Compete-tee-tion

Shirt.Woot‘s newest Derby is currently in session, soliciting entries based on the words that were candidates for Merriam-Webster’s 2007 Word of the Year. Woot and facebook entries will be rejected, but the rest of the list is fair game. The twist? Your shirt can’t have any text on it. Sounds like a nice challenge!

As always, voting is on-going so submit your entry as early as you can. The top three entries, as determined by voters, will be printed next weekend. Winners get up to $500 for the first day of sales and $2 per shirt sold on each day afterwards.

If you’ve submitted work to older Derbies, you might have regained the rights to sell your work outside of Woot (if it has been over 60 days since your submission). If you do this (maybe through CafePress, Bountee, or Spreadshirt) make sure you get your store listed on the Woot fan site Best Losers: in addition to making it easier for customers to find your shirt, you could win an Olive Garden gift certificate if you are the 100th uploader!

Also take a look at ShirtDerbyStats for comments on individual entries and vote estimates for fogged entries. Half the fun of the Derby is interacting with the Woot community!

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Shirt.Woot‘s newest Derby theme is Winter. It’s a nice, general theme, but with a few restrictions- no winter holidays allowed. Also, no text of any kind.

As usual, the Derby fun starts on Friday at noon when Woot opens up the Derby to new submissions. Voting begins at the same time, continuing until Thursday at noon. The top three vote-getting entries will be printed next weekend, earning their designers up to $500 for the first day of sales and $2 per sale for each shirt sold after that.

For a fuller Derby experience, point your browser towards Best Losers (which includes awards for the best unsung Derby designs) and ShirtDerbyStats (for comments on individual shirt designs and vote total estimates for the Fog).

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Shirt.Woot has just announced the theme of their 20th Derby: “Create Your Own Holiday.” Here’s the full description:

“We think the various multicultural wintertime celebrations are just swell, but the question is: do they go far enough? If each culture can have its own significant December occasion, why not each individual? This week, create a t-shirt memento of your own personal holiday. It’s like Festivus, but do not make a Festivus shirt. We can’t stress that enough: NO FESTIVUS.”

I think its safe to say that all holidays from pop culture or reality would also be risking rejection. To stay safe, stick with your own ideas.

You can start submitting at noon on Friday. Voting is continuous until next Thursday at noon, so get your entry in early for your best shot at a win. The three shirts with the highest vote totals will be printed next weekend, and each designer will receive up to $500 for the first day and $2 per shirt sold afterward. Experienced designers can also submit shirt designs of any theme directly to Woot, for the same compensation as Derby winners.

Part of the fun of the Derby is the community interaction. After you check the Derby forum, read an interview with Arrgyle designer Rob Glenn (winner of Derby #18) at Best Losers and compare vote totals and comments with other entrants at ShirtDerbyStats.

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Shirt.Woot has announced the theme for this week’s Derby: Travel. They’re looking for shirt designs that visually express the concept of travel, duh. Things to avoid: time travel, maps, and any other major visual elements that have been past Derby themes (for a complete list of Derby themes, look here).

Submissions will be accepted into the contest beginning at noon on Friday. As voting is continuous, early entries often have an advantage. Submissions are over at noon on Wednesday, and voting ends on Thursday at noon. The top three entries, as voted upon by Woot members, will be printed the following weekend. Each printed artist will receive up to $500 for the first day of sales and $2 per shirt sold after the first day. If you’re wondering what types of designs do well in the Derby, check out this week’s top four entries.

If themes aren’t your thing, consider submitting directly to Woot. You’ll get paid the same as a Derby artist, but you’ll have the advantage of avoiding all the voting madness.

Part of the fun of the Derby is interacting with the Woot community. In addition to the Derby forum, Woot members also populate Derby supporting sites like Best Losers and ShirtDerbyStats.

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This week, I’m going to post the contest blurb from Shirt.Woot in its entirety. This is not exclusively due to laziness (although of course that is always a factor), but the theme is a wee bit complicated and I want to be sure that I’m not misrepresenting things.

Technically, we’re all consumers, since we all eat and most of us wear clothes. But consumerism is something more than acquiring basic needs – it’s the creation of new “needs”, the search for personal identity in mass-market products, the perception of value in labels and brands. Is consumerism just an extension of the way people have been buying and selling since the dawn of time, or a modern contrivance whose power is not to be trusted? As you can imagine, we know a thing or two about selling people stuff they don’t strictly need. Now we want to see (and wear) your graphic commentary on the idea of consumerism.

And since you children keep abusing your toys, we’re taking them away: no pirates, zombies, ninjas, monkeys, apes, squids, or robots this week. This contest is not about who can come up with the sneakiest way to shoehorn one of those memes into the weekly theme. So we’re putting them up in the cupboard where you can’t reach them. You can have them back later, if you can be good. Attempts to get cute with the terms above (“but this a corsair, not a pirate!”) will count as “not being good”.

I’m liking the restrictions this week, I hope it will lead to a rush of creativity in the entries. Should be a fun week…

Entries can be submitted starting Friday at noon and continuing until Wednesday at noon. Remember, though, that voting is on-going- this means that early entries often have more favorable odds for winning. The top three designs, as voted on by Woot members, will be printed next weekend. Each winner will earn up to $500 for the first night of sales, and an additional $2 per shirt for sales made after the first day. If this theme isn’t your thing, consider submitting your work directly to Woot. If selected, you’ll be paid in the same manner as Derby winners.

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I forgot to mention the Shirt.Woot Derby when it opened to submissions this Friday (blame the release of Call of Duty 4, it ate most of my week). The theme is Information Graphics, and it has caused a lot of confusion and plagiarized concepts so far this week… as well as the occasional gem.

As always, the top three designs (as voted for by the Woot community) will be printed next weekend, with the printed designers earning up to $500 plus $2 for every shirt sold after the first day of sales.

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Shirt.Woot has announced the newest Derby theme: Time Travel Souvenirs. There are a few restrictions this time as well: 1) No designs may use the phrase “all I got was this lousy t-shirt” or anything similar, and 2) Stay far, far away from copyrighted imagery and concepts. Other than that, all of time is at your command- designs dealing with both the past and the future are encouraged.

As always, submissions and voting will open at noon on Friday. There is a definite advantage to submitting early, so keep that in mind. The top three entries will be printed next weekend, and each winner will receive up to $500 for the first night of sales plus $2 per shirt sold after the first day. If this theme isn’t to your liking and you can set up a print-ready design file, submit a design of any theme directly to Woot (pay is the same as for Derby winners).

Supplement the Derby fun with websites that support the Derby community: check Best Losers for news about non-winning shirts, or check ShirtDerbyStats and ShirtStats for the most up-to-date statistics on all the entries (including fogged designs).

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