I-S winnerwasn't a conversion. So how about a special award for a gold entry that might not have won B-I-S but was an amazingly inspiring conversion job? And yet, if the "Best Conversion" model also wins B-I-S, we can opt to give it only B-I-S and not worry about the special award - it has been recognized for what it was - Amazing! The special awards will by their nature overlap the categories some - but these awards let us reward amazing skill outside the need for a thousand categories and a 1,2,3 framework. They give Reaper and our Judges a chance to really reward and encourage talent in almost every respect - Best Sculpt, Conversion, Humor, Diorama, Traditional Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical, or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabberwocky Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 Contest Rules 1. Any number of entries are permitted per painter per category, but only one entry in each category will be judged. I have a quick question regarding special awards in this context: Are the special awards only given to the best mini from a given entrant per category? For example, if I have two gold level entries in the painter section (hey, I can dream....) only one will be eligible for a medal, but will the second entry be eligible for a special award? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Landt Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 I got another one from Left Field for ya. Will there be a way for an entrant to mark his/her minis as 'do not move category'? Say a good painter works their way up to the Silver medal level, and now wants to focus more on their converting abilities. That first year they aren't as good at it, and only merit a Bronze for the Open category, but that model would have made Silver in Painter. Well that person already knows they are Silver level in Painter, and just wants feedback on their abilities in all things Open. They may prefer to get that Open Bronze instead of a Painter Silver, as they are trying to work their way up to Silver for their non-painting abilities like they did with their painting abilities. Just a thought. I... have a lot of free time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heisler Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Seems irrelavent to me considering that is what the open class is already for. I don't believe that any of the special awards are irrelevant. Best Traditional Fantasy Adventurer Model or Party would be an excellent tribute the the hobby as a whole, including the gaming side that provides Reaper with so much of our inspiration, and might be seen as "redundant" against the backdrop of the volume of General DHL models that will be entered. Conversions might be best suited to Open, but Open will be so much more than that. A Best Conversions Award, an Ed's Choice Award, a Classic Adventurer Award, a Most Humorous Award or any other is simply a way to recognize work meritorious in its' arena. Let's assume 10 golds go out in Open. Maybe one of those wins B-I-S. Great! But the Open B-I-S winnerwasn't a conversion. So how about a special award for a gold entry that might not have won B-I-S but was an amazingly inspiring conversion job? And yet, if the "Best Conversion" model also wins B-I-S, we can opt to give it only B-I-S and not worry about the special award - it has been recognized for what it was - Amazing! The special awards will by their nature overlap the categories some - but these awards let us reward amazing skill outside the need for a thousand categories and a 1,2,3 framework. They give Reaper and our Judges a chance to really reward and encourage talent in almost every respect - Best Sculpt, Conversion, Humor, Diorama, Traditional Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical, or whatever. Actually I disagree with this concept. While giving out a ton of special awards is fun you can have to many at which point they cease becoming special and start to equate to the everybody gets a trophy syndrome. I would be careful just giving out special awards willy nilly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted December 12, 2008 Author Reaper User Share Posted December 12, 2008 Actually I disagree with this concept. While giving out a ton of special awards is fun you can have to many at which point they cease becoming special and start to equate to the everybody gets a trophy syndrome. I would be careful just giving out special awards willy nilly. The point of the special awards is that they are ONLY given out if the judges feel a piece warrants it. For example, say at Chicago they have a special award for Best Civil War figure, sponsored by a guy who really loves the Civil War. The judges have no obligation to give out that medal. They do have an obligation to look at the Civil War pieces which have been entered for consideration for that medal, but if none are inspiring it is the responsibility of the judges not to cheapen the sponsor's award by giving it to a piece which didn't quite cut it. I am well aware of the perils of having too many special awards, especially given our relatively small size. I have expressed the view that no more than half a dozen should be available for the first couple years. However, as Bryan states, this is too valuable a tool (it lets us reward people who promote Warlord by painting a beautiful unit, for example) not to use. At the Chicago Show there are a LOT of special awards to try for, but only a handful get given out each year, because it still has to be a well-painted model to qualify. To put it bluntly, we could get twelve Warlord units entered and if they were all just ripped off of the gaming table we may not find one good enough to give a medal to. Quality standards are still in place. No one here at Reaper wants to cheapen our shiny new system by giving specials away just for the sake of giving them away! --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted December 12, 2008 Author Reaper User Share Posted December 12, 2008 Contest Rules 1. Any number of entries are permitted per painter per category, but only one entry in each category will be judged. I have a quick question regarding special awards in this context: Are the special awards only given to the best mini from a given entrant per category? For example, if I have two gold level entries in the painter section (hey, I can dream....) only one will be eligible for a medal, but will the second entry be eligible for a special award? That rule changed a little (I need to find time to update that thing!). If both of your