Welcome to Gaia! ::

(Keep reading - details posted further down)

5 Points to the First One to Post A Banner with the words
House Appreciation Month in the Great Hall!
--won by Luna___Lovegood of Ravenclaw (her banner above)

5 Points AND a Brown Giftbox to the BEST (all Hogwarts) House Appreciation Month Banner (as judged by LadyHealing Hands). This banner is not about your own House, but about the theme House Appreciation. I will choose from any and all banners posted between now and July 20 in this thread. If you've posted a House Appreciation Month Banner in the Great Hall, please re-post it here, so I don't accidently miss it. 5 points to everyone who posts a House Appreciation Month banner in this thread! You can enter more than once, but 5 points only per member.

House Appreciation Month continues from now through the end of September. Only in the Wizarding World can a month last 4x the usual!

There are FIVE contests + a House Appreciation Scavenger Hunt! [Scavenger Hunt is now Closed]
Each of your entries in the following contests is posted in your House Common Room.

Place your House Pride Banner at the top of your post in your Common Room
so your Head of House will know it's a contest entry!










All the following Contests are posted in your own Common Room, with the exception of Contest #2. You can post essays of what you appreciate about being a ____________ or House pride stories in this Thread. These posts may or may not be the deciding factor in your Head of House naming you the winner of Contest #2.

Contest #1- 5 points to the one who makes the best decorated post with House Colors and House theme.
No image may be bigger than 640x480. Recommended size is not bigger than: 320x240. (E-mail/Website size at photobucket). If you have questions how to do this, instructions are in the subforum Events House Appreciation Scavenger Hunt.

Contest #2- 5 points to the one demonstrating the most House Spirit. For this contest, you don't need to post a House Pride banner. Your Head of House will look to see which student has displayed the most help and House Spirit and you will be judged in many intangible and some tangible ways, like posting your appreciations in your Common Room and in this thread: The House Appreciation Thread

Contest #3- 5 points to the person who posts the best House icon saying - limit 10 House icons per member. You may find an icon, or write the saying and post it with or without it written in an icon. Just remember to put your House Pride Banner in your post.

Contest #4- 5 points to the best Avi dressed in House Colors. You are limited to your inventory and your imagination. The image needs to be posted inside your post like the one at left. This is so the image will remain in posterity for Hogwarts Haven: A History, (and for the final prize).
How to make a Tek-Tek Avatar using only items in your Inventory

Contest #5- 5 to the best double Tek-Tek of your (canon) Head of House with a House student, canon or not, both dressed in House Colors. For Slytherin this can be either Severus or Horace Slughorn. The images need to be posted inside your post like in Contest #4. This is so the image will remain in posterity for Hogwarts Haven: A History, (and for the final prize). Using tek-tek you have an unlimited inventory. You may use or re-create Tek-Teks from any previous contest or games. If you didn't originate them, name who did.
How to make a Tek-Tek Avatar

Here are some Heads of House I used in the Yule Ball. You can use these
or be inspired and design your own. Remember to put them in your House Colors!

And 5 points to the best Horace Slughorn posted in this thread, I don't have one in 'inventory'. Dress Prof. Slughorn the way you think he would be at Hogwarts; he doesn't have to be in Slytherin House Colors

McGonagall, made by Madam Hare



Prof. Sprout by Iki-ilo



Prof. Flitwick by Iki-ilo.




Severus Snape by Empress_Kat


Come to think of it, I could use a Severus Avi without a halo and with black eyes, so 5 points to the best Severus Avi posted in THIS thread. Dress him the way you think he would be at Hogwarts; he doesn't have to be in Slytherin House Colors.


Each Head of House will pick the winners in their House (or perhaps recruit judges to pick the winners from different Houses). A student can win in more than one category. Head of Houses may add surprises and extra prizes within their Houses for House Appreciation month if they wish, but only 5 winners from each House will be eligible for the Grand Prize. (If Head of House runs, say 10 more contests, they will have to choose 5 winners from among all their winners (random number?) to enter for the Grand Prize).

Because of so many on vacation and traveling, The House Appreciation Month and Contests will be extended through
September 30.

