<center>
The "How To" of Art Contest Management
Overall, this is but a guideline to how you may wish to set your contest up. It is by no means the 'only way it should be done', but rather a good way it could be done.
I have created this based on how many have set up their contests, and which ones seem to command the most attention. As long as the basic elements to a contest can be found, any set-up is ideal. But many will find order and organization much easier to understand than hectic clutter.</center>
The Title
If the title to the thread is too long or confusing, some may tend to shy away. Be direct, and try to give as much info in the space provided. You have room for roughly 80-100 characters (Spaces and Punctuation included.)
So, try to keep the focus title (what it is about) to 40-50, so that you'll have room to put the ending date and possibly total in prizes after it.
A Focus Title can be as simple as "Draw me!" or "Draw my character!"... Or, it can be elaborate as "[Username]'s OC Contest for [Total Amount in Prizes]. Ends [Date of Ending]"
But either way, try to give as much info as possible before the person enters your topic.
The Posts/Page
For a truly good contest, try to save about half to the full page of posts for your own use. It may come down to you using only three or four of them, but at least you won't be stuck should you need more room later.
~*~
The First Post
This is the most important post as it is the very first one people will see. Try to have your contest banner here, as well as a welcome paragraph, notices/announcements, a table of contents or something to tell people what they'll expect in the next posts, and finally Updates.
The Welcome Paragraph
Your welcome paragraph should be the foundation point to your contest, saying what you wish and what you hope for or expect. There doesn't have to mention of prizes or anything. Just a very simple thing, like so:
Sample Welcome
Welcome to my contest. I'd like to thank you for stopping in. My goal in this contest is to recieve art of [name what the contest is for]. I hope to see a lot of good entries, and would be pleased if you came in to talk for a while.
I'll try to be here and answer any and all your questions, but if I take a bit forgive me. I'm only one person.
smile Above all, I hope you have fun and wish everyone luck in this.
It doesn't have to be like that, in fact, I encourage you to write it as you see fit. Just remember to include the most important parts; Welcome, what you want, what you hope for, and that you're willing to help.
Notices and Announcements
Things come up. It's a well known fact, and Gaia has problems of it's own. If something happens that you must extend the contest, or even shorten it, be sure to put this in bright, bold and large letters so that people can see it. Also, it's a good idea to post it on the current page of the thread, and possibly quote it for a couple of pages after.
Don't just make a small note someplace and expect people to note it. If you can, put it in the title too. Remove the prize and/or ending date to tell them there is an announcement.
Table of Contents
Very simple, this can be done in so many ways, and a good example of this is seen in the first post of this thread. Just a quick little laydown of what is on the various posts following the first so people can skim straight to where they want to.
Updates
If you think that you'll be making changes and/or adding more to your contest, have a place for updates. This will allow people to see that you're active and keeping up to date with your thread, in case you don't get the chance to post much during a stretch of time.
~*~
The Next Posts
While they don't have to be in this order, it seems the best way to do this for focus of attention and pull to read through everything. The next posts would do well to be in a rough order of Prizes, Info, Expectations, FAQ, Links, and other small things.
The Prizes and Info can sometimes take more than one post to complete. If this is the case, don't worry about it. Spreading out your characters to make them easier to read, or seperating the catagories of prizes will be very helpful to those looking at them.
The Prize Post (s)
List the Top Prize FIRST! While it may be nice to prove you have a lot of catagories, most will look to the top prize the first. This is what everyone will aim for, and you don't want to disappoint.
Try to have more than the typical "First, Second & Third." If you need some ideas on various Catagories, here are some of the most popular; Most Creative, Most Humorous, Most Dramatic, True to Character, Best Colour, Best Traditional Media, Best Computer Media & Best Composition.
You can always come up with your own, but these seem to be one's seen in most of the larger contests.
The Information Post (s)
What are the people to draw? This/these post/s will answer that. A good way to do this post is to define what you want, give a picture (or more) for reference and as much information on the character (when there are characters) as possible. If you have a profile page outlined on them on a website someplace, link to this.
The more information you can give, the better the chances are you'll be rewarded with what you seek.
Expectations
While not a normal post, I feel it's important. This post would outline what you would like to see, and give ideas to people of what to draw.
There may be a specific pose or costume you'd like in the picture, so this post would be perfect to put links to pictures of samples.
FAQ
People will always ask questions. As the host of the contest, it's your duty to aid the people as much as possible. Having a FAQ that answers any questions you expect, with room to put up any asked so others may see the answers is a good way to cut down on the amount of questions asked. Also, by posting those that people ask in the thread, it'll cut down the chances of being asked the question over again.
But always be ready to answer any new ones that may arise.
Links
Never under estimate the power of a link exchange. Having a place to put up links of shops and auctions, or even other contests currently running... And giving your own banner to them in return profits both sides.
In a lot of the larger contests, when people entering those see a banner to another contest, they will usually hop over to the other one to see what interested the larger contest enough to link you.
And where people tend to go to shops and auctions a lot, they will chance upon your banner, and most likely come to pay a visit, even if they don't enter, they may be willing to spread the word.
Other Small Posts
Some people like to add other things to their contests. These can differ greatly, and not all will have them. To see some of these, I suggest looking at currently running contests. Because if I were to list them all, I'd be here all night.
xd 
100
200
200
