Edit: A large list of prizes has been added! Please comment or PM if you're also interested in donating.


Now here are the official rules, dates, and whatnot for the last contest of the year.

Theme: "Life in the Shire"
What does this mean? Well, anything that you think conveys the spirit and life of the Shire, whether it's Hobbit-life or the natural things in the Shire. For those thinking outside of illustrations, think about objects that convey a real sense of Shire life. No portraiture! For reference: this [link] is a portrait, while [link] is an action, "lively" shot, even if the action itself is a calm action. In any illustrations you have/make for the contest, you want to go for the latter, not the former!


Categories:
Traditional Art (drawings, paintings, sculptures, etc)
Slight digital correction of scans/photographs of the piece (levels adjustment, cropping, etc) is allowed. Use your best judgment.
Digital Art (drawings, paintings, photo manipulations, photography, etc)
Not to state the obvious, but any photography must be done by you.
Any photo manipulations cannot use copyrighted work without proof of permission from the owner. All stock art must be credited.
Literature (prose, poetry, etc)
Please do not have the piece extending over 3000 words.
Because the club is run on a predominately English-speaking website, and the majority of the club contains English speakers, for contests literature pieces must be in English.


Rules- Read them!
Contest starts now and ends on January 3rd, midnight GMT (yes, Tolkien's birthday). Voting will take place throughout the week afterward and the winners will be announced soon after that.
You must be a member of #tolkien to participate (in other words, just press the "Join the Group" button at the top of the page).
You can only submit one deviation per category, or three deviations total.
The deviation does not have to be new.
The deviation does not have to follow gallery standards. In other words, all entries following contest rules will be accepted.
Submit all contest entries to the correct subsection of this folder: [link] (If the entry you want to submit is already in another section of the #tolkien gallery, send #tolkien a note with the deviation url and we'll copy it into the correct subsection of the contests folder).
New contest entries not already in the #tolkien gallery will be moved there at the end of the contest if they meet gallery standards.


Prizes (will be updated as more people volunteer prizes)
You can still participate in the contest if you decide to donate a prize. Anyone can donate features, points, stamps, requests (of the donor's choice), subscriptions, etc.
There will be one winner in each category (subject to change if we receive a large amount of deviations and/or a generous offering of prizes).


Each winner will receive...
A three month premium membership, or the points equivalent, donated generously by =Parabuteo78
A feature from the #tolkien group.
Features from the following members: *AinuLaire, ~Theresa-de-Lioncourt (Tolkien-related pieces), =Parabuteo78, ~CJangel, ~TerresDeBrume, *aurelia-acc
Llamas from: ~Theresa-de-Lioncourt, ~CJangel, ~TerresDeBrume, ~dancinghamtoro, ~Morpheusdream, ~Elveanna, ~Maylar, *aurelia-acc
A LOTR-related, colored chibi drawing from ~TerresDeBrume
A free commission from ~dancinghamtoro
A free chalk commission from ~Elveanna
A custom stamp from ~Maylar


Have any questions/comments? Comment on this blog!
Have any prize donations to offer? Comment or send #tolkien a note!

Disclaimer: The #tolkien group does send out a note to all the donators once the winners have been decided, but does not claim responsibility for undelivered prizes.