Welcome to Court Records' Original Character contest, '08!

The original judge's scores have been added to the community votes, and our winners have been chosen!  Congratulations to them, and thanks to everyone who entered!  Unfortunately only our first place in each category will be receiving prizes (Flame, Yesi-chan, t3h waffleman, I'll need your addresses!), but you can still see the rest of the entries by clicking the links below.

We hope you enjoyed the contest.  See you same time next year!

 

Fanart Category Community Votes
Total votes 1,485

Sacra Larima (213) 14%
Sophia von Karma (198) 13%
Wayne A. Komplis (194) 13%
Dr. Noa Laht (184) 12%
Ivory Crafte (160) 11%
Tristan Adagian (110) 7%
Saori Shinjiro (93) 6%
Lance Galayton (81) 5%
Justine M. Craig (80) 5%
Isaac Mallard (42) 3%
Leon Lazard (35) 2%
Lt Warren Benny (33) 2%
Lager O'Doul (25) 2%
Beaura Strokes (22) 1%
Napoli Talzone (15) 1%

Sprite Category Community Votes
Total votes 1,533

Veronica Simil (342) 22%
Jamie Alohra (322) 21%
Axel Trugh (187) 12%
Ami Tajiri (167) 11%
Donna Cruz (112) 7%
Rose Avocat (93) 6%
Benny Lawrence Nool (80) 5%
Daniel Alexander Pierce (80) 5%
Wesley Burrows (52) 3%
Ada Salinger (44) 3%
Dera Deval (37) 2%
Milla Pe (17) 1%

Fanfic Category Community Votes
Total votes 895


Vincent Shore (214) 24%
Chef Cherry LaFlamme (186) 21%
Chancellor Moore (180) 20%
Xuan Wu Sinistral (165) 18%
Fantasma Goria (150) 17%

View the entries:

Fanart | Sprites | Fanfiction

The Ace Attorney series owes much of its success to its cast of colorful, unique characters.  But do YOU have what it takes to pit your own creativity against Takumi and his team?  Court Records wants to find out!

This contest was created to give everyone a chance to show off their Ace Attorney original characters, in the form of either a fanart, a fanfiction, or a custom made sprite.  Defense attorneys, prosecutors, witnesses--if you can sit him or her in a courtroom, it counts!  Show the fandom your unique perspective of the ever-growing AA universe.

The basic idea is, everyone can submit a small bio of an original PW character they have, with some kind of fanwork he or she appears in.  It can be a piece of a fanart, a fanfiction, or a custom sprite.  Please read EVERYTHING here to learn the rules and how to enter!

Rules

Deadline:

 

All entries must be received by midnight, June 1st (US Eastern Standard time).  The Judges will weed through the entries to make sure they all fit the requirements, and then open voting will begin June 7th and continue for the next 10 days.  If all goes smoothly, winners should be announced June 20th.
Eligibility:  Everyone is eligible.  Court Records does not discount anyone based on their age or location.  However, you MUST be willing to disclose your address to Croik in the event that you win.  (via secure email, of course).  Otherwise, how can I send you your prize?  Only the winners will be asked for this information.

If you have an original character but are not willing to accept a prize, this is not for you.  Please submit your original works to the Forum.

Requirements: The contest will be split into three divisions: Fanart, Fanfiction, and Sprites.  Entries in different divisions will not be judged against each other.  Each division has its own set of requirements, so make sure you read up (scroll to the bottom).
Restrictions: This is an Ace Attorney contest, and as such your character must somehow fit into the context of a court of law.  Examples: defense attorney, prosecutor, judge, detective, witness.  If the judges aren't convinced that your character has a close enough relationship to Ace Attorney (through playing one of the aforementioned roles or being somehow connected to a canon character) it may be disqualified.

You are not allowed to submit different incarnations of canon characters (if you had invented "Hobohodo" he would not be eligible).

Each participant is allowed ONE character entry.  If you submit a sprite, you cannot also submit a fanart.  Choose wisely!

If you are caught submitting an entry you did not create, or using a character you did not create (such as spriting a character from a different game) you will be disqualified and banned from all future CR contests.  We do not take plagiarism lightly.

