Well well, a visitor. How brave...

A rough looking eyrie regards you coldly. "I suppose you want to know more about the beauty contest, too?" he asked, voice tinged with annoyance. You nod a little and he huffs.

I swear, my owner will pay for this. I'm a hunter, not a teacher." He turns from you and starts walking away. "Well don't just stand there! Come on."

He leads you further into the art gallery, his tail swishing agressively. "Well, the first thing you ought to know is that BCing is not as simple as it looks. Success is not going to happen overnight. It's also not something you're going to get rich off of, so if it's the np you want, it's best you just leave right now.

He eyes you for a moment, waiting to see what you do. When you stay put, he looks foreward again and nods. "Good, then we'll start with the rules.





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The Rules

By entering in any contest on neopets, you are agreeing to a set of rules. The beauty contest is no different," the eyrie tells you gruffly. "It's a very bad idea to just rush into something you know nothing about. Ignorance is no excuse. It's important that you read all the rules, and make sure you aren't breaking any before you submit your entry.

  • All contestants must submit their own work and it must be Neopets related. You may not enter anyone elses work with or without their permission. If you do, your entry will be disqualified.' That's the big one. If you enter someone else's work, and someone sees it and reports it, you'll most likely be frozen. That's what we call 'art theft.

  • You may not sell your artwork for Neopoints or any other form of compensation. This means that you cannot do commisions for other people. Doing fan art for someone else is perfectly ok, so long as they aren't giving you something in return (like codestones, money, neopoints, etc.)

  • Buying votes with offers of free items is not allowed, as it is unfair to those that don't have items to give away!' This also includes trading votes (don't do it).

  • You can only advertise for your pet. Having your friends advertise for you while you're offline is against the rules, and can get both you and your friend in hot water.

  • Only advertise your pet from the account the pet lives on! It's great that side account pets may be in the BC again, but remember that you must only advertise for your pet from the account it lives on. That way no one will mistakenly think you have other folks advertising your entry (which is against the rules!).

  • You may only vote from your MAIN account. Self explanatory. Don't vote from your sides, even if you're entered on a side account.





Tips for Competing

Placing in the Beauty contest is never easy, but there are a few things you can do to help your chances. As you get more experience, you'll understand better, but for now I'll share some of the basics with you.		border="0"
  • Never, ever, EVER enter with a copy and paste entry. (otherwise know as a CAP). For one, they take absolutely no time and effort to do, and not many like them. Secondly, if you somehow place with one, you'll no doubt be scorned by dozens on neopians who spent a lot more time and effort on their picture.

    Example of a CAP


    Note: Not ALL CAPs are bad, but unfortunately most of them are. Some talented neopians are able to make amazing CAP images that actually do take time and effort, and I have nothing against them. In the instance of a good CAP, it won't even be recognizable as such.

  • Try to come up with an interesting pose for your pet. The more unique the pose, the better.

  • Try to reflect your pet's personality. Is your pet brave? Dark? Mysterious? Evil? Try to show us!

  • Shade the Picture. It really does make a big difference.

  • Don't leave a huge blank spot. If your pet only takes up the top right corner of a huge picture, it's unlikely that anyone will see it in the thumbnail version, and your pet will be completely overlooked. It helps if you're familiar with the programs you're using to make your picture.

  • Try to keep your picture a decent size. This can be hard because of the file size limit, but it can be done. Smaller pictures tend to look suspicious. Worse comes to worse, have a bigger version viewable on your pet's page.

  • Type in a decent speech. Something original and fresh. "Vote for me!" or "I'm saving for a paint brush! help me by voting!" make you look really newbish and inexperienced.

  • Do something with your pet's page. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece. If there are other pictures, or a little story...something that shows you've spent some time on your pet's character.




Trying to decide which picture to vote for can be tough, too. A lot of it depends on personal preferance and opinion. In any case, here's a quick list of things you can think about while trying to decide.

  • Pick a species and go through the thumbnails. Take note of any pictures that you like (you can open them up in a seperate window, or bookmark them).

  • View the ones you liked in their full glory (full size). If it's not as great as you thought, then weed it out. Do this until you're left with the ones you still like.

  • Pick out the ones that you suspect may be stolen. (Tips on how to tell which entries are stolen will be discussed later). Weed those out.

  • If you still have multiple "likes", look at the contestants' pet pages. Consider weeding out the pets whose petpages are default.

  • If there's still more than one left, it's up to you. Which do you like best? Which looks like it took more effort? Which is the most original? So on and so forth. Please keep in mind, copy and paste pics usually take little time and effort to do.




