I think that for the sake of organization, if we allow photography, that's enough to warrant art type categories and winners in each category. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it will make things a little less straightforward.

I don't know if y'all have done this but I'd look to the Japanese site for inspiration for this. This is the contest they ran last year, and I don't think the way they went about it (posting articles for their art) was necessarily bad; you can still do quite a lot like this, and I think lets people easily identify artists and the work they post just as well.

Of course, I have in mind that this might complicate things, so I suppose it is possible to just say that using a required aspect ratio and resolution is just part of the challenge for consistency's sake (if we do this, I'd recommend using landscape or square).

Image resolution should be. 640x356

That's so minuscule, though. I'm guessing that's just the size you'll want to use for when the winner(s) is/are up on the wiki in some format, but can't we just export the winning piece in that size but let people submit in larger resolutions? 640x356 is going to severely limit visual detail in certain styles and pieces, I'd suspect. Not to mention some people will probably have ideas that require vastly different aspect ratios, resolution aside.

Rules&Conditions:

1. Winners would have their art displayed on corresponding hub pages until January 1st, 2018.
2. Art must be sent to <email> or through a social media page with the artist's name and the category they wish to enter the piece in as the file name.
3. Content of art must be relevant to the category. The same artwork cannot be submitted into multiple categories.
4. Categories will be SCPs from Series I, Series II, Series III, Series IV, along with Characters, Mobile Task Forces and Groups of Interest.
5. Art can be submitted if it was originally posted within 30 days prior to the contest officially beginning.
6. Art must be safe for work, so that it can be displayed on the hub pages. While blood, guts and glory are all part of the SCP universe, they're not part of this contest.
7. The posting period would last between <posting date> and August 15th. From there, the judging period will last between 1-2 months depending on volume of entries.
8. Identity of the judges will be kept secret until after the announcement of the winners. Attempts at sucking up to tumblr/deviantArt/facebook/reddit/twitter/tumblr mods may result in disqualification and/or eternal shame.
9. Image resolution should be. 640x356. All entries should be submitted using the .png format.
10. During the contest, batches of images will be submitted to the SCP Foundation social media pages. These selections will not be made by the judges and may or may not correspond with their opinions. All artists will be fully credited in these posts.

I like the idea of setting up a contest dA, for this and possible future endeavors even on the dA alone. If subtletea still wants to get that rolling I see no reason to stop her. If anyone has further suggestions for rules and regulations for this contest, please post them here. I'm planning on having social media posts go out once things are set up from IO's end, and making a contest forum post on the main site directing people to the social media pages.

The file format can be anything but if it affects the visual quality of the piece then that could factor into judging.

I really think we should just say .png, .pdf, or .jpg/.jpeg. If we say "any file type", we're going to get people sending us art programs' native file formats that we can't open. I don't know of any program that won't let people export as one of those aforementioned file types, so it shouldn't be an obstacle.

• Social media contest needs more involvement from social media
• File format and image size need to be more liberal/flexible
• More explicit content guidelines.

So here's what I'm thinking: The contest is done mostly across the social media pages, only requiring following or being a member of one of those sites and not being on the main wiki. Entrants can submit as many pieces as they want, as long as they are around 1000x1000 in order for them to fit at the top of these hub pages. The file format can be anything but if it affects the visual quality of the piece then that could factor into judging. We could do as tea suggested and have a contest dA group for this and future contests to give a display place and also for future contests. We could also just make a new contest folder on the dA for these entries to be submitted to. There would also be a wiki page from which information would be presented and WikiDot site members could participate.

I think people are cool with the prize of having the art featured at the top of hub pages. I had heard one person say it might harm immersion, but it's only going to be at the top of the page and I think an artistic image depicting an in-universe element would enhance immersion, especially if we presented it just as the image with a caption linking to the SCP and the artist in the same way we've done with dragon snails and such.

However, I think we need to have a specific place to host and showcase the images in an easy manner that isn't going to be an exhausting amount of work for us, and specific requirements for submission as far as resolution and file format.

