Albus Dumbledore, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Fred & George Weasley are the remaining players in this, the final Challenge of the first Round! The deadline is Wednesday May 14 at 15:00 EDT (20:00 BST) & there are three themes, each demanding at one icon.

Submit to this screened post!

Albus Dumbledore, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Fred & George Weasley are the remaining players in this, the final Challenge of the first Round! The deadline is Wednesday May 14 at 15:00 EDT (20:00 BST) & there are three themes, each demanding at one icon.

Submit to this screened post!

ROUND #001 CHALLENGE #09

Right, we're down to three challengers, and that means... the grande finale!

( Click for the themes )

Please note;

• You may only submit an icon for Challenge #08 if you survived Challenge #07. Those players left are: Albus Dumbledore, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Fred & George Weasley.

• You may submit one (1) icon per theme, that is a total of three (3) icons in total from the themes provided in this post. You will use your own image to make your icon, aside from the third theme. You can also use stock images, brushes, and textures. Please be sure your icon contains all necessary details for the challenge.

• Your icon must conform to LiveJournal standards; 100x100 and 40 kb or less.

• Do not promote your icon, and do not post, display, or otherwise use your icon anywhere on the Internet until after this Round is over and the results have been posted, or you will be disqualified from the round. This includes telling your friends about your icon. You may not reveal your character at any point until the Round is over.

• You cannot use a skip for this challenge. If you do not submit your icon by the deadline, you will be disqualified from the round.

• To submit, reply normally to this screened post with the image and URL of your icon, as well as your name and House if you are a sorted member of hogwartsishome. If for any reason you need to resubmit, please delete your prior submission comment before posting a new one. You may resubmit as many times as you'd like until the deadline.

• The deadline for this challenge is Wednesday May 14 at 15:00 EDT (20:00 BST). If we get everyone's submissions and/or bye confirmations before the deadline, we will post voting early.

Good luck!

Here are the results for Round #001 Challenge #08!

( Challenge #001;08 Eliminations )


( Challenge #001;08 People's Choice )


( Challenge #001;08 Results Tally )

If you would like to know the critiques your icon received, respond to this post with your icon number and one of us will reply to your comment with the critiques, both positive and negative. Comments with critiques will be screened so that no one will be able to see them, but they will be emailed to you as a LJ comment reply from us. If you are not e-mailed your critiques, please let us know and we will e-mail them to you directly. All critiques will remain strictly anonymous. Please do not ask to know who voted for your icon, because we will not tell you. Please note that some of the critiques are harsh, so do not ask for your critiques if you will not be able to handle it.

Due to the nature of this icontest, all comments to this post will be screened and will stay screened.

There are 3 icon makers remaining in Round #001. Only the icon makers that survived Challenge #08 may submit an icon for Challenge #09, the FINAL CHALLENGE.

Thank you everyone for your participation and effort!

Please do not forget to cast your vote for Challenge #08! We need every vote we can get to make this as fair as possible. You need not be a contestant in the round in order to vote! If you are a contestant, however, it would be best if you do vote in this challenge. Voting is frequently extremely close, and your vote may help prevent your own icon from being eliminated!

Please remember to carefully and objectively consider all of the icons before making your choices. Also, please make your critiques as detailed as possible. Critiques are, ideally, to help icon makers improve. The more detailed you are in your critiques, the more helpful you are. If your critiques are not detailed enough, we will inform you. If you do not correct them, your vote will not be counted and you will not receive points. Please read the voting tutorial if you need assistance forming proper critiques.

You can find the icons and voting guidelines here.

The voting post will close at 5:00 PM EDT (22:00 BST) tomorrow, Friday April 25. Results will go up as soon as possible after that.

Thank you!

Voting has begun for Round #001; Challenge #08! We have 5 icons out of a potential 6.

Skips used; N/A
Disqualified; Voldemort
Withdrawn; N/A


• You must vote for 2 icons of the least quality for elimination (2 icons will be eliminated), and for 1 icon that are your favorite. Please evaluate the elimination icons based on overall technique and aesthetic quality, not personal preference (such as favorite color, or the icon maker you think made the icon). We reserve the right to void any vote we feel is unfair or petty. You do not have to give a reason for your favorite icon choice (though it is encouraged), but you must give reasons for your elimination icons.

