I don't see what the problem is. The contest was to "Design an award for the Worst Woot of 2006: a statuette, a cup, a ribbon, a plaque, a medal, a trophy, whatever."
The winners did so, and then they made the award, simply exceeding the requirements, not disregarding them. And as always, we are invited to
" Use Photoshop, pen and ink, collage, MSPaint, scrimshaw carving, tattoos, ice sculpture, whatever, but it’ll only be judged if it’s visible in our forums as a jpg, gif, or png." And what i see on the forum is jpg.Videos are just a bonus, and in the 1st place winners case, just plain cute!

Duneland wrote:JoeDeeDee's was so good that I wouldn't be surprised if she had that t-shirt printed up, considering the other two winners, now that was a nice entry.

Forgive me if I've misunderstood what you've said, but I "printed it up" myself, on my home computer, using an inkjet t-shirt transfer and a t-shirt press. I've been doing it for years, for fun and (little) profit.

Edit: upon re-reading, I'm now thinking that you were being sarcastic. (Guess I'm a bit slow today.) I will still take it as a compliment that you thought it looked professional.

I can make a video to prove it was my work, if you'd like. hehe.

iamregin wrote:Okay then remind me during the next contest to paint my dustbuster gold and film it... minimal effort...

Are you sure you wouldn't rather just bitch and whine about it?

When I saw that Josephus and Wonderstew had handmade their entries I knew they had it in the bag. However, while the video that Wonderstew posted in conjunction with his entry demonstrated a special aspect of his 'trophy', I thought that the video Josephus posted in response was pretty gratuitous.

When it comes to the judging of this contest you pretty much just have to deal with it. Sometimes it jives with what you personally like and sometimes it doesn't. Grousing about the results you don't agree with changes nothing and just makes you look bitter and whiny.

And hey, sometimes it works to your advantage...the last time I placed I thought it was completely undeserved!

soothedbyrainfall wrote:When I saw that Josephus and Wonderstew had handmade their entries I knew they had it in the bag. However, while the video that Wonderstew posted in conjunction with his entry demonstrated a special aspect of his 'trophy', I thought that the video Josephus posted in response was pretty gratuitous.

When it comes to the judging of this contest you pretty much just have to deal with it. Sometimes it jives with what you personally like and sometimes it doesn't. Grousing about the results you don't agree with changes nothing and just makes you look bitter and whiny.

And hey, sometimes it works to your advantage...the last time I placed I thought it was completely undeserved!

Amen.

edit: oops! Not amen that your entry placing was undeserved! Amen to everything else you said! Sorry!

tgentry wrote:I stand behind all of my winning entries (except for Smellboy, and the Peevo half of Contest 105).

Don't sell yourself short, I thought Peevo was excellent and well thought out. I had no idea that the box was an xbox or whatever it was until someone else point that out. I can't even remember some of my own entries but I remember that one very well.

wrote:

As for the video's, I recall that wonderstew's video was posted as an after thought, and I thought that Joe's video, as a response to stew's video, was a funny thing to do. From what I remember from the weekend, neither of those videos was posted for contest sake, it was just people having fun bringing their creations to life.

Dunno why

Its funny- I was going to post a reply to some of these, but I couldn't really find one that wouldn't either:
1. annoy half the people out there.
2. annoy me for the disservice to all the people who were generous with their congratulations.

Frankly, when I saw the topic, it seemed obvious to me that a real trophy actually made would have a good shot at winning. I suppose on some level I stole the idea from mnementh's entry that won contest 47 by making an actual necklace out of a Blinged-Out Cabbage. I remember kudos to mnementh for thinking of the idea, I don't remember hate filled spiteful comments.

Since I wasn't working Friday, I made my own trophy, and posted a picture of it. After Wonderstew posted his trophy, with the added silliness of putting in a video, I shamelessly copied him, and posted my own video. I didn't intend to include my kids, they (meaning Stephen) just inserted themselves into the view. My video WAS gratuitous, soothedbyrainfall, intentionally so. I even put in some idiotic zooms in and out, just to make it more ludicrous.

