AUTUMN CONTEST:
Hello Halloween
Who will find the most adorable ghostie?
Based on J∙ Okram's novel
Expedition to Cursed Forest
www.okram.fr
F U N
THEME: EYE-HOLED GHOSTLY LEAFS
Only shots of individual (solitary) leafs from trees and shrubs are valid for this year's competition. Do not submit herbs, flower petals, groups of two or more leaves, or other photos now. In all contest categories of this year, only two-eyed leaf boggarts can be submitted (i·e·, your submitted "specters" should have no noses, mouths, etc·). Minor natural cracks and perforations do not count as a reason for disqualification.
Note
Your leaves unsuitable for the current competition will not be wasted: Do not throw away leaves of different shapes or leaves from the currently unauthorised plant species. In future years, we will also compete with leaves of non-tree and non-shrub species as well as leaves with a different number or distribution of holes! It is advisable and worth collecting every interesting leaf.
CONTEST DURATION
Current competition entries can be submitted until the end of:
15 November 2024
(23:59:59 GMT).
Voting 2024 closes on 31 December 2024. Entries 2025 will be accepted until 2025-11-15, and voting 2025 will close on 2025-12-31.
Entries submitted after the deadline will automatically be moved to the next year's competition. Time is always determined by Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). You will need to convert the deadline time according to your local time zone, for example by using the quick web calculators featured here: TOOLBOX . . .
CONTESTANTS
Anybody can participate. All corners of the world are eligible.
RULES
It is obligatory to comply with all instructions from this page as well as the general terms of use of the domain given at www.okram.fr.
CATEGORIES
This competition is held worldwide in two categories: 100% NATURAL (purely wild-grown leaves) and ARTISTIC (artistically processed natural leaves). Besides the main winners, there will be additional sub-categories evaluated for auxiliary features (best eyes, color, shape, and spookiness; see details in the voting-related section below).
FINALISTS
Only the entries receiving 100 or more votes can become finalists.
WINNERS
Those finalists in each category that receive most votes will become the ultimate winners. If two or more finalists are tied with equal number of votes, the earliest time stamp of the latest vote will be the next determining factor.
PRIZE
All winners will receive an electronic certificate of their international victory.
In addition, both main winners will receive a package of tangible prizes: 1. a complete copy of the 56-page master version of the instructions for making the spooky candle-, LED- and electricity-based lamps; 2. a complete set of printed color postcards with book-related themes (1 of each kind), as well as a professional-quality 1200 DPI graphic file for further printing of more postcards at home for personal, non-commercial use; 3. a copy of an exclusive chef's version of the culinary recipe for the palace specialty "French Meat" once famous among the high nobility, as well as a file to print additional copies for private non-commercial use among family and friends.
The winners in the auxiliary sub-groups will receive only an electronic version of the winners' 3-pack.
For all worldwide competitors, the first prize is in English.
PRIZE PACKAGE
PRINTED BOOK
DIY GUIDE - SPOOKY LAMPS
Do-it-yourself step-by-step assembly instructions for every skillful pair of hands. You get 56 pages of richly illustrated text with lots of craftsmanship secrets and masterful tricks for an amazing result. You will be able to incorporate your leaves from this competition into a lantern that projects ghostly silhouettes onto your walls and ceiling!
You will receive a true-color printable e-file. However, due to the prohibitive production cost, the paper book copy is in an equally impressive black-and-white (grayscale) design with full-color front cover.
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SET OF MAIL CARDS
WONDERWORLD POSTCARDS
Romantic, informative, decorative or humorous: You will find numerous kinds of pictures here. In any case, you will get original greeting cards from the fiction world that you won't find in any shop.
Both the printable e-file and the physical prints for winners are in full color.
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FULL-COLOR BROCHURE
GOURMET RECIPE
"Veau Orloff", or "French Meat", or just simply "Mayonnaise Stew" - whichever name you prefer for this festive delicacy, you will end up licking your fingers in exactly the same way. The vegetarian equivalent is particularly delicious, especially when served cold.
Both the printable e-file and the physical prints for winners are in full color.
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CONTEST ENTRIES
All graphic and textual data submitted via the competition forms can also be used for open and unprotected public display, including public evaluation and voting. The competition organizer reserves the right to reject or delete any number of entries, even without giving a reason. Any portion of any of the submitted entries may or may not be made public.
Only realistic photographs of actual leaves will be accepted. Global all-image adjustments to contrast, brightness, histogram, etc· are allowed. Editing of leaf shape, colour or perforations - and any digital tampering in general - is prohibited. There is no limit to the number of entries per participant. Entries must be entered manually, without the aid of robotic tools, and only via the prescribed forms provided on this page.