Appropriateness: Because this contest will have open voting among fans, all entries should not feature any excessive violence, nudity, or graphic sexual content.  Keep it at a PG-13 rating or lower, please.

Judging

Judging will be handled in two ways: a panel of judges for each division, and also an open poll on the site.

Three judges will be chosen for each of the three divisions (thus, 9 judges).  As the entries come in, they will be passed between the judges (and myself) to make sure they fit the requirements of the contest.  I don't know how many entries we may get, but if necessary the judges will also select the top 10 to 13 entries that will be accepted as finalists for each division.

Once the finalists have been picked, a poll will be created on the site for everyone to vote on.  It will be open for roughly 10 days.

Once the popular votes have been tallied, the judges will cast their votes as well.  Each of the judge's votes will count for 5 regular votes.  The reason for this is to help counterbalance "friend-voting" in the open poll.

Unless something comes up, winners will be announced June 20th.

Entries will be judged on:

Originality.  Is the entry unique?
Continuity:  Does it seem like a character that could actually fit in the Ace Attorney universe?
Execution:  Is the work well made and technically impressive?

Remember that the AA universe is very diverse, but don't go overboard in the strange department.

Prizes

One grand prize winner from each category will receive a deck of Capcom's Gyakuten Saiban playing cards!  Runner up prize TBA.

Entering

Now that you've read the rules, here's how to enter:

Fill out the following application and submit it to courtrecord @ gmail dot com.  Make sure you have "Contest" as the first thing in the subject line, or I may shuffle it to the wrong place.

Entrant's Name:

Character's Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Brief Physical Description:
Brief Personality Description:
Connection to canon characters (if applicable):
Brief Background:

Be sure to provide enough detail that your voters will be able to get a good sense of what makes your character unique, especially the details that won't necessarily show in your work.  This contest is first and foremost about creating imaginative characters.

Attach your fanwork to your entry in your email.

Make sure you've read all the rules and division requirements before submitting your entry, or you may be disqualified and unable to re-submit!

Fanart

As I know how difficult it can be to show the full range of a character in just one piece of fanart, entrants to the fanart division are allowed to submit two separate pieces, if they wish.  Your fanart may be a simple character design or depict a scene.  It may have writing on it and feature other canon characters.  But YOUR character should be the focus.

Your fanart must be a polished work.  Any medium is fine, but do NOT submit a scan of a pencil drawing scribbled on line paper you did in your math class.

Your fanart may not depict graphic violence, nudity, or sexual content.  PG-13 is the rule of thumb.

Comics are not eligible.  Do not split your fanart into panels.

Fanfiction

Entrants to the fanfiction division are allowed to submit one piece.  It must be complete and it must be at least 1,000 words.  Multi-chapter stories are welcome, but do not use that as an excuse to slap two separate fics together.  Whether you add canon characters is up to you but it must be connected to the Ace Attorney universe to be eligible.

Make sure your story is properly formatted and has been proof-read before submitting it.

Your fanfiction may be of any genre as long as it does not depict graphic violence, nudity, or sexual content.  PG-13 is the rule of thumb.

Sprites

Entrants to the sprite division may submit one or all of the following:

A sprite sheet of their character
A single sprite placed on one of the game's backgrounds (text optional)
A single or collection of animated sprites

Sprites can be hand drawn or created using parts from existing sprites (please disclose which is the case in your entry).  However, if you choose to piece together existing sprites, you must use at least three different sprites to do so OR combine two sprites with some extra degree of editing (so that it looks enough like someone else).  Here's a handy chart to demonstrate:

Likewise, straight recolors are not acceptable.

If your sprite falls into the "C&P + Recolor" category, it is acceptable, but without some extra edits it stands a greater chance of being cut out of the finalists.  Of course, the skill of your C&P will also play a part (a very well done sprite made of only 2 characters will be placed higher than 5 characters slapped poorly together).

Do not try to piece together sprites and pass it off as being hand drawn.  I am VERY familiar with these sprites by now, and I will catch and disqualify you.

Your sprites may not depict graphic violence, nudity, or graphic sexual content.  PG-13 is the rule of thumb.

Sprite comics are not eligible.

Good luck everyone!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, direct them to courtrecord @ gmail dot com