Everything I did, and everything Wonderstew did, anyone else could have done themselves. Other than JoeDeeDee's making her own T-shirt, and LKK making some sort of head thing, none of you made anything. All of you could have. This contest is about being original, and clever, and most of the time funny. I think all three of the winners were all of those.

Almost all of the time, some sort of chop is going to win. I hope so, because I think I have my best chance at that kind of contest. My haikus suck like that Dustbuster, frankly. Every once in a while, something off-the-wall is going to win. We thought of it, and executed it, and we were right. I think a lot of us knew these two trophies had a pretty good chance from the time each appeared. Not because of who we are, but because of the nature of the contest and the quality of the work.

So, anybody who is annoyed that I won, I wish you didn't feel that way. But,

since TGentry showed us a couple of weeks ago that in fact one can win twice in a row, rest assured that I'll be back tomorrow, with my Photopaint, or my chisels, or, looking outside, maybe a snow pile, doing my best to win it again.

Josephus wrote:Its funny- I was going to post a reply to some of these, but I couldn't really find one that wouldn't either:
1. annoy half the people out there.
2. annoy me for the disservice to all the people who were generous with their congratulations.

Give it a go.
and congrats to the winners

^ Here Here!

For the record - my weird head thingy was a chop - not an original creation - I don't want to take credit for another's work.
I agree with Joe, I am not at all surprised by the winners - and Joe had my pic for CCC too. Once I saw that I was clearly outclassed on Friday, I spent the weekend putting together off-the-wall entries that taught me new skills and made me (and a few others) laugh. Charm bracelets, balloon bouquets, coloring books, origami elephants, etc. are not awards or trophies, and only marginally fit the theme.

I give kudos only when they are deserved - and they were this week.

I do have to say that I liked the angle wonderstew did on the trophy. It made it look large, like something that should be standing in front of a vacuum museum.

I don't really have anything profound to say...

But I will say that I really, really want to win. But I didn't.

While I naturally find my entry to be inspired and I put hard work into it... I have enough pride to tell the winners well done.

Josephus... well done. Don't let the fact that I have adblocked your signature fool you, I think you make good entries. ( i just don't like things that flash at me, lol)

Wonderstew... good job, you know your cool.

HonMens...congrats...Shan24, yours is lol. ... good job.

Congrats to all the winners and such.

I don't think expressing an opinion about the winners or losers qualifies in any way as being "hate." There are many opportunities to hear genuine hate in today's world. I have seen zero hate in this thread.

Imregin is just speaking his/her mind. It's not hateful to say he disagrees with the results. So, that's my two cents worth.

dontwantaname wrote:

You need to share your winnings with your daughter, who is very cute!

Thanks; you're right. I told the older kids that I was going to share the money with her, and that she would probably spend it on lollipops and toys, and she overheard and immediately asked for a lollipop. She seemed happy with that payment.

faithcoaching wrote:Congrats to all the winners and such.

I don't think expressing an opinion about the winners or losers qualifies in any way as being "hate." There are many opportunities to hear genuine hate in today's world. I have seen zero hate in this thread.

Imregin is just speaking his/her mind. It's not hateful to say he disagrees with the results. So, that's my two cents worth.

You're right.

Hatred offends me. Imregin doesn't. I guess I was half-borrowing the term " hatin' "

buckie74's was just a rehash of an entry he did back in contest 102.

Okay. I'm gonna bite because I have never been mentioned in a woot! arguement before and it feels like a rite of passage. My Contest 102 entry and this one have nothing in common as you can see below. How the pic got there I don't but the links are correct. So, there.

faithcoaching wrote:Congrats to all the winners and such.

I don't think expressing an opinion about the winners or losers qualifies in any way as being "hate." There are many opportunities to hear genuine hate in today's world. I have seen zero hate in this thread.

