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Current Contest:
Make: It Happen 2008Sponsored by: Make: Magazine
Prize Categories: Best Trade, Best Trader and Best Favor
Winnings: Over $2,000 in prizes from the Maker Shed store!
Status: Open (closes at midnight PT on December 31, 2008)
Voting: Newsletter subscribers vote the winners
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO VOTE FOR THE WINNERS!
Trade A Favor was recently selected to participate as a Maker in Make: Magazine's Bay Area Maker Faire. Now Make: has graciously arranged for us to give out over $2,000 in sweet items from the Maker Shed store to the winners of our Make: It Happen 2008 Contest. A panel of judges from Trade A Favor and Make: will select finalists in three prize categories, and Trade A Favor Newsletter subscribers will vote to determine the final winners.
To qualify for any prize, just complete a trade using the Trade A Favor application before December 31, 2008. All completed trades, and all favors involved in completed trades, are automatically entered to win. There will be 28 prizes in all. Keep reading for prize information and tips, or click here for contest rules.
Prizes for Best Trade (The Diet Coke & Mentos Kit Contest)
Like our grandpappy used to say, great favors go together like Diet Coke and Mentos. "If you've ever seen the mad havoc this combination can unleash," he'd tell us, "you have some idea of the awesome power of trading favors." (If you haven't seen the mad havoc this combination can unleash, be sure to click here.) Grandpappy would have been thrilled by Maker Shed's Diet Coke & Mentos Kit, which helps you maximize the size of your DC&M geyser with custom nozzles.
Two traders awarded the Best Trade Grand Prize will each receive • a $300 gift certificate to the Maker Shed Store
• a Diet Coke & Mentos Kit
• a subscription to Make: Magazine.
Two traders awarded 2nd Best Trade will each receive • an Edison-Style Cup Phonograph Kit (record your voice onto a plastic cup!)
• a Diet Coke & Mentos Kit
• a subscription to Make: Magazine.
Ten traders (representing five trades) will be awarded Best Trade Runner-Up, and each of them will receive a Diet Coke & Mentos Kit.
Prizes for Best Trader (The TV-B-Gone! Contest)
Serious traders can't afford to be distracted by nearby TVs blaring channels they can't control. Luckily for them, they stand multiple chances of winning the ingenious and mischievous little TV-B-Gone!. With a simple press of a button, TV-B-Gone! will turn on or off virtually any TV in range. Compact and discreet, take TV-B-Gone! everywhere to maintain your right to quiet sanity!
The trader awarded the Best Trader Grand Prize will receive • a $200 gift certificate to the Maker Shed Store
• a TV-B-Gone!
• a subscription to Make: Magazine.
The trader awarded 2nd Best Trader will receive • First-year box sets of both Make and Craft magazines
• a TV-B-Gone!
• a subscription to Make: Magazine.
Five traders will be awarded Best Trader Runner-Up, and each of them will receive a TV-B-Gone!.
Prizes for Best Favor (The Minty Boost USB Charger Kit Contest)
The best favors give you that little extra power you need to get across the finish line. Just like the Minty Boost USB Charger Kit. Spend a few minutes transforming an Altoids tin into an iPod charger for someone and they'll be calling you MacGyver for life. (Or is it MacGruber?)
The trader awarded the Best Favor Grand Prize will receive • a $100 gift certificate to the Maker Shed Store
• a Minty Boost USB Charger Kit
• a subscription to Make: Magazine.
The trader awarded 2nd Best Favor will receive • a ProdMod LED Hula Hoop Kit (for raving DIY style)
• a Minty Boost USB Charger Kit
• a subscription to Make: Magazine.
Five traders will be awarded Best Favor Runner-Up, and each of them will receive a Minty Boost USB Charger Kit.
Criteria and Tips for Winning
A panel of judges from Trade A Favor and Make: Magazine will select seven finalists in each of the prize categories. Subscribers to the Trade A Favor Newsletter will be asked to vote for their favorite in each category, and their votes will determine the final rankings.
Judges will base their decisions on three key components: favor titles, favor descriptions, and feedback comments. Judges will be looking for both professionalism and creativity. Interesting favors with detailed titles and descriptions will have an immediate advantage. Favors that illustrate the variety of ways Trade A Favor can be used will also be standouts. This could mean favors that involve interesting skills or services, for example, but it could also mean a trade of more "standard" favors that one wouldn't normally expect to see paired together.
The best way to improve your chances of winning is to complete several trades, and the best way to improve your chances of completing several trades is to initiate a lot of trades. (You'll never complete a trade without initiating a few yourself!) Once you complete a trade, the next-best way to improve your chances of winning is to include a thorough comment in the feedback you leave for the other trader. Judges will be looking at feedback to tell them the "story" of a trade. Instead of just complimenting the other trader, explain how you received the favor and a little about the circumstances of the trade.
Winners of the Best Trader prizes will be judged based on the quality of their favors and trades as described above, as well as on the quantity of their favors and trades.
If your favor is restricted to a particular trade circle and cannot be seen by everyone, it will still be considered. However, in order to be included as a finalist we will need your permission to share your favor title, favor description, and feedback comment for purposes of voting. Judges will not be reviewing the content of your negotiation, though Trade A Favor staff may review this information to help determine whether a trade was legitimately facilitated by the Trade A Favor application.
Click here now to sign up for the Trade A Favor Newsletter and reserve your chance to vote, or click here for complete contest rules.
