It’s a Freakin’ Contest, Get Out Your Glue Sticks

Deus ex MacIntosh is on hiatus this week (send me questions!), just like real TV. Instead of using TV to solve your problems this week, we’re going to start a contest. 

I know many of you are in college/grad school, and you’ll have a little teeny bit of free time over the holidays, or at least would like an excuse to hide from your families for a few hours. Instead of getting yourselves involved in a planking gang or other such tomfoolery, we’d like you to get out your crafty supplies because it’s the first annual Persephone Magazine Reader Diorama Contest.

WTF is a Diorama, Selena?

A diorama is a miniaturized scene, frequently seen in elementary school classrooms and in the basements of history buffs.

The Theme

Pick any badass lady, real or fictional, and create a diorama around her life. BE CREATIVE. As always, I give bonus points for integrating unicorns, in or out of context.

The Rules

You can not spend more than $20 total on new materials for your diorama. Objects you already have are fine, and don’t count against your total.

Your diorama must be no larger than a typical man’s shoebox, and think sneakers, not boots.  (Let’s say 12″ long, 6″ tall, 8″ wide.  I’d convert it to metric for the International Persephoneers, but I’d probably do the math wrong. You’re better off doing the math yourselves, trust me.)

Send 5-10 pictures of your diorama to me (selena @ persephonemagazine.com) by January 10, 2012. Make sure to get it from all angles, and get some good detail shots. In your email, tell me your username here, and how much you spent.

You may use anything you want to create your masterpiece, as long as you stay within the budget.

The Winners

Depending on how many entries we get, we’ll award up to three prizes.

2nd Runner-Up – Wins a $10 iTunes or Amazon gift card, has diorama featured in an article right here on P-mag in January.

1st Runner-Up – Wins a $15 iTunes or Amazon gift card, also has diorama featured in an article.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER! – Wins $25 iTunes or Amazon gift card, also has diorama featured.

Participation prize – Everyone who enters will have the opportunity to display their diorama at Persephecon 2012.

Wait, what?

That’s right, my dearest and nearest, we’re throwing a little get together for all the Persephoneers this summer, in sunny Atlanta, Georgia. (Date is still undecided, but will either be the last weekend in June, or the first weekend after Independence Day in July.) More details will follow, along with LOTS of other fun activities to get us psyched. We’ve got a handful of techie Persephoneers and techie partners of Persephoneers who will be working behind the scenes to allow our friends who can’t be there in person to still be there in spirit, by which we mean Internet magic. It promises to be WAY m0re fun than anything Blogher has ever done, and with more unicorn. And dioramas.

Speaking of Dioramas

You can check out some neat diorama inspirations here, at Storm the Castle.

And here are some photos I borrowed from Google Image Search.

Ready, set, DIORAMA!