Imregin is just speaking his/her mind. It's not hateful to say he disagrees with the results. So, that's my two cents worth.

certainly its not. I've disagreed with them many times. Probably with less reason most of the time. edit: after conversation with iamregin, I think this is pretty much a big misunderstanding and got blown out of proportion accidentally. I'm just dropping it.

McGuffy wrote:Oh, and congrats winners.

image of hideous face on bust

Thanks, McGuffy. So, how about updating the leaderboard? :^D

...figured I might as well start reminding him, otherwise he'll never get it updated before Tgentry passes me, probably in a couple of weeks.

Congratulations to the winners! This was a difficult category and the entries were very creative.

buckie74's was just a rehash of an entry he did back in contest 102.

Okay. I'm gonna bite because I have never been mentioned in a woot! argument before and it feels like a rite of passage. My Contest 102 entry and this one have nothing in common as you can see below. How the pic got there I don't know but the links are correct. Might I have reused a file name at photobucket?

In reference to Joe and Stew I must intone the words creative and clever. They are inspirational not only because they win a lot, but because that they have well-honed critical thinking skills. I love the contest because it requires both chop skills and unique thinking.

After my euphoria at getting an HM, I was horrified to realize that I arrived home to the same whining and complaining I had thought I left behind with my 6-10 year olds.

Great job winners!

And looking back on that contest that mnementh won with the bracelet o' crap..

Why didn't this winning entry spark controversy?

The phone ends are clearly facing the wrong way!

It's literally neck-and-neck over at Dodgeball Contest #12!!

Choose your favorite and PM me by MIDNIGHT CST to vote!!

Don't forget to vote for yourself if you want!

I for one am all for bringing different types of media into this contest. I have to say that I was quite impressed with the efforts/quality of both Joe and Stew's entries this week, though neither one snagged my votes for favorites of the contest. I guess when it comes down to it I'm always drawn to well executed concepts. You both certainly did a bang up job with the execution this week, but I think that from a conceptual standpoint, there were some better entries this week that were overlooked.

That's not to say that there was no concept to the work, but I still find the "If I had photoshopped a wooden water wand or a dustbuster..." argument to be somewhat valid. If the idea/joke doesn't hold water as a flat image, I'm not necessarily sure I think constructing it should make it any more viable. I will say that the fact that the dustbuster trophy did physically "suck" does add a level of humor/fun to the mix. I guess in the end there were just quite a few entries this week that used a similar thought process: Worst Woot --> sucks --> dustbuster trophy, or Worst Woot --> is crappy --> toilet trophy.

That's only my 2 cents on the issue though (which I realize nobody asked for...). I'm excited to see what people will do in the future now that you guys have sort of opened up things a bit. I think the most successful entries will be the ones that take whatever media they're made from and utilize it to enhance their concept.

For all those (including me) that look at the results of the contests each week and think about the entries that were overlooked, try something this weekend. Take five minutes to give some props to one of those entries while the contest is still going, instead of just alluding to it after the winners are already announced. Give the judges a reason to look over an entry you like one more time, as maybe they'll see something they missed the first time around. If you see an entry that's funny but maybe lacks some quality execution, point the person in the direction of some better source material or drop a little chopping knowledge on them about how they could potentially improve it.

Though I'm not always on the same page as Faithcoaching's pics, bravo to you for taking the time to assemble them every week. I think if more of us did that, we'd find that not nearly as many people are being overlooked as some of us might think.

If anyone is still reading this, thanks for sticking with me.

briannyc128 wrote:I guess in the end there were just quite a few entries this week that used a similar thought process: Worst Woot --> sucks --> dustbuster trophy, or Worst Woot --> is crappy --> toilet trophy.

