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A Guide to Group-Hosted Contests on dAIntroduction
The ever-wonderful ^ValaSedai posted an article about Individually Hosted Contests this morning. It covered a lot of important stuff like gathering prizes and organizing your entries. This guide is going to cover much of the same stuff, but from a group admin's point of view. :)
Prepare and Organize
The Summer Contest that myself, =SilverInkblot, and `thetaoofchaos hosted through =DailyLitDeviations literally took months of planning. We wrote and revised the prompt, rules, entry guidelines, prizes, judging guidelines, and more. Then when the contest was announced, people had questions and the questions most frequently asked were added to an FAQ section in the article. Then there was collecting and finalizing the
Points Challenge: Be A Hero, Report a Miscat!
Miscats: What are they? Why do they matter? How do they happen?
:new: REMINDER: This challenge is only open until October 31st! Get your comments in by then or miss out on points!
A "miscat" is a deviation that has been submitted to the wrong gallery, or mis-categorized, on deviantART. For example, literature does not belong in the photography gallery, even if there is a photograph supplied as a preview picture for the writing.
They matter for several reasons. Miscats make searching for specific types of deviations tedious, particularly if you are looking for newer submissions. A search of the Writing Tutorials gallery for popular deviations in the last 24 hours brought up four deviations, all miscats. Miscats also make the site disorganized and even harder to navigate for new comers. Lastly, they make your work harder to reach by taking up space in the wrong gallery.
I'm sure others can think of reasons why miscats are annoying, and I invite you to leav
Fanfiction, Fiction, and NonfictionFix That Miscat! is a series of articles aiming to help you distinguish between galleries that are commonly confused or abused in the category system here on deviantART.
Why should I care? 1) If your work isn't in the right gallery, the people most interested in reading it are never gonna find it! 2) Miscatted works cannot be featured as DDs, to put it simply. 3) Some galleries are more full of miscats than others, and this makes it very difficult to find what you're looking for.
Whether you're an art appreciator or trying to get your art appreciated, miscats affect your site experience. Please help us get the word out there!
Fanfiction
Fanfiction has its very own category under the Fan Art gallery:
Fan Art > Fan Fiction
NOTE: Fanfiction is a genre rather than a style, so poems, scripts, character sheets, etc. that are fan works belong in this category as
PE Getting the Most out of dA: SummaryGetting the Most out of dA - Summary
This week we set out to find the answer to the question; How to contribute to the community? 
Here's what we learnt about:
:bulletblue: Commenting :bulletblue:
:bulletblue: Groups :bulletblue:
:bulletblue: Art Features & Daily Deviations :bulletblue:
+ challenge winners
:bulletblue: Organising Projects & Contests :bulletblue:
PE: dA help - in English or Other LanguagesOn a big site like deviantART you're no doubt going to come across something you have a question about or just don't quite understand. There are many channels you can use to find the answers to various types of questions - such as the +faq, the *welcome tour, the deviantART Tutorials category and the :#help: chatroom. How do you know which to use?
The best point to start with any question or problem related to dA is the official Need Help? thread. It lists all official help channels and what they can be used for. In this article we focus on the +faq - as well as places to find dA information in many other languages! Let's start with English.
English - The FAQ
The FAQ (a common abbreviation for Frequently Asked Questions) c
PE: The Importance of Community SupportFrom the Desk of =Requiemachina
The Importance of Community Support: What is a Community?
     When one thinks of a community, some words might come into play...maybe these: caring, supportive, familiarity, safe, helpful, united to promote a common interest or idea....that stuff. But, a community does not fit into a nice neat package. We use the word a lot, but it is important to ask more seriously what the term "community"  is.  A community is a sort of "construct"; We can't see a community, nor touch it, or directly experience it. Just like a snowflake, no two communities are exactly alike. They may share the same ideals, but the personal experiences will always be different. A community is not only the people in it-- but what was already established long ago, and which would continue to grow through the ages. Take DeviantART for example. This site I believe when it first started up, wasn't as big as it is now. But due to
November ThankstivityIt is easy to point out the flaws....
Cliques, lack of communication, bad art that gets too many views, good art that doesn't get enough views, crappy DDs, and on and on and on. The complaints people have about deviantART could fill a book the length of the Bible, but November is a month for remembering what we have to be thankful for and so I challenge you, Solutions Seekers, to take a look around and find at least three things about deviantART that make you thankful for the community.
The Challenge
Create a deviation or journal that explores at least three reasons you're thankful for deviantART. It can be anything from tutorials and other resources to friends you've made to great art you've stumbled across to a favorite group. Whatever it is that keeps you coming back, I want to know about it.
Rules
:bulletpurple: One entry per deviant.
:bulletpurple: For this challenge, no mature content please. Let's make
Tutorial Writing TipsTutorial Writing Tips
This article has been written both for #projecteducate's Community Week and for the second #FeedbackFrenzy contest.
There are many tutorials right here on deviantART, most of which are provided by other deviants for free. All of us can take a look at these tutorials, and hopefully learn something new. While it's wonderful people spend their spare time helping others learn for free, the truth is some tutorials are much better than others. In this article, I am aiming to share my tutorial-writing knowledge to help others make their tutorials better! After all, if you're going to spend some of your spare time writing a tutorial, you might as well make it the best it can be! :)
What are you good at?
First of all, think about what you're good at! If you haven't already decided what you want to write your tutorial on, you'll need to have a think about the sorts of things you're good at, which you could teach others. You don't ha
Deviousness Award Interview with JoseFelipeMWhat is this Awesome Achievement?
The Deviousness Award is an accolade which is traditionally handed out
on the 1st of every month to one truly outstanding deviant.
The Deviousness Award for January 2013 goes to `JoseFelipeM.