• We encourage you to be as detailed as possible in your icon elimination critiques. Many participants here are looking to improve, and since we will allow participants to see their comments once results are posted, your opinion will help any aspiring icon maker. All votes are screened, so please be as honest and objective as possible. No icon maker will ever know who voted for or against them, and all icon critiques will remain completely anonymous.

• Do not vote for your own icon, do not feel obligated to vote for your friends' icons, and do not get your friends to vote for you. Do not vote in a strategic manner. Keep things as objective as possible. Please look very carefully at each icon while you are voting, and please double-check your votes to make sure you've used the correct numbers in your voting comment. Votes are not weighted, so order does not matter. We prefer votes in numerical order, however, for our sanity in counting them.

• Here is an example vote for you to follow (2 least quality, 1 favorite);

   Least quality;
   #109 - Overcontrasted and so oversharpened that the image is badly pixelated.
   #110 - The negative space is distracting rather than drawing the eye to the subject.
   Favorites;
   #111 - The cropping and coloring are beautiful.

   Please be considerably more detailed than this, however. You must write at least two lines for each comment in order for your vote to be considered. Your comments for negative votes must constructive and non-insulting, and remember that negative votes are NOT to be based on personal preference; please do not use 'I' or 'me' in your negative critiques. If you need additional assistance with voting, please see this comprehensive voting tutorial. Please note that if we ask you to revise your vote and you do not, your votes will not be counted and you will not receive points for voting.

   If you would like, you may use the following code for your comment.

   <b>LEAST QUALITY;</b> <b>#00</b> - reason <b>#00</b> - reason <b>FAVORITES;</b> <b>#00</b> - reason Name//House

• ANYONE MAY VOTE. You do not have to be a contestant to vote! We encourage as many people to vote as possible so that the results are as fair as possible. Every vote is extremely important, as a single vote could decide results. Your vote against another icon could even save your own from getting eliminated, as the tallies are often that close.

• Voting for Challenge #08 will end Friday, April 25 at 5:00 PM EDT (22:00 BST).


( Icons under the cut. )


If you have any questions, you may ask them here.

Good luck to the participants!

So far we have 4 out of 6 icons for this week's theme: Law & Order.

There is just over 24 hours for icons from Fleur Delacour & Voldemort. Will they be peace-makers, or law breakers?

Submit to THIS screened post!

ROUND #001 CHALLENGE #08

( Click for the theme )

Please note;

• You may only submit an icon for Challenge #08 if you survived Challenge #07. Those players left are: Fleur Delacour, Albus Dumbledore, Bellatrix Lestrange, Severus Snape, Voldemort, and Fred & George Weasley.

• You may submit one (1) icon using the theme provided in this post. You will use your own image to make your icon. You can also use stock images, brushes, and textures. Please be sure your icon contains all necessary details for the challenge.

• Your icon must conform to LiveJournal standards; 100x100 and 40 kb or less.

• Do not promote your icon, and do not post, display, or otherwise use your icon anywhere on the Internet until after this Round is over and the results have been posted, or you will be disqualified from the round. This includes telling your friends about your icon. You may not reveal your character at any point until the Round is over.

• You cannot use a skip for this challenge. If you do not submit your icon by the deadline, you will be disqualified from the round.

• To submit, reply normally to this screened post with the image and URL of your icon, as well as your name and House if you are a sorted member of hogwartsishome. If for any reason you need to resubmit, please delete your prior submission comment before posting a new one. You may resubmit as many times as you'd like until the deadline.

• The deadline for this challenge is Wednesday April 23 at 15:00 EDT (20:00 BST). If we get everyone's submissions and/or bye confirmations before the deadline, we will post voting early.

Good luck!

Here are the results for Round #001 Challenge #07!