Geesh, who hasn't seen a vacuum cleaner trophy or a toilet trophy before? Search google for "golden vacuum award".

briannyc128 wrote:
try something this weekend. Take five minutes to give some props to one of those entries while the contest is still going

I think if you look back over this contest as well as most others, you will see that there are already a lot of positive and constructive comments given during the contest. This last contest alone had:
41 positive comments about someone else's entry
5 posts where help or suggestions were offered

All 3 winners gave kudos to others during the contest. Several posters that have never won received praise and attention - so it wasn't just applaud the leader board folk.

I'm not saying that more positive comments, encouragement, help wouldn't be a good thing - just, don't overlook the good things that are already happening.

LKK wrote:
I'm not saying that more positive comments, encouragement, help wouldn't be a good thing - just, don't overlook the good things that are already happening.

Don't get me wrong, I think there is a lot of great interaction that goes on each week. Speaking personally, I've chopped some entries in the past that I loved, and then kinda scanned through the contest for the rest of the weekend and wound up disappointed that nobody seemed interested at all. Half the time though, I wasn't commenting on anyone else's work either. My comment was more geared towards those of us out there that get a kick out of someone's entry, but don't necessarily think to tell them so, whether that person is at the top of the leaderboard or the bottom.

It just seems like there's a lot of talk of people being overlooked lately, whenever the contest results are posted. I was more or less responding to that. If people feel that others aren't getting the credit they're due, all the have to do is let them know they liked their work. If what people really mean is "MY work was overlooked," then obviously the post count of these contests is going to remain about what it has been.

briannyc128 wrote:Though I'm not always on the same page as Faithcoaching's pics, bravo to you for taking the time to assemble them every week.

A main reason I do that is to keep me from sour grapes. I can fill a whole page of entries that are better than my stuff ... so I am pre-preparing meself for overlookedness.

I gave the first place and second place winners monkey in my picks because I thought they deserved recognition for their extra effort. And Joe has YET to thank me for his fc-monkey even though he has said the monkey is his most sought after recognition now.

Here's a scary thought: Joesephus won the regular contest, and has an excellent entry in Dodgeball. He may be the first one ever to win first, dodgeball, and fc-monkey in the same week. That's amazing!

Josephus...your winning entry brought a chill to my flesh. You see I once found, while cleaning out a room in the back of the lab I used to work in, an object fashioned out of wood. It was carefully shaped and then sanded to a smooth finish. This piece of "art" was contoured and angled in just the right way to please the "senses" I pulled the device from the darkened cabinet with unknowing curiosity and brought it to the bright stark fluorescent light of the laboratory. Like a charge of electricity, the device lept from my hand and dropped to the hard, linoleum floor. It bounced and clanked and finally came to rest, there, in front of my colleagues. As I viewed your device, I relived that moment as if it were happening again, and again, and again. Arrrrrgh!
Nice job! Good work from everyone. I enjoyed them all. Perhaps this Friday I'll have the time and guts to post an entry.

faithcoaching wrote:

A main reason I do that is to keep me from sour grapes. I can fill a whole page of entries that are better than my stuff ... so I am pre-preparing meself for overlookedness.

I gave the first place and second place winners monkey in my picks because I thought they deserved recognition for their extra effort. And Joe has YET to thank me for his fc-monkey even though he has said the monkey is his most sought after recognition now.

Here's a scary thought: Joesephus won the regular contest, and has an excellent entry in Dodgeball. He may be the first one ever to win first, dodgeball, and fc-monkey in the same week. That's amazing!

gently tosses faux monkey poop ( carved from bubinga) at FC. thanks, coach.
I voted for gwp in the dodgeball contest. cats in the cradle outclassed my 'work' by a mile. still time to vote, kids, 1.5hrs. vote for that one, or the lion sleeps tonite, or roll over Beethoven- don't vote for mine.

Damn- I me me mine would have made an excellent entry in dodgeball.

