AnimeNEXT 2008 Fan-Fiction and Fan Comic Contest

In 2007, they gave her a name. Now, this year, you may also give our mascot Minae a life.

Universal Animation, Inc., the parent company of AnimeNEXT, is sponsoring a contest for everyone with creative writing and/or artistic abilities by offering you the chance to tell Minae's story--in your own words and images.

Starting right now, interested attendees can either choose between writing a 1,000 word short fan-fiction story or a single page of comic sequential art with Minae in the leading role. The winners of the contest in each category will have their work published in the AnimeNEXT 2008 Program Guide as well as VIP status at the AnimeNEXT event.

Here are the complete contest rules:

1. This contest is being sponsored by Universal Animation, Inc. and is subject to all rules and regulations regrading contests run in the United States of America.

2. By entering this contest, you acknowledge that you have read and understood these rules, and you accept them together and agree to abide by its terms and conditions, as they may be amended from time to time, and all other applicable rules and regulations. Additionally, you agree that you have all rights, approvals and/or consents necessary to submit your entry on the terms provided in these rules and your entry does not violate the rights of any other person or entity or any law.

3. Members of the Universal Animation, Inc. board of directors and all their respective employees, their respective parent, subsidiary and joint venture endeavors (that is, the AnimeNEXT and/or MangaNEXT staff), or any other entity involved in the development or administration of this contest, as well as members of such employees' immediate families and households (including children, spouses and siblings and/or other people living in the same households as such persons, whether related or not), are not eligible to participate.

4. To be considered an entrant into this contest, you must:

Create an original fictional story starring AnimeNEXT mascot Minae, as pictured on the contest information page. This story must be no more than 1,000 words long, and cannot contain story elements that are unsuitable for persons below the age of 13. The suitability of the content is to be determined by Universal Animation, Inc. and the judges of the contest.

OR

Create a single page of sequential art starring AnimeNEXT mascot Minae, as pictured on the contest information page. This single page of sequential art must contain a short narrative which contains a beginning, a middle, and a resolution. The single page cannot contain story elements or graphic representation of elements that are unsuitable for persons below the age of 13. The suitability of the content is to be determined by Universal Animation, Inc. and the judges of the contest.

5. All entries must be received in the animenext.contests@gmail.com email Inbox by April 1, 2008, 12:00 am Eastern, and must be accompanied by the entry form posted on the AnimeNEXT website. After this time, no other submissions will be considered. No other form of entry submission will be considered.

6a. Format for Submission (Fan Comic): The image file you transmit must be in either the .jpg file format or the .tif file format, with at least 300 dpi of resolution. No other formats will be accepted.

6b. Format for Submission (Fan-Fiction): The text file you transmit must be in either the .txt file format or the .rtf file format. No other formats will be accepted.

7. You may enter the contest multiple times, but your entries are restricted to one entry per email submission. Multiple entries do not guarantee an increased chance of winning the contest. Purchasing or having purchased a convention membership will not increase your chance of winning the contest.

8. In addition to utilizing AnimeNEXT mascot Minae in your submission, the entry into either section of the contest must contain only original work and must not contain any third-party content or other materials (such as text, graphics, artwork or logos), or any inappropriate or offensive materials. You must also agree to create your work under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License which means that you agree that should you be the winner or runner-up, the work may be displayed by Universal Animation, you will provide proper attribution, and we will not make any alterations to your work other than those that are necessary for publication in the program guide and online. For fan-fiction submissions, minor copy editing changes may be necessary, but entries that display a complete lack of proper American English grammar, spelling, and syntax will not be considered.
Also, with your entry, you agree that your work will become the property of Universal Animation, Inc. and will not be returned, and you must grant the right for Universal Animation, Inc. to use any and all entries for future advertising, promotion and publicity in any manner and in any medium now known or hereafter devised throughout the world in perpetuity.

9. Prizes: The winner of each section of the contest (fan comic and fan-fiction) will have his or her winning entry published in the AnimeNEXT 2008 program guide. The winner will also receive VIP status for up to one event per day (including preferred seating at the Masquerade, early entrance into the Dealer's Room, or early entrance to an autograph session) and an AnimeNEXT 2008 T-Shirt. Winners who are not attending AnimeNEXT will receive a gift bag which may contain DVDs or manga (appropriate to the entrant's age level) and an AnimeNEXT 2008 T-Shirt.

The work of the winners and the two (2) runners-up will be announced and be published on the AnimeNEXT website on June 1, 2008. The runners-up will also receive an AnimeNEXT 2008 T-shirt.

10. After the entries have been judged, the winner and runners-up will be contacted by email. In the event that a winner or runner-up will not be attending AnimeNEXT, all prize packages will be sent by Priority U.S. Postal Mail after the convention has concluded on June 22, 2008.

To enter the contest, please email the Entry Form to contest@animenext.org.

Official AnimeNEXT Mascot Art