Do we want to separate for categories of artwork as well? such as digital art, graphic design, sculpture/other 3D art, black-and-white like what sunny does, etc? Or is that getting too complex?

The only thing I'm unclear on is whether or not contestants need to have a Wikidot account and site membership or just a fandom presence

Agreeing with this uncertainty. Most optimally, a Wikidot account and site membership would be needed. Or should we use membership/subscription for the SCP Foundation on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. (e.g. assuming that I am a member of the SCP deviant art group only, would I be able to join based on that)?

it'd be weird/contradictory to let satellite fandom people who aren't of age to be on the wiki have something of theirs potentially featured/linked on the wiki.

I think they can still be credited, with an off-site link to their other body of works.

Lastly, for a contest called "Social Media Art Contest", it appears that submission will be not public. I don't see how "social media" comes into play here (beyond the ambiguous "through social media pages"). From the description above, it is less misleading if you use the term 'Art Contest'. And yes, I am nitpicking at this point.

not sure about gore etc. since it's all art.

Technically Wikidot's content rules don't permit any "graphic" content, I believe, whether it's sexual, gore-related, blood-related, violent in general, or otherwise R-rated. Cartoonish stuff would probably be fine Wikidot rules-wise, but then we have the photorealism question (what if two people were to draw a gory scene but the photorealistic higher-effort one is "worse" and is disqualified even though both pieces are the same content?) and it'd probably be better to just avoid it. As an initial brainstorming pitch, I'd say this:

• No gore
• Only mild blood
• No nudity
• No clothed sexual content (stuff that is clearly contextually NSFW)

…Might be safe, fair, and in line with Wikidot's rules. Idk. There's definitely a lot of violent stuff specifically going on in SCPs, and I wish we could allow its depiction safely.

We may also create a main site art gallery with everything following the conclusion of entries being added.

Maybe add it to the artwork hub LurkD and I revamped a few months back?

Edit: A few things I forgot to mention:

I'd love to be on the team for this (since you're asking for judges) but I will say that my experience in analyzing art is in graphic design, not traditional media like drawing. Are we allowing all art forms for this (like graphic design/digital/abstract/representative rather than literal/etc.) or is it centered around drawing and traditional art forms?

Prospective Rules:

SCP Social Media Art Contest

It's the tenth year anniversary of the foundation of the SCP Foundation! To celebrate, aside from doing the most contests we've ever done in a year on the mainsite, we will be running the first-ever Social Media Art Contest!

This contest is about celebrating SCPs of all sorts, new and old, as well as the other actors in the SCP Universe.

Categories will be Series I, Series II, Series III, Series IV, Characters, Mobile Task Forces and Groups of Interest. Entries will consist of artwork from articles in each of those categories.

Winners will have their artwork displayed at the top of the various series pages until January 2018!

Rules:

1. Art must meet a resolution of 500 by 500.
2. The piece must be safe for work.
3. There are no limit on how many pieces of art an individual can contribute but one person cannot win multiple categories.
4. Must depict one SCP, Character, or Group of Interest relevant to the category. SCPs from groups of interest are allowed as long as it is clear what category it is being submitted to.
5. Entries can be emailed to (The Official SCP Gmail).
6. File name must indicate who or what is being depicted.
7. Brownie points will be given to entries depicting lesser-known content.

Contest will run from July 1st 2017 to August 15th 2017. Entries will be judged for the next month, possibly two months if the volume of submissions are large enough.

What Will I Win? Winners will have their displayed on the hubs relevant to their category for the remainder of the year. (Or other amount of time)

(Potential) Judges:

LilyFlower
EldritchCyanide does not match any existing user name

If everyone is cool with this, or has suggestions for ways to adjust it, then we would run it at the specified times. We will also take volunteers for judges if anyone wishes to help out. We figure this would be a fun thing and a nice way to get some main wiki/satellite fandom interaction going.

It would be announced across the various pages, and given continued coverage throughout the proceedings. We expect to receive quite a large volume of art but not an unmanageable one. We may also create a main site art gallery with everything following the conclusion of entries being added.

So basically, you guys have any problems with this being done?