Accelerator wrote:
Josephus...your winning entry brought a chill to my flesh. You see I once found, while cleaning out a room in the back of the lab I used to work in, an object fashioned out of wood. It was carefully shaped and then sanded to a smooth finish. This piece of "art" was contoured and angled in just the right way to please the "senses" I pulled the device from the darkened cabinet with unknowing curiosity and brought it to the bright stark fluorescent light of the laboratory. Like a charge of electricity, the device lept from my hand and dropped to the hard, linoleum floor. It bounced and clanked and finally came to rest, there, in front of my colleagues. As I viewed your device, I relived that moment as if it were happening again, and again, and again. Arrrrrgh!
Nice job! Good work from everyone. I enjoyed them all. Perhaps this Friday I'll have the time and guts to post an entry.

I'd have paid money to see that. I hope you busted out laughing.

6:12 a.m. - and no contest?

LKK wrote:6:12 a.m. - and no contest?

"Do you know where your children are?"

LKK wrote:6:12 a.m. - and no contest?

7:56 a.m. - and no contest?

Jason Toon wrote:Woot Contest 108: Watch Out!

OK. So we're not big in the punctuality department. That's all about to change! Today's Woot, the Ridiculously Large Flava Flav Medallion Clock is big when it comes to timeliness. In fact, it's just big. Period. Your mission, should you still be checking these forums at all:

Depict your favorite Woot staffer wearing a ridiculously large, nay huge, timepiece as a fashion accessory or prosthetic device.

A Big Ben hat, pocketwatch codpiece, scrolling LED tickertape merkin. Please try your best to cover all the naughty bits. Please?

Post your entry here by 11:59 PM CST on Sunday, February 11, 2007. That's right, we're giving you a ridiculously large amount of time to enter. It only seems fair, and besides, we apparently can't motivate ourselves on any more frequent basis than that anyway. Prizes are $20/$50/$100 for 3rd/2nd/1st. The rules and criteria for winning: our panel of geniuses can and will make stuff up eventually. Use Photoshop, lathe, spraypaint, YouTube, iron-on transfers, tattoos, finely-crafted Swiss movements, whatever, but it’ll only be judged if it’s visible in our forums as a jpg, gif, or png. Try to keep your maximum width to 450px. If you need a place to host your pictures, try www.imageshack.ws or www.photobucket.com. We have no connection to either, but they seem free and easy to use. And if you want us to be sure your entry was indeed your work, post a video of you giving birth to the model. The more sure we are that you did your own work, the more likely we are to consider it for a prize.

Past money winners: If you'd like to nominate any entries from this month's contest, email your selections (with links to each individual post) to Jason Toon at jtoon@woot.com by, oh let's say noon-ish CST on Monday, February 12.

Congrats to all the winners and HMs.

wonderstew wrote:Second Place Vacuum Trophy

Might have been First with a couple welds in place of the hardware!

gwp wrote:Post your entry here by 11:59 PM CST on Sunday, February 11, 2007. That's right, we're giving you a ridiculously large amount of time to enter. It only seems fair, and besides, we apparently can't motivate ourselves on any more frequent basis than that anyway. Prizes are $20/$50/$100 for 3rd/2nd/1st. The rules and criteria for winning: our panel of geniuses can and will make stuff up eventually. Use Photoshop, lathe, spraypaint, YouTube, iron-on transfers, tattoos, finely-crafted Swiss movements, whatever, but it’ll only be judged if it’s visible in our forums as a jpg, gif, or png. Try to keep your maximum width to 450px. If you need a place to host your pictures, try www.imageshack.ws or www.photobucket.com. We have no connection to either, but they seem free and easy to use. And if you want us to be sure your entry was indeed your work, post a video of you giving birth to the model. The more sure we are that you did your own work, the more likely we are to consider it for a prize.

This is too funny! But there's no way I'm posting a video of me giving birth. Definitely not worth it for 20 bucks.

Josephus wrote:

I'd have paid money to see that. I hope you busted out laughing.

What a story!