Hello everyone, we would like to have your attention. The Mount Helicon Group is inviting all the talented writers and artists out there to experience our first Kamishibai contest.  All individuals are eligible so it’s a chance to show everyone you’re a master of storytelling in a new field.  If you are already Kami savvy utilize this challenge to gain experience when tested against the bright new minds sure to participate.  In the myriad of styles and themes only a few of you will shine beyond the rest. All it takes is inspiration and a vivid creative vision.  Good Luck!

To find out more about WHAT Kamishibai is go www.otakuworld.com

Now as much as we would love to have people just submit any old idea they come up with it’s much better to have a challenge.  You can still use any writing genre you’d like such as:  Horror, Romance, Mystery, Teen Drama, Super Heroes, Comedy, Etc. However whatever story you construct must have something to do with one of these 16 themes, statements, and quotes:

ü      “This does not bode well…”

ü      Avenging the Avengers

ü      “The year of the Dragon came, and with it…”

ü      Hating the Inner Circle

ü      Cruel Intentions for a Good Cause

ü      Replacing the Dead

ü      Heroes of the New World

ü      13 is a Lucky Number

ü      The Gods among Us

ü      Jenny?

ü      Aesop Modernized

ü      Virtual Happiness

ü      Earth, the forgotten planet

ü      The Dictator wore Pink

ü      “What are hot chicks into?”

ü      Appreciating You

It does not matter which one of these you choose to work with as your inspirational theme but you must pick one and your Kami must somehow relate back to what you chose. Case in point: if you were to choose “Appreciating You” and wanted to work with that theme there are certain things you can do.  Say you took it and made a story where little red riding hood’s wolf suddenly disappears.  After countless retellings of the story by mortals she realizes that without that constant danger in her life she becomes stagnant and begins to fade away.  So she has to go and search for him.  We realize that ole Red is beginning to APPRECIATE the wolf’s role in her world.  That’s the kind of thing we’re looking for.  You also could have easily done a romance story with that or made one hell of a comedy. 

If you have any questions regarding the themes then please don’t hesitate to contact one of the event organizers.  Once you finish your Kami please submit it to Otakuworld.com by the deadline date.

If you want a chance at winning you gotta follow the rules, sorry but they ARE necessary  ^_^;  :

~We will allow you work in partnerships.  Just be aware that you count as one person in the partnership so the prize has to be divided between the both of you. 

~You can submit as many entries as you would like for consideration, but be advised that each one will only count as one submission and be graded as such.

~Neither of the Coordinators will accept submissions so don’t even attempt it.

~Be original, we don’t want a remake of Sailor Moon or DBZ.  Everyone’s seen all of the Toonami reruns.  You can make Parodies but be advised we’re on the look out for stuff that’s basically another author’s story rehashed the exact same way.

~A story must contain more than 8 drawn panels.

~If you want put in poetry as a submission make sure the poem depicts a story and meets all other requirements.

~Must be primarily in English

~The Kami may be a game as long as it’s a complete game (or have some definable ending)

~Story must have a beginning, middle, and end, we’re not looking for previews that you’ll finish later.

~Kami must meet all rules for on the OtakuWorld.com website.  If the Webmaster does not accept your submission it will not be judged.  If you feel this unjust contact us and we’ll see what can be done.

~The Kamishibai submitted must be new. No Kami’s submitted prior to Feb 19^th 2005 will be reviewed.

~The names of the winners of the Competition will be sent to EVERYONE who participated.

~ We must receive more than 4 submissions in order for this to take place so please spread the world and tell your friends!

The winners of the Mount Helicon Kamishibai Competition will depend on a panel of 4 judges. Each Judge will have a list of categories to score for each entry.  The average of all 4 scores will ultimately decide who the winners are. The categories cored will include but not be limited to:

Don’t worry about your artwork too much.  If you’re not a good artist just let us know when you send your email notification.  Every participant will receive feedback from the judges on their submission if requested.

Remember the first judge you face will be the Otaku World webmaster simply be sure to follow all the sites guidelines and you’ll do great.  Remember we’re all hoping that everyone succeeds so do a great job!  ^__^

There is absolutely no entry fee. 

The first place winner of the contest will receive a $50 gift certificate to one of the following places of their choice:

If the competition winner decides they want to split the prize between two places that can also be done.

2^nd Place Prize:  $25 gift certificate to one of the aforementioned places

3^rd Place Prize: $10 gift certificate to any of the places mentioned except Anime Castle.