Hello JoseFelipe! Please give us a quick introduction of who you are, in and outside DA.
Hey Thiefo! :wave:
On deviantART, I am `JoseFelipeM, a senior member for a bit more than six months. I recently received the Deviousness Award (obviously :B that's what this interview is for) and `TimberClipse pointed out that not only am I the youngest senior, but I took his spot as youngest Deviousness Award Recipient! I am more of an art appreciator than an
PE: Browser Scripts + Extensions and User StylesWhat are Browser Scripts & User Styles?
Browser Scripts & Extensions
These are Browser Scripts that add new functions or modifies existing functions to change your deviantART experience. These scripts are often installed through script managers such as Greasemonkey (Firefox) and Tampermonkey (Chrome).
Examples
 
User Styles
A User Style is code that modifies the appearan
PE: Journal and Gallery SkinsWhat are Journal Skins?
Complete Journal & Gallery CSS
This gallery is for Journal and Gallery skins where the CSS must be downloaded to be used. These days, there aren't as many journal skins being submitted into this category; as installable skins are becoming more and more popular.
Examples
   
Installable Journal Skins
These are journal skins that can be installed for quick use. 
Examples
   
<strong wytiwyg="1">
Everyday we're CV'ingAs a Community Volunteer - I do as much or as little within the community that I feel comfortable doing. We're not pressured to do this and that, we don't even have to give a Daily Deviation every day, we choose how we promote our selected galleries/chats and forums and we're not fixed to any specific rule on how much or how little we do. But I do believe that it's important to share with you just what the community volunteers do and why we do it. More importantly it's so easy to get lost on this site full of many people - and miss out on the awesome that's going on. So I'm going to share with you exactly what the latest awesome is...
Project Educate
Almost every week since October last year the Community Volunteers have been working hard both independently and as part of small teams to bring You Project Educate.
Project Educate is about bringing forward art forms whether they are popular or overlooked and giving
Getting the Most out of dA: GroupsGroups are a platform on deviantART which allow you to share your art - what it is primarily used for. Immediately, once your art is accepted into the Gallery, your art is sent to the message centres of many members of that particular group, gaining you instant and wider exposure. However, to really enhance your deviantART experience, and to get the most out of deviantART, +Groups shouldn't, and aren't, simply used for that.
There are many roles you can play within a group. By taking up a role, you immediately get more out of deviantART than if you had not done so.
Let's start with being a...
          Member
Not only do you get the chance to submit your art to the group, as a Member, you also :+devwatch: the many happenings within the group too. This means you can read about the immediate happenings as soon as they are launched through the group, such as contests, projects and more in between. As a member, seizing the
Traditional and Digital Mixed MediaFix That Miscat! is a series of articles aiming to  help you distinguish between galleries that are commonly confused or  abused in the category system here on deviantART. In this occasion we'll  talk about Mixed Media, both Traditional and Digital.
Mixed Media
Mixed  Media within deviantArt refers to artwork in the making of which more  than one medium has been employed. For example, a drawing that combines  color pencils, watercolors and inks in the same canvas.


To  be considered as Mixed Media, an artwork needs to combine 2 or more  traditional or digital mediums. However a big misconception is that  Mixed Media refers only to artworks combining digital AND traditional  and this is not entirely true. The combination can also be between traditional mediums only or digital mediums only and in fact, when you intend to submit to this category, you'll
Complaint Challenge Contest!

We got our complaints out in December 2012. Now, 2013 is about doing something productive with them. I am not going to sit and grumble about my pet peeves. Neither should you!
Anyone who knows me should have been suspicious from the start of Phase 1 because complaining is one of my own complaints. (And you saw this trick last year!) That's right. I complain about people complaining. Silly, yes? Well I decided to do something about it with this challenge. 
I hope everyone enjoyed sharing their gripes in Phase 1 because it is time for Phase 2! :eager: And Phase 2 is open to everyone, even if you didn't participate in Phase 1, or decided to change what complaint you'd like to address!
Complaint Challenge – Phase 2
The challenge in a nutshell: Pick one of your dA complaints and do something proactive about it. Work toward a solution or improvement in a positive way.
Now a few of you are probably thinking things like, "I
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October 5, 2012
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:iconalien-piglet:
=Alien-Piglet Jan 27, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
This is a great article! :excited: And just what I needed, time to arrange a contest :woohoo:
Reply
:iconvalasedai:
^ValaSedai Jan 28, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Glad you find it useful. ^^
Reply
:iconalien-piglet:
=Alien-Piglet Jan 28, 2013  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Of course I do, it's got useful information for a newbie contest hostess like me :blush:
Reply
:iconclchriskl:
Mood: Love ~Clchriskl Nov 12, 2012
Wahoo sounds cool...
Reply
:icongrimface242:
`GrimFace242 Oct 7, 2012   Writer
Seeing this, I'm surprised there isn't a group out there setup to assist individuals for the submitting process. Seems like it would make a lot of sense, but I'm not sure there would be enough indie contests to make it worthwhile.
Reply
:iconvalasedai:
^ValaSedai Oct 7, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Well you could always found one. :)
I think it wouldn't fail because of too little contests, there's always lots of people who host them. ^^
Reply
:iconnamenotrequired:
$namenotrequired Oct 7, 2012  Student Interface Designer
Featured in Points - Get Some, Give Some :D
Reply
:iconvalasedai:
^ValaSedai Oct 7, 2012  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Awesome, thanks. ^^
Reply
:iconnamenotrequired:
$namenotrequired Oct 7, 2012  Student Interface Designer
You're welcome :hug: Enjoy!
Reply
:iconmissdudette:
*MissDudette Oct 6, 2012  Student General Artist
Nice bit of advice. Thank you!
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