QUASAR and ARIANA Rules    

EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet
Connection proudly announces

2010 Art Awards
Recognizing Excellence in E-book Covers

Entrant Agreement

Entry into this contest constitutes permission for EPIC to post the cover on EPIC's website for display, voting, and use of finalist, honorable mention, and winning covers in the EPIC Award Banquet program and the website for historic purposes. Entrant is assumed to be owner of the artwork or have permission from the owner of the artwork.

EPIC, its officers, committee members, volunteers, members, and anyone else associated with EPIC, the EPIC Awards, the QUASAR, the ARIANA, and the DIRK A. WOLF Honorable Mention contests are not held liable for inaccurate or incomplete entries do to mistakes or misunderstandings on the part of the entrant. It is the responsibility of the entrant to read, understand, and comply with all the rules. Take the time, read the rules, and do it right. If you do not understand, please ask. Questions may be directed to Debi Sullivan, epic.competition.chair@gmail.comor EPIC's Art Contest Committeequasar@epicauthors.com.

Competition Schedule

• Entries for EPIC's Art Competition will be accepted from November 2, 2009 through November 30, 2009 Midnight EST (EXTENDED DEADLINE!)



• Judging for the ARIANA Awards will take place on December 11, 2009 through December 17, 2009 Midnight EST.



• Winners for EPIC's ARIANA and DIRK A. WOLF Awards will post on EPIC's website on December 18, 2009



• Judging for the QUASAR Award will take place on January 15, 2010 through January 21, 2010 Midnight EST.



• EPIC's QUASAR Award will be presented at EPIC's 2010 Awards Banquet in New Orleans on March 7, 2010

EPIC's Art Awards

The ARIANA Awards, honoring the talented artist/author Ariana Overton, are awarded to the highest voted artworks, one from each individual category. Recipients receive an acrylic award and certificate in recognition of their talent.

EPIC's DIRK A. WOLF Award honors Dirk A. Wolf, a long-time EPIC member and a talented artist and author. These Honorable Mention for Artistic Merit Award certificates are given to artists whose artwork receive the second highest number of votes within individual categories, as recognition of artistic merit.

These awards represent industry recognition for renderings/representations of eBooks. Judging is influenced by:

• Appropriateness of artwork to genre/category



• Attention to detail/notability, including style and/or method



• Ease of viewing (i.e. book title, author's name, publisher logo/information (if included), etc. are clearly viewed).

ARIANA winners will proceed to the final competition round: EPIC'S QUASAR Award. The artwork receiving the most votes will be chosen to represent the best of eBook artwork with EPIC's 2010 QUASAR Award.

Entry Fee

Payment must be received prior to the start of judging and may be made via PayPal (worldwide) to Treasurer@epicauthors.com or by check and/or money order (for U.S. or Canadian residents). All payments must be received and/or cleared by Midnight (12 o'clock am) CST, November 30, 2009.

Payments made by check or PayPal e-check, versus PayPal's direct funding, must allow for the appropriate time required for postage and processing, and must be payable to EPIC.

Fees may be paid via PayPal to treasurer@epicauthors.com If you are paying for one book, you may use the PayPal button here for your convenience. If you are paying for more than one book, go directly to PayPal and make your payment to treasurer@epicauthors.com.

Fees may be paid by sending a US dollars check/money order made out to EPIC, and sent to EPIC Treasurer DAQ Competition Entry Fee PO Box 2097 Virginia Beach, VA 23452 Only US Bank checks in US Dollar amounts or money orders in US Dollar amounts are accepted.

Be sure to include the name of the book, artist, and publisher so your payment may be properly credited.

Checklist for Entering Your Artwork

• Confirm your entry's eligibility



• Confirm the category you will enter your cover art (see below), including LETTER with all correspondence and on entry form



• E-mail your correctly sized JPG to quasar@epicauthors.com



• Send in your payment (via PayPal or check/money order) to treasurer@epicauthors.com

Eligibility, Rules, and Submission

1. This competition does not require you to be an EPIC member to enter. However, entrants are assumed to be owners of the entered artwork or to have the owner's permission to enter artwork. Covers must be original artwork and appear on a published e-book within the eligibility period of October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009.



2. Entries must be entered by the cover artist(s); if a collaborative cover, either artist may enter the artwork. Submissions may be entered by publishers ONLY in cases where the artist is unable to enter for him/herself.



3. There are NO LIMITS on the number of covers entered by a single artist. But please keep in mind that these are voted awards. The more entries you place in the same category substantially lessens the percentage of votes that may be accrued for ONE piece of artwork.



4. While there are no limits to the number of covers an entrant may submit, covers may ONLY be entered into ONE category, not multiple categories. Entries found placed in multiple categories will be disqualified.



5. A separate entry form and entry fee is required for each artwork entry. Your entry is invalid until your payment process is fully completed. There will be no refunds!



6. EPIC grants unlimited permission to the QUASAR (Best Overall Cover) Award, the ARIANA (Best in Category) Award winners, and the DIRK A. WOLF (Honorable Mention) Award winners to use the QUASAR, ARIANA, and DIRK A. WOLF logos (available on this page -- right-click on the logos and select save as... or click on the logos for larger versions).