We may also decide if we see a Kami that deserves an “Honorable Mention” they too shall receive a certificate in some amount.  As a bonus everyone who submits a story will receive a one-month subscription to Otaku World for FREE!

*All amounts are in US dollars

DEADLINE

Submissions will come in two parts:  The email notification and the Kami Submission.

The email notification can be turned in as early as February 18^th 2005 but the deadline is no later than February 26^th 2005.  The format for this can be seen below.  Send these to one of the two organizers.

The Kami Submission (the most important part) can be turned in as early as February 19^th but no later than the deadline of February 26^th 2005.  After which will begin the long weeding and judging process. 

SUBMISSION FORMAT

The importance of the sending the email notification is that we can contact you if you win and so that we know who is entering what and where.  So when submitting please go ahead and include the following things:

Artist Name:

Author/Group Name:

Name of Kami:

Theme Used:

Why you chose that Theme:

What you like about your Kami:

What you hate about your Kami:

If you win where do you want your Certificate:

Feedback from Judges: Yes/No

Comments:

Now when submitting your Kami itself to Otakuworld.com the format changes:

Your Author/Alias name:

Email or Web Address you’d like your author name to link to if any:

Name of Kami:

Kami Description:

Make sure to add that you are submitting this for the Competition so that the Webmaster is well aware. 

And then of course the Kami attached as a zip file. 

The Coordinator Emails are:

ZeroSaturn@yahoo.com

MissTsukino@yahoo.com or

dreamingxashley@gmail.com

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

~If you can’t think of something look to other avenues.  There are great stories out there to work with that are as old as time. 

~You don’t have to make it anime style I don’t care what anyone says.  We’ve read Wally Lamb, Zane, Dan Brown, Chris Claremont, Alan Moore, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Laurel K. Hamilton, plus half the Dragon Lance and Forgotten Realms books.  Side by side with those is our storehouse of manga, so we love anime too.  Just please show us what YOU can do how YOU want to do it. 

~If you have no sound or music in your Kami that is OKAY but make sure that those things missing from it ENHANCE not DEGRADE your Kami. 

~We are not monsters.  Well most of us anyway, the werewolf and Dracula are monsters but they’re on vacations right now so you don’t have much to worry about anything.  The rest

of us would love to hear your questions and answer them.  Remember:  We WANT you to participate and are willing to help out if possible and ethical.  We mention ethical cause cheating sucks. 

~Kamishibai is not hard.  It’s in fact easier than RPGMaker.  If you need help some of the best places to go are the links provided at the bottom OR check out the Otakuworld.com forums.

~There are a lot of tricks out there to make a Kami better than butter, if you know what I mean.  Some good places to learn them involve reading Kami’s that are already made.  Some of these can be found in the link section.

~Don’t despair if you want to participate but don’t have an idea or some other problem.  Contact us.  If you just don’t have the esteem to do then that’s what the forums are for.  There’s inspiration in the strangest of places.

~If you’re truly nervous about submitting try making a test Kami first to see how it works and THEN work on your real one.  That’s what some of the best authors did themselves.

~Have FUN!  There may SEEM like a lot of rules here but most it turns out to be common sense.  And truthfully you want notice half of them.  Just do your best and show us what you got!

LINKS

Get WELL acquainted with this site:

http://www.OtakuWorld.com/

Full of excellent editorials and interviews to help you out.  Saddly it hasn’t been updated in months.  But it was made by Kami authors for Kami authors

http://members.tripod.com/~kamipress/

Author of the Kami “Love Quest”.  Very interesting story.

http://rebo_chan.tripod.com/

A Kami legend in her own right.  She is the author of SEVERAL different Kamishibai.

http://chibialex.com/kami/kami.html

A bit of information of the Kami “Ming and Dracoa”

http://www.geocities.com/lianu/frames.htm

Probably the classiest Kami organization out there.  They make some very high quality stuff.

http://www.projectax.com/productions/

She’s the author of the Kami “Hikawa Hijinks”

http://www.geocities.com/ribby_bickie/homebase.html

A MASTER of the Kamishibai.  He did things other artists and authors just stood in awe of.  Very creative.

http://tonibarra.tripod.com/

Meg is the author of “Happenstance Inc.” download it here:

http://www.murderofcrows.org/downloads/downloads.htm

A young blood Kami writer with a style all his own:

http://www.geocities.com/arimasanchez/