You've probably had it happen before... You're browsing the Beauty Contest when you spot an entry that you know is stolen. It's frustrating to anyone who witnesses this, but cannot find the original to prove the theft, especially if the stolen image happens to place.

You must understand that even if you KNOW the entry is stolen, you cannot report it unless you have evidence: the original picture's URL. Otherwise, innocent players would be getting frozen left and right.

Even if you don't have time to sniff out all the original pieces though, you can still help keep stolen entries out of the winner's circle. How? By not voting for them.

Sometimes you wont know a picture is stolen, though. Oftentimes, thievs will take really old art gallery pictures, or fan art posted off site so that people are less likely to recognize them, and they'll be less likely to get caught. There is a way to spot these however. Follow these guidelines, and you'll soon have the ability to spot a fraud.

  • Tiny Pictures.When dealing with a thief, it's quite common for their entry to be very tiny. You see, after a picture places in the Expo , it is showcased in the "Past Winners" section. These images are scaled down however, so the stolen images are much smaller than the original.

  • Short/Pointless/No Speech. If an artist puts a lot of time into their entry, chances are they'll put some time into the speech as well. A lacking speech, or something short (i.e. "Hi" or "Plz Vote") should raise a warning flag. Lately, it's been common to see a "biography" speech with thievs. (i.e. _______ likes to play and read, ect...) These can be very long, but very dull. My owner and I have never seen an honest artist with a speech such as that.

  • Wrong Painted Color. Sometimes thievs will simply take a picture, regardless of whether or not it even looks like their pet. If you see a picture of a starry uni, and the actual uni is faerie, there's a slight problem.

  • Default Petpage. If you still aren't certain, take a glance at the contestant's pet page. Most BCers, (especially if the pet has a custom design) will have done something with the pet's page in order to show off their pet even more. Thievs on the other hand, tend to leave thier pet's page blank. Their lazy enough to use someone else's picture, why would they do anything with the page?


Keep in mind that these are just common characteristics of stolent artwork. If a piece falls under one or two of these, it may very well be an authentic entry. However, if it fits into three or more, you may want to reconsider voting for that entry. Follow your instincts. Use good judgement.




Here is a list of the most often asked questions about the BC.


Q: What does "BC" mean?
A: BC is the abbreviation for "Beauty Contest

Q: How do I enter the BC?
A: Get your picture ready, then go to the BC homepage. Click on the "Enter Contest" link and click on it. Scroll down to the pet you wish to enter, click the "browse" button beneath the pet you wish to enter and double click on the image file you want to use. Enter a speech, then click "Enter (your pet's name)".

Q: The contest judge keeps sending me rejection letters. What do I do?
A: This is a problem for many. Make sure your image looks like a neopet and not just a fantasy creature. Also check and make sure you don't have any copyright symbols on your picture. Make sure there are no religous or political symbols on your picture. Be sure that your picture doesn't conflict with any rules.

Q: How do I make a picture?
A: Well, if you have a scanner, you can draw the picture by hand and scan it onto the computer. Be sure to save it as a .jpg or .gif image! If you have no scanner, use some kind of art program on your computer (MS paint, Photoshop and opencanvas are some examples). Again, be sure to save it as a .jpg or .gif image!

Q: How do I resize my picture?
A: Well, you can stretch/skew it on paint...it may make the picture look bad, though. I use my scanner program, Canon Scancraft, as it allows me to resize the picture by a certain percent without ruining it.

Q: Is it still art theft if I change someone else's picture?
A: Yes! Even if you change someone else's image around, it is still considered art theft and you can still get frozen for it!

Q: Can I enter pets on a side account?
A: This was against the rules for a couple of years, but finally TNT came around and has allowed ALL pets to participate in the BC. So yes, you now may enter pets from any account you want, so long as you only advertise your pet from the account that its on!

Q: Which account should I vote from?
A: You are only allowed to vote from your main account.

Q: Are vote trades legal?
A: No; trading votes is ILLEGAL, as in AGAINST THE RULES. It's no different then offering items in return for votes.

Q: What is a "CAP"?
A: CAP is the short term for "Copy and Paste"; it means the picture is something just copied off the site. Real artists hate them because they take very little time to do, even if they're changed. Not all caps are bad--but most of them are.

Q: When does the new contest start?
A: The contests take place weekly. New contests start anywhere from 4:15pm NST to 4:30pm NST on FRIDAYS.

I hope I have answered some of your questions about the BC. If you have more, neomail linksage and ask him. Maybe he can help you.


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