A total of 46 designs (forty-six!) were accepted for judging. And are being judge as I write this post. So I thought I’d update all the participants and other interested parties in what’s going on in the competition.
- The judges are viewing the designs on a secured Web site. They’ve been given user names and passwords. This allows a certain amount of tracking and, well, checks and balances.
- As much identifying information has been removed from the judging Web site as possible. Be assured they are judging the designs, not critiques from blog posts and are not trolling the forums.
- Results are on track to be announced on August 6, 2007, by 12:00 AM (UTC). If something happens, I’ll let everyone know immediately.
- The live preview site will go “live” by 12:00 AM (UTC) on August 5, 2007 (updated from August 2). It will probably go live sooner, but let’s see. Either way, you can count on them by August 5.
- I have posted all “bios” for participants that I received; if yours isn’t there and would like it to be, please email it to me. (See the Participants for more info.)
- Three designs were disqualified: one was submitted several hours after submissions closed; two were disqualified for being themes, not designs. Those affected were notified.
- Everyone has had very kind words for the competition so far. Thank you. Please retain some of these for after the results announcement.
But seriously, I’m very pleased with the quality and the number of designs that were submitted. I think that these are really going to be of value to the community and will help reinvigorate creativity into the community. Or at least that’s what I hope. At least everyone can enjoying watching things unfold, having new designs to tweak, etc.
If anyone has any questions about any aspect of the competition so far, leave a comment below or feel free to email me directly. I’ll keep everyone abreast of developments.
And two new items to consider:
- I was thinking of asking the judges to submit snippets, eg, mini-reviews, for any design(s) that caught their eye. Nothing hateful or aggressive or even overly critical. Is this something that participants would be interested in seeing posted here? Or does that make anyone uncomfortable? Not sure.
- I was also thinking about having participants take turns posting about their experiences creating their design on this site, post-competition. Would any of the participants be interested in writing about their experiences or their process in creating their design? Once again, not sure.
Not only participants can comment on those items above. I’m just as interested to hear what the silent majority (?) thinks, at least about the latter of the two.
The time is now 8:00 pm here in New York and that means it’s 12:00 AM (UTC). In other words, submissions have closed. I’d like to thank everyone who has submitted and design and is participating. My inbox is overflowing, but I can safely guess there are 45–50 total designs.
Submissions have closed! Live previews will be available on August 2, 2007, by 12:00 AM (UTC). Results will be announced on August 6, 2007, by 12:00 AM (UTC).
I’d like to encourage everyone who has submitted a design to post an entry on their blog with their design and then leave a trackback on this post. I think that would be a fun way to share and discuss while the judges do their thing. Especially since I’m swamped with sorting through these designs.
Also, I have a ton of designer bios to get online, which I’m going to focus on doing after I get the judges started on their task. So please be patient. They will be online before the live previews go online.
Thanks to everyone who has participated. I’m just as excited to see the designs as everyone else. Yes!
Well, the time has come. The deadline for submission, July 29 at 12:00 AM (UTC), is just a weekend away. Here’s the submission deadline for a few different locales:
- Los Angeles: 5:00 PM on July 28
- New York: 8:00 PM on July 28
- Sao Paulo: 9:00 PM on July 28
- London: 1:00 AM on July 29
- Paris: 2:00 AM on July 29
- Dubai: 4:00 AM on July 29
- New Delhi: 5:30 AM on July 29
- Hong Kong: 8:00 AM on July 29
There’s little else to mention here that I haven’t droned on and on about. But just to be as helpful as I can: before submitting, read (a) The Details, (b) How to Submit, and (c) The Official Rules. And HSO’s pre-submission checklist could come in handy.
For those hoping for an extension, well, there won’t be one.
Also, I should point out I gave an interview to Adii about, well, the Sandbox. Enjoy my predictable inability to express myself peppered with the usual enthusiasm. And thanks to Adii. Give ‘em a visit.
The Participants page is starting to get dense. And all the judges have confirmed their participation. (We actually now have an eleventh judge, by the way, who is quite qualified. Wink, wink.)
I also wanted to say that I hope everyone, those who win and those who don’t, come away from this competition with a warm, fuzzy feeling of having contributed to the community. And that makes you all winners. Sniffle, sniffle. But seriously. Hats off.
With just one week remaining before submissions close, I hope all the participants are closing in on their final designs. Submissions are due by 12:00 AM (UTC) on July 29, 2007. Don’t be late! 
Remember, before submitting your designs, please review the competition details and the How to Submit sections.
In brief,
- You can submit as many designs as you like.
- You can’t resubmit another version of a design you’ve already submitted, ie, no subsequent fixes.
- You can’t release your design(s) for download until afters submissions close, ie, you can offer it after July 29.
- You can’t submit any existing designs for themes or templates for any other application or tool, ie, no siterips.
There are surely some points I’m forgetting, but you’re obliged to understand. So read through the important sections and feel free to contact me or poke around on the forums if you have any questions.
I’d also like to remind all those interested in this competition that Mark over at the Weblog Tools Collection will also be concluding his WordPress plugins competition on July 31, 2007. So you’ll definitely be interested in seeing what’s happening there. Good on ya, Mark.
So just another quick update as we get closer to the submissions deadline (12:00 AM UTC, July 29, 2007). I’ve received more submissions than I have designer bios for the Participants page. If you intend on submitting, you can help keep me busy by sending along your bio before you complete your design. That allows me to get some of the work done up front.
Second, after you submit your design, do not release it publicly. I’ve had to scold three people so far for doing this, so please, please, please don’t make me disqualify anyone over this. The reason you’re not allowed to release your design until after submissions close is to protect the designers. If someone knocks off your design, critiques it on the Web, prejudices the judges, etc., then your submission may be damaged before the judging even begins.
After submissions close (and before judges release their results) you can release your design then. Submissions will be closed, so everything will be a done deal. Before you submit, please, please read the How to Submit section as well as the Official Rules. If you have any questions or are unsure of anything, just send me an email or pop by the Forums.
I will blow my brains out if even one design is excluded from the judging because of a breach of the rules. I want everyone to have a warm fuzzy feeling after participating in the competition, winners and non-winners.
