Good Smile Company Holding Scale Figure Photo Contest
Last Friday, Good Smile Company started their “2013 Summer Scale Figure Photo Contest” with figures as prizes for winning photos that feature GSC’s Scale Figure(s) that have or will have been released as of July 7, 2013. The deadline for submissions will be July 7, 2013 as well. Prizes will be determined by both a vetting process as well as public voting, with even a random drawing for lucky voters to get a free figure of their own. Currently the official website is only available in Japanese, but a small note on the top banner indicates that an English version is on its way.
Outline
The contest started on June 14, with submissions accepted through July 7 JST. Each week, starting on June 21, photos that pass the first round of vetting will be displayed on the contest website and will be open to public voting as well. Public voting will end on July 17 and is meant to determine the two voter’s choice awards for the contest. Meanwhile, the organizers of the contest will be conducting a second round of vetting on the photos that have passed the first round, and those photos that pass the second round of voting will be displayed at Wonder Festival on July 28 at the Max Factory and Good Smile Company joint booth. These finalists will then undergo a third and final round of voting by a panel of judges, who will announce the winner(s) later that night. The judges will include GSC CEO Aki Takanori, Max Factory CEO MAX Watanabe, GSC Planning Hobby Team’s odaP, GSC blogger Mikatan, Max Factory Planning’s Kaneko Private 2nd Class and the photo contest organizers, as well as some guest judges to be announced in the future.
Prizes
The grand prize winner chosen at the end will receive 10 Scale Figures of their choosing as a prize from Good Smile Company, as well as having the photo displayed on the main GSC website for a day. There will also be a few judge’s pick awards as well as two voter’s choice awards, with all recipients to receive two Scale Figures of their choosing as well as having their photos displayed on the contest website. Furthermore, all finalist photos will be featured on the specific product pages, and five members of the public who voted on the contest website will be chosen randomly to receive a Scale Figure of their choosing as well. A small footnote indicates that they are only allowed to award Scale Figures that have been publicly released at the time the prize is awarded, and substitutions might be necessary if they are out of stock on a particular figure.
Rules
The official rules state that the figure in the photo must have been released as of July 7 and must be something from GSC’s Scale Figure lineup. Therefore, Nendoroids and figmas, as well as other figures not listed are not eligible. The photos must not be entered and must not have been entered in any previous contests, etc. For photos that include other people, consent must be obtained from said people or from their legal guardians if the people caught on camera are underaged. GSC will not take any responsibility for photos that may possibly infringe a third party’s copyright or defame their character; photos under that category will be disqualified. GSC will also not accept montages (i.e. multiple photos that need to be viewed side-by-side); each photo must be a self-contained work.
Furthermore, the website states that entries using someone else’s name will be disqualified and asks for people to be mindful and respectful of others when taking photos outdoors. Other situations that may lead to editing or disqualification of entries consist of: failing to adhere to entry rules for the contest, failure to or the possibility of failure to adhere to public decency, inability to open contest entries through normal means, inclusion of personal information, etc. in entries, infringement or possibility of infringement of a third party’s rights, defaming or infringing the privacy of some third party, or the possibility thereof, receiving infringement complaints from a third party and situations which the organizers consider inappropriate for this contest.
The website notes that information entered in the entry form will be only used for the duration of the contest and will be deleted after the contest is over. The copyright for the photos will remain with the submitters or with rights holders who gave permission for the submitters to upload the photos. Furthermore, upon uploading, the uploader is responsible for having the right to allow GSC to use these photos, including being responsible for obtaining permission to use copyrighted materials of third parties which may appear in the photo. By submitting, the submitter will allow GSC to create derivative works for use in advertising (ads in newspapers and magazines, posters, websites, blogs, etc.) as well as in posters and other printed materials to announce contest results.
Entry
Entries are made at the bottom of the official contest page. The entry form asks for a handle name, the name of the photo as well as a comment regarding the photo. Submitters will be asked to submit both the contest entry photo as well as a photo that shows the contest entry together with something that has the handle name written on it. After entering the information and selecting the files for upload, the submitter just has to then enter their email address (twice for confirmation purposes), agree to all the rules and hit the submit button.