entries are gold level, then most likely the judges would judge your entire display (i.e. both models) and give both the medal. In the case that, say, you entered a 54mm viking and a Warlord Unit, and the viking was chosen to be judged, yes your unit would still be eligible for special awards. It would also work the other way--if your unit took a medal it could win another prize by taking a special award. Special awards are given without regard to what is on the judge's sheets (i.e. which models they actually judged). So, the point of the special awards is neither to heap more awards onto figures which have already won a medal nor is it to give prizes to models which did not win a medal. Its purpose is to place a special emphasis on subject matter which the sponsors of the competition would like to encourage participants to paint. It is very much like a manufacturer award at shows like Gen Con, but without the manufacturer! Since Ed loves WWII German figures, he could offer up an award for WWII Germans. I love wolfen and lupines; I could sponsor an award which encourages people to paint (and thus promote) my beloved subject. At shows like Chicago, Tulsa, or Atlanta, it is not uncommon for these to be memorial awards--dedicated to an artist or hobbyist who has passed who loved or was known to paint a particular subject. In our industry, that would equate to, say, a Dennis Mize memorial medal, given to a superbly-painted Mize sculpt, to encourage people to paint his models and keep his memory alive. Do y'all get the purpose of the specials a little better now? Any more thoughts on them? --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastl Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 In a related note, CostumeCon has masquerades that are sanctioned by the International Costumer's Guild. This means that any awards given 'count' towards your ranking in the ICG, even if you aren't a member. In those cases ANY award given counts. There's a BiS but otherwise the award is tailored towards what the judges really liked about the entry. It doesn't lessen any of the awards given since they give awards for anything they feel deserves one. But instead of ranking awards they're all the same. I see the way that Anne is talking about doing this as the same thing. Yes, there will be the gold/silver/bronze/CoM awards but this way they can choose to distinguish something that really stands out and recognize the people who did something really well in a specialized area. In practical terms the 'Best Use Of ..' awards don't dilute the awards given but rather enhance the contest by letting a really cool entry get special recognition. I know Reaper has the ability to make all kinds of medals. But I still think a really cool award would be a gilded Sophie from that year's convention. Not a Sophie Trophy obviously but something that is very specific to the year it won. Hint hint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted December 12, 2008 Author Reaper User Share Posted December 12, 2008 I got another one from Left Field for ya. Will there be a way for an entrant to mark his/her minis as 'do not move category'? Say a good painter works their way up to the Silver medal level, and now wants to focus more on their converting abilities. That first year they aren't as good at it, and only merit a Bronze for the Open category, but that model would have made Silver in Painter. Well that person already knows they are Silver level in Painter, and just wants feedback on their abilities in all things Open. They may prefer to get that Open Bronze instead of a Painter Silver, as they are trying to work their way up to Silver for their non-painting abilities like they did with their painting abilities. Just a thought. I... have a lot of free time... Honestly, if that is the way that the entrant feels, just write up a little card and put it in front of your entry, saying exactly what you've said above. "Note to judges: please do not shift this model to another category, even if you feel it may score higher. I am interested in seeing how I score in this category. Thank you!" That would probably suffice. --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyberwolfe1 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 I'm going to pipe up about the deadline issue. There are many of us Texans who might not be able to make it by the 6pm cut off on Friday, but who can make it by early o'clock Saturday. My idea is maybe allowing a hold this space fee. I would be more than willing to pay just so I don't have to worry about having the time off or not. 4 hour drives aren't anything to us Texans we do it all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olliekickflip Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Anne, I have one from the bullpen for ya... In skateboarding, to do a trick going in the opposite direction (than you normally go) is called switch stance and is highly regarded as a much "harder" version of the trick. Will there be any awards for painting with the opposite hand..and or other body parts (toes) for that matter? Or what about a category for using something other than paint to decorate your mini??? A model covered entirely with different shades of flock would be rather striking I think?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristof65 Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 I think that's covered under the "Sophie Says" events.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artists Wren Posted December 13, 2008 Artists Share Posted December 13, 2008 In our industry, that would equate to, say, a Dennis Mize memorial medal, given to a superbly-painted Mize sculpt, to encourage people to paint his models and keep his memory alive. Do y'all get the purpose of the specials a little better now? Any more thoughts on them? --Anne I think this particular one is a terrific idea, I seem to end up painting Mize sculpts half the time for contests anyway, it would give me a leg up! ;-> I think the special awards are a cool idea. I can see what people are mentioning about wanting to strike a balance between recognizing different aspects of the hobby and making every entry a special little snowflake, but I'm pretty confident that Anne and the ReaperPeeps will strike that balance. (And will accept/solicit our opinions if it's felt they haven't quite after the first year.) I've really enjoyed the judge's award at Gen Con these past couple of years, and I think I'll enjoy this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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