***2015 Annual Challenge***

[arsheesh]

Welcome to the first ever annual challenge! This is no ordinary challenge. As the name implies, the contest shall occur once per year and is a challenge for cartographers to offer up their very finest work. Consider this challenge as an ideal venue to unveil your magnum opus. The subject of the map is entirely up to you.

Contestants shall be given nearly a year's time to complete the challenge. The challenge shall be open until the first of December, upon which time all threads shall be closed and voting will commence (and shall end on New Year's Eve of 2015).

The winner shall receive a Platinum Compass. The next two runners up shall receive a gold compass.

Be sure to title your threads: December 2015 Annual Challenge: <your title here>

Also, don't forget to precede each work in progress picture with the label: ### Latest WIP ### This way the thumbnail scraper can find your entry.

May fortune smile upon you all.

[tainotim]

What a wonderful idea! Definitely something I will be part of. And can't wait to see all the maps that might come out of this. (Platinum Compass, gives me goose bumps)

May I suggest that a part of the "reward" for such a prestigious challenge also could be that the winning map will be selected for cartographers choice? So that it wont disappear somewhere in the depths of the forum like many of the great challenge-maps have done. Just a idea.

Cheers,
Tainotim

[J.Edward]

That's a good idea Tainotim. If it can win the annual it probably should be a CC.
This sounds cool. I will have to do something for this.

As a note, Arsheesh, do you mean the contest will end on New Year's Eve 2015 [Dec.31, 2015] ??
There's gonna be some epic maps in this one.

[arsheesh]

May I suggest that a part of the "reward" for such a prestigious challenge also could be that the winning map will be selected for cartographers choice? So that it wont disappear somewhere in the depths of the forum like many of the great challenge-maps have done. Just a idea.

Hmm, interesting suggestion tainotim. I'll bring this up with the other CLs and see what we think. I imagine that whatever the case, the winning maps won't get lost (who knows, they might end up being proudly displayed on the front page for a year or something.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[arsheesh]

As a note, Arsheesh, do you mean the contest will end on New Year's Eve 2015 [Dec.31, 2015] ??

Yup, that's what I meant, thanks.

Cheers.

[Wingshaw]

This really is a fantastic idea. I'll definitely try to be a part of it sometime.

Is there a reason you decided on a full year? I wouldn't have thought there are any maps, even among the greats, that take more than six months to create.

Also, is there any reason an entry cannot also be a commissioned work?

THW

[Chick]

This is certainly a nice idea. The only problem I see is that not much will happen until Dec 30th, when everyone will suddenly post whatever map they think is the best one they've done this year. There is really nothing that makes it a "challenge", but rather just a vote on who did the nicest map in 2015.

[- Max -]

Also, is there any reason an entry cannot also be a commissioned work?

THW

As for any challenge, the map has to be created specifically for the challenge.

[arsheesh]

Is there a reason you decided on a full year? I wouldn't have thought there are any maps, even among the greats, that take more than six months to create.

THW

Good question. This is something that came up in discussion when we were planning this challenge. I'll just quote at length the rationale behind the extended timeline.

The reasoning is twofold. First, it would allow cartographers ample time to create their masterpieces. A lot of A-list cartographers will periodically enter a monthly challenge but fail to complete their entry due to the demands of life and the time constraints of the challenge. This would allow them to work at their own pace. Second, I think it would actually encourage a much higher turnout then we usually get for the monthly challenges. Having such a long timeline allows returning members or new members who join the Guild latter in the year to participate. If we posted the challenge with a shorter time-frame say at the beginning or end of the year, we might miss out on entries from some of these returning or new members.

This is certainly a nice idea. The only problem I see is that not much will happen until Dec 30th, when everyone will suddenly post whatever map they think is the best one they've done this year. There is really nothing that makes it a "challenge", but rather just a vote on who did the nicest map in 2015.

Perhaps. I guess we'll find out won't we. However even if this turns out to be the case I don't see why voting on "who did the nicest map in 2015" isn't still a challenge; wouldn't the challenge then just be to come up with the best map of the year? In any case this is all still very new and so there's a learning curb. At the end of the year I'm sure we'll evaluate how the competition went and what, if anything, we may wish to change about the annual challenge format for the following year.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Chick]

Well, I guess with the addition of the rule that the map has to be solely for the challenge, my concern isn't so important. I do hope that it doesn't just turn into a quick rehash of a prior commission map, though.