Only JPEG, JPG, PNG and GIF formats, please.
The maximum size of the contest photos is 100 kB, i·e· 0.1 MB or 100 000 bytes per photo. If you are unable to control or edit the size of the photos yourself, it is recommended to use one of the easy online reducers:
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ENTRY SUBMISSION
S T E P S
1. Prepare a picture. The size must be 100 kB / 0.1 MB or less. The form checks the file size and oversized photos will be rejected.
2. Think about a name. Every ghost-leaf must be named. The maximum length is 100 characters. Spaces, numbers and different characters are allowed, and there is no limit to your imagination.
3. Recall where you found the leaf. You will enter the location of the find in the LOCALITY / MUNICIPALITY format. The locality means the geographical, vernacular or cadastral name of the area. You will also enter the nearest town or village. Examples: Linden Park / Medoplava; municipal forests, clearing at Deer Spring / New Sabatula; my garden / Dunkirk Respites.
4. No personal data will be collected in this competition. Only the e-mail address at which the winners will be contacted is entered. Anti-piracy and anti-malware protection will be enabled, which will require a Google login or registration.
Hello Halloween!
100% NATURAL
PURELY NATURE-GROWN LEAFS
Insert your picture of a natural leaf. Only specimens with two naturally originated holes are valid submissions. Nothing on the leaf must be altered or changed. If you have altered anything, even a minor detail (e·g·, enlarging one eye, trimming the blade...), such an entry belongs to the artistic category.
For multiple images, the form must be used repeatedly:
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Hello Halloween!
ARTISTIC
ARTISANALLY MODIFIED LEAFS
Insert your picture of an artistically redesigned leaf. For example, the eyeholes can be burnt through with a red-hot nail, you can enhance the contours with a pencil, etc·. Only realistic photos of a processed physical leaf are eligible, not digital fantasies - never upload an electronically produced or post-edited image here.
For multiple images, the form must be used repeatedly:
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V O T I N G
S T E P S
Look through all the submitted photos. In both categories, choose 1 to 5 finalists - that's a total of 2 to 10 candidates:
It is compulsory to vote for one overall winner from the 100% Natural category as well as from the Artistic category (a total of 2 main winners).
In addition, it is optional to vote for 4 additional merits in each of the categories:
TOP EYES
TOP COLOUR
TOP SHAPE
THE SPOOKIEST APPEARANCE
The voting gateway with the lists of competing ghosts is right below:
TECHNICAL NOTES
New scarecrows typically appear on candidate lists within five minutes of a photo being posted.
You can easily find your ghoul (and its voting code) by scrolling down the page (finger sliding / page down button / PgDn / downward arrow). You can also search by the name of your candidate by typing it into the query box after pressing CTRL+F, the magnifying glass icon 🔎, etc·.
If the abuse of the application system is suspected, the copying of new candidates to the public lists will be suspended. However, new photos can be submitted even during this temporary suspension. Once the disqualified or generally objectionable submissions have been deleted, compliant photos will be copied to the public candidate lists, usually within 24 hours. The addition of new images will then continue in real time.
The image server is set to a 5-minute data-updating cycle. Your web browser may or may not display the incremental data automatically. Sometimes, you may see only white spaces instead of some photos. You can view the missed / incorrectly rendered image in a new window / tab via its context menu (Android: long finger hold on the missing image; Windows: select with the cursor and press the right mouse button, or Shift+F10, or Shift+Fn+F10; Mac: Ctrl+click, or F12, or Fn+F12). With other types of web failures, your successfully submitted post will not appear even after five minutes at the bottom of the list, despite the active "Waiting..." message.
White spaces instead of images or missing end of list can stubbornly recur. In the worst cases, you may need to switch to a faster network, use a different computer or phone, or at least start a different browser. Other times, turning the malfunctioning browser off and on again, or clearing cookies and/or cache storage, may help. Luckily, in most cases of faulty image display, a manual command to refresh / reload the page will usually solve the issue. Many browsers also have a special button in the shape of a circular arrow for this purpose:
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CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITES
Category: 100% Natural
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Try reloading the page or browser if some or all images are missing.
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CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITES
Category: Artistically Modified
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Try reloading the page or browser if some or all images are missing.
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Enter the ID codes of your favourites from the "ID Code" column into the boxes in the voting form. That's all.
You can nominate a different boggart for each group, but you are also allowed to enter the same boggart in more than one or even in all 5 groups. Everyone can vote for their own ghost-leaves, but one person can only fill out one voting form.
Enter the voting system via the button below:
Halloween Lamp
● DO IT YOURSELF ●