7. This permission extends to publishers, authors, artists, and websites containing or representing winning covers.



8. If you DO NOT receive an e-mail confirmation that your artwork e-mail attachment has been received, please contact quasar@epicauthors.com



9. If you do not receive a confirmation of payment, please contact treasurer@epicauthors.com or epic.competition.chair@gmail.com



10. Each category is preceded by a letter; the LETTER must be used for entry(s) information.



11. Correspondence to EPIC's Competition Chair and/or Art Committee must list the reason for the inquiry (entry, format. naming, payment, award, etc.), the entrant's name, and the artwork title in the SUBJECT LINE. Correspondence that does not follow this format will be ignored:

Submitting Your Cover Art

The better the quality of your cover, and closer to the proper size, the better display it will make.

1. Complete all information of the entry form found at: http://bit.ly/W2iLs



2. Submit your cover art as an email attachment to: quasar@epicauthors.com



• Each entry requires a separate email, only ONE attachment per email will be accepted.
3. The artwork must be proportional, submitted in JPG format. and limited to 96 dpi by exactly 400 pixels tall, but no more than 260 pixels wide.



• Covers received larger or smaller than requested size may be returned to the entrant to fix, or may be resized without regard to quality or scale.
4. The following information is required of all entries:

Sample e-mail entry information required of Joe Coverartist for his art entry for his Cover art for Super Duper in Category M:

From: Joe Coverartist
To: quasar@epicauthors.com
Subject: DAQ-M-SuperDuper-JoeCoverartist

File named: M-SuperDuper-JoeCoverartist.jpg and sent as an attachment. (No spaces in names, not all capital letters.)

Note: The name is:
Category Letter (M) plus a dash (-) plus book title (SuperDuper) plus a dash (-) plus artist's name (JoeCoverartist) plus picture extension (.jpg)

If you have any questions, please ask before you submit.

Disqualification

Yes, entries are disqualified from this competition and here are some reasons why:

1. Entering ineligible artwork, either not within the qualification period or having previously entered artwork.
2. Sending incomplete information with your entry email, thinking we won't notice.
3. Being entered by someone other than artist or publisher (unless under extenuating circumstances with prior approval from the Chair).
4. Non-payment of entry.
5. Violating any rules and/or eligibility.
6. Deliberate lying or cheating by the entrant.

While the first 5 points on this list will earn you a place on our Blockhead Bulletin Board, the final will earn you a lifetime ban from EPIC's competitions.

Categories

EPIC's EBook Art Competition categories consist of fifteen (15) categories, each preceded by a LETTER. This letter must be included in all correspondence.

Each category requires a minimum of five (5) entries to compete as a valid category. If any category does not meet the minimum number of entries, the Awards Committee may choose to either allow the entries to be judged as entered or the category may be merged with one chosen as comparable. No placement changes may occur during any stage of this contest due to entrant error.

For books crossing genres, the cover art may showcase the romantic aspect of the novel rather than the fantasy or sci-fi or paranormal aspects. Your entry should be placed in the most logical category represented by the COVER ART, not necessarily the content of the published eBook.

The categories are as follows:

1. Children's/Young Adult
2. Contemporary Romance
3. Contemporary Erotic Romance
4. Erotica
5. Fantasy/ Paranormal Fiction
6. Fantasy/ Paranormal Romance
7. Fantasy/Paranormal Erotic Romance
8. Historical or Westerns (General Fiction, Romance, and Erotic Romance)
9. Horror (General Fiction, Romance, and Erotic Romance)
10. Inspirational or Metaphysical (General Fiction or Romance)
11. Mainstream Fiction/Non-Fiction/Poetry
12. Sci-Fi or Futuristic Fiction
13. Sci-Fi or Futuristic Romance
14. Sci-Fi or Futuristic Erotic Romance
15. Suspense/Mystery/ Adventure (General Fiction, Romance, and Erotic Romance)

Any questions about these rules should be directed to Debi Sullivan, epic.competition.chair@gmail.com, or EPIC's Art Contest Committee at: quasar@epicauthors.com.

Timeline Recap

1. November 2, 2009—open for entries—start sending them in.



2. November 30, 2009, midnight EST—entries closed.



3. December 14, 2009 through December 20, 2009, midnight EST—voting for the ARIANA Best in Category Awards. A voting form will be available in the members-only section at that time and there will be an announcement of the EPIC lists when voting starts. Only EPIC members may vote.



4. December 21, 2009—ARIANA Best in Category Award winners and Dirk A. Wolf Honorable Mention Awards announced.



5. January 15, 2010, through January 21, 2010, midnight EST—Judging for the QUASAR Award (Overall Best Cover of the Year). A voting form will be available in the members-only section at that time and there will be an announcement of the EPIC lists when voting starts.



6. ARIANA Best in Category Awards and the QUASAR Award presented at EPIC Awards Banquet.