5 Contest winners from each House will be announced and their posts put in the House Appreciation Thread.

From those 25 winners, we will raffle for one heck of a FABULOUS GRAND PRIZE and the title of


The Scavenger Hunt is already in full swing in Events subforum. Each member who enters wins 5 points!!

The Grand Prize winner receives:
An additional 15 House points and the Grand Prize of
Their Choice Of:
A pair of Raptor Fire Horns
or
A pair of Elven Ears (in your choice of color)
or
A Saloon Girl's Dress in your House Color or chosen color
from Gambino Outfitters
or
A Shinto Priest's Jacket in your House Color or chosen color
from Crate and Apparel
or
5000 gold

The longer you wait, the harder it gets because you can't choose an image that's already been posted!

Run, or Apparate over to The 2008 House Appreciation Scavenger Hunt.
You have to be in it to win it!

Winner of the Scavenger Hunt raffle is TonksAsKid of Hufflepuff!
She choose the pair of Fire Raptor Horns!

Yeah I noticed that right before I read your message. I am sorry.

Wow, this is amazing! (Hey, we've got a whole month...)
Do we have to keep our avvie dressed in our house colors for the whole month?

I think you should just go ahead and ask. XD

Oh--we did this before, for Valentine's I think.
You put a bunch of graphics on your post (pictures, icons, etc.) to decorate it and show your appreciation. It's fun, but takes a while XO


Contest Two
I would just like to say that I appreciate both being in Ravenclaw and being a member of Haven. Both have provided me with wonderful opportunities to meet new people and I’ve learned quite a bit about photo editing (lol) among other things (such as event organizing) from my experiences here.
As for House appreciation, I’d like to mention how proud I am to be a Ravenclaw. Though there is a bit of a thirst for knowledge involved, it’s great how I can be with a group of people who share that love of learning. It’s not just book smarts—there’s also logic, experience, and most importantly, wisdom, that the House of Ravenclaw holds as first priority. Also very important is how to use that knowledge—what use are three PhD’s if you don’t do anything with them?
Sure, the other House traits are important too. Slytherin’s cunning to know when and how to take advantage of otherwise miss-able opportunities. Hufflepuff’s caring and compassion to unite people. Gryffindor’s bravery and willingness to stand up for beliefs. But what use are all of those traits, when after one’s death (or maybe a few generations after, if you become very memorable), nothing remains? A change may have resulted—using Slytherin’s brilliance you could have become a president, then with both Hufflepuff’s empathy and Gryffindor’s courage you could have turned around a prejudice and saved people in the future. However, no one can copy that cunning, that compassion or that bravery. Once you die, it’s gone forever—and existing only in people’s memories. However, with Ravenclaw’s stress on learning and knowledge, as well as the sharing of that knowledge, lessons learned can be passed on—so people won’t need to relearn those same lessons, and instead they can use what is discovered to learn even more lessons. Knowledge itself is passed on, and the way of using it is part of knowledge itself. In a sense, Ravenclaw-ish people are teaching people wisdom, which, if learnt correctly, will help them for the rest of their lives—and hopefully help the people around them as well. This is why I appreciate being a Ravenclaw so much, and hopefully this conveys my meaning well enough.

I’m slightly uncertain where I post this/do I post multiple (different) things all for this contest?

Heh. Post decoration is just as turayza said: you decorate your post with graphics that show house pride. In the events, we had a Chrismas Theme Decoration in the Mirror of Erised Wish Lists, and a few other decorated posts.
(if you haven't seen them, and for all the new comers smile Check out our Events subforum, we have had some fun events this year!

Check out The Yule Ball, with started off rather like a normal Ball, then well, it got a bit more interesting, starting near the bottom of page 3 when Professor Flitwick rushed in and asked for help with a tricky charm....



And of course we're open to suggestions (in our Suggestions and Requests Sticky) and ideas!

Actually the House Appreciation Month was the brain child of Luna__Lovegood, for which she received 10 points!

Aw, Arie! *hugs*

Gryffindor would be nothing without you, and you know it! You were one of the first friends I made here, and your still one of my closest! We went through the dark ages of Gryffindor together, and we helped brought it back to life...I think...Anyway I'd just like to thank every single person who bothers to read this, because that means you care about what I say! But I love you all weather you read this or not...