Welcome to the FIFTH annual Little Miss Playthings contest!

Fifth annual? Did I lose my mind?

What is this?

Little Miss Playthings is a photo-taking contest named after the American Girl Playthings forum. Want to enter? Awesome, keep reading.

How Do I Play?

1. Read the ENTIRETY of the rules.

2. Use the Entry Management Console to create a profile for yourself and enter your doll. (No email entries this year. All email entries will be deleted!)

3. Start taking pictures! You will take one photo for each of the five categories (you'll find a list below).

4. Have each entry in by the day it is due. You can turn it in earlier then that, certainly, but DON'T TURN IT IN LATER!

After that, the system post the pictures and people from all around the Internet will vote on which picture they like best!

You heard. The contest is automated this year. You will be using the Entry Management Console for all your LMPT needs.

If you are using the console for the first time (and PS, that's ALL of you this year), I reccmend some light reading to the tune of the tutorial for the console.

VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE: The system can potentially break if you upload a picture that is totally huge. If you get a white error message screen, your picture did not upload. You need to resize and try again. It's also very important to know that the only Asian historical doll once chased a honey-loving mammal through the woods.

What are the rules?

Here we go, in no particular order:

• Any doll may enter. American Girl, Not American Girl, historical, modern, whichever.

• Boy dolls may enter too.

• Your doll may wear anything in the photos she (or he?) likes. If your doll wears the same thing in each photo, that's fine. If your doll wears something different in each photo, that's fine too.

• Only one photo per round.

• Other dolls may be in an entered photo, however, the doll in the contest must be clearly visible. Don't stick the doll at the bottom of a doll pile. NEW THIS YEAR: Make sure to read the description for the Solo round!

• Please, no nude, bleeding, or otherwise gross human parts in the picture. After that, anything goes.

• You need to enter your appropriate classification. See below.

• No photo may have a side longer than 500 pixels. Any entry with a side longer than 500 pixels will be resized so that the longest size is 100 pixels. Why? Because Bean is mean. Resize them yourself! The Entry Management Console may potentially break if you upload a photo that is too large for it to handle. If you see a white error message, you've uploaded something too big and you need to try again. You can potentially upload a picture to the system bigger than 500x500 pixels that it CAN handle -- but in that case, it will resize the picture to 100x100 without telling you, just like I used to do!

• On Saturday afternoon (eastern), Bean will post a list of contestants who have turned in their photo. If you are not on this list and you have turned in your photo, you have until Midnight EST to notify Bean. If you are not on this list and you have not turned your photo, you have until Midnight EST to turn a photo in. Failure to either notify Bean about being left off the list or to turn in a picture will result in you being left out of the round. No exceptions!

• Excessive wanking toward Bean or another board member can be grounds for disqualification from the contest.

• You must be either a past or present American Girl Playthings member (as in, you have or have had a working username for the forums), age 13 and above, or a child with a current AGPT member's assistance.

Classifications? What the snap?

There are two classes -- one for participants over 18, one for participants under 18 WITH NO ADULT ASSISTANCE. Both classifications will compete separately. Every voter will be able to award points in both classifications.

The over 18 category will be for people competing for the title of Little Miss Playthings. The under 18 category will be for Littlest Miss Playthings.

If you are over 18, or you are under 18 and receiving help from someone over 18 (for example, a mother helping her daughter take photos), you must enter the over 18 classification.

If you are under 18 and not receiving any help from anyone over 18, you may opt to enter the under 18 classification. You MUST have a parent or guardian email agplaythings@yahoo.com first, to tell us that you have their parental permission to enter this contest and/receive prizes (which we'll need a name/address to mail to). Even if you did this last year, we need you to do it again. Of course, you can always opt to enter the over 18 category too.

If you are assisting a child in participating in LMPT, you do NOT need to email permission in for that child. The Playthings mods automatically assume that you have permission.

Failure to get parental permission will result in a disqualification from the contest.

If not enough people enter into the under 18 classification, all under 18 entrants will be placed into the over 18 classification.

Both classifications will receive prizes, and both classification's prizes will be of equal value.

What are the rounds?

Two are the same, three are different. Here we go!

Round 1 -- Spooky: Dust off the Halloween decorations. We're opening with a howl! Calling all ghosts, goblins, headless horsemen, and hopelessly confused dolls dressed as fairies to this photo shoot. Shock us, scare us, show us your favorite scene from your favorite campfire story. (Please keep your entries PG-13. Also, keep in mind the rule about gross or bloody human parts. No one wants to be THAT scared. Fake doll blood would be okay, but keep in mind that covering your doll in ketsup/syrup/food coloring/what have you could potentially stain your doll! It's probably better to not do it.)

Round 2 -- Shapes: Shape is an important art element, and if you look hard enough, it's an important element in your every day life. You're going to have to think hard about it and make it a part of your photographs, too.

Round 3 -- Science: Come on, explosions, ice, and electricity? Science rules. Use this category to show off your doll's smarts. Or, her horrific genetic mutations, whichever.

Round 4 -- Solo: What, weren't you sick of About Me? This photo is showcasing what your doll does when she is alone. Good dolls sit and read, other dolls make trouble. IMPORTANT: For this round, you are permitted a maximum of ONE doll (your doll) in the photo and ONE mini doll (AG or equivalent). No one else! If your photo features more dolls then that, it will be REMOVED from the round!

Round 5 -- S'anything Goes: What? I had a theme.This is a picture of your choosing. You might opt to send a photo of your doll in a nice nature setting, or maybe doing something silly. Anything! The sky's the limit!

Of course, these are suggestions meant to get you thinking. You'll do much better if you come up with something wholly original. (Hint: If you work to be very, very original, your photo will stand out from everyone else's, making it easier for you to get votes.)

When is all of this due?

Our calendar:

YOUR ENTRY FORM IS DUE: June 10th

ROUND ONE ENTRIES ARE DUE: June 17th

ROUND TWO ENTRIES ARE DUE: June 24th

ROUND THREE ENTRIES ARE DUE: July 1st

ROUND FOUR ENTRIES ARE DUE: July 8th

ROUND FIVE ENTRIES ARE DUE: July 15th

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: July 22nd

Remember, you can send a photo in before the due date, but you can't send one in AFTER! All entries are due on their date at Midnight Eastern time!

If this is too much to remember, please mail Little Miss Playthings to be put on the Google Calendar. (You use Google Calendars, right?)

How do I enter?

You need to use the Entry Management Console to enter this year. Directions for using the system are here.

Hey, pay attention. Let me put this in big letters so you don't miss it.

If you don't have your entry form in by the due date, you don't get to play! Period!

If you're under eighteen and you don't have your parental permission in by the due date, you don't get to play! Period!

Don't mess around, kids! Get your stuff in!

Thank you very much for reading down this far!

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