( Challenge #001;07 Eliminations )


( Challenge #001;07 People's Choice )


( Challenge #001;07 Results Tally )

If you would like to know the critiques your icon received, respond to this post with your icon number and one of us will reply to your comment with the critiques, both positive and negative. Comments with critiques will be screened so that no one will be able to see them, but they will be emailed to you as a LJ comment reply from us. If you are not e-mailed your critiques, please let us know and we will e-mail them to you directly. All critiques will remain strictly anonymous. Please do not ask to know who voted for your icon, because we will not tell you. Please note that some of the critiques are harsh, so do not ask for your critiques if you will not be able to handle it.

Due to the nature of this icontest, all comments to this post will be screened and will stay screened.

There are 6 icon makers remaining in Round #001. Only the icon makers that survived Challenge #07 may submit an icon for Challenge #08.

Thank you everyone for your participation and effort!

Please do not forget to cast your vote for Challenge #07! We need every vote we can get to make this as fair as possible. You need not be a contestant in the round in order to vote! If you are a contestant, however, it would be best if you do vote in this challenge. Voting is frequently extremely close, and your vote may help prevent your own icon from being eliminated!

Please remember to carefully and objectively consider all of the icons before making your choices. Also, please make your critiques as detailed as possible. Critiques are, ideally, to help icon makers improve. The more detailed you are in your critiques, the more helpful you are. If your critiques are not detailed enough, we will inform you. If you do not correct them, your vote will not be counted and you will not receive points. Please read the voting tutorial if you need assistance forming proper critiques.

You can find the icons and voting guidelines here.

The voting post will close at 7:00 PM EDT (22:00 BST) tomorrow, Friday April 18. Results will go up as soon as possible after that.

Thank you!

Voting has begun for Round #001; Challenge #07! We have 8 icons out of a potential 14.

Skips used; N/A
Disqualified; Cedric Diggory, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Tom Riddle, Dolores Umbridge
Withdrawn; Sirius Black


• You must vote for 4 icons of the least quality for elimination (2 icons will be eliminated), and for 2 icons that are your favorites. Please evaluate the elimination icons based on overall technique and aesthetic quality, not personal preference (such as favorite color, or the icon maker you think made the icon). We reserve the right to void any vote we feel is unfair or petty. You do not have to give a reason for your favorite icon choices (though it is encouraged), but you must give reasons for your elimination icons.

• We encourage you to be as detailed as possible in your icon elimination critiques. Many participants here are looking to improve, and since we will allow participants to see their comments once results are posted, your opinion will help any aspiring icon maker. All votes are screened, so please be as honest and objective as possible. No icon maker will ever know who voted for or against them, and all icon critiques will remain completely anonymous.

• Do not vote for your own icon, do not feel obligated to vote for your friends' icons, and do not get your friends to vote for you. Do not vote in a strategic manner. Keep things as objective as possible. Please look very carefully at each icon while you are voting, and please double-check your votes to make sure you've used the correct numbers in your voting comment. Votes are not weighted, so order does not matter. We prefer votes in numerical order, however, for our sanity in counting them.

• Here is an example vote for you to follow (4 least quality, 2 favorites);

   Least quality;
   #107 - Good concept, but poor execution; the icon looks sloppy.
   #108 - The texture is trying to take over the icon rather than adding to it.
   #109 - Overcontrasted and so oversharpened that the image is badly pixelated.
   #110 - The negative space is distracting rather than drawing the eye to the subject.
   Favorites;
   #111 - The cropping and coloring are beautiful.
   #112 - Good use of space and text.

   Please be considerably more detailed than this, however. You must write at least two lines for each comment in order for your vote to be considered. Your comments for negative votes must constructive and non-insulting, and remember that negative votes are NOT to be based on personal preference; please do not use 'I' or 'me' in your negative critiques. If you need additional assistance with voting, please see this comprehensive voting tutorial. Please note that if we ask you to revise your vote and you do not, your votes will not be counted and you will not receive points for voting.

   If you would like, you may use the following code for your comment.

   <b>LEAST QUALITY;</b> <b>#00</b> - reason <b>#00</b> - reason <b>#00</b> - reason <b>#00</b> - reason <b>FAVORITES;</b> <b>#00</b> - reason <b>#00</b> - reason Name//House

• ANYONE MAY VOTE. You do not have to be a contestant to vote! We encourage as many people to vote as possible so that the results are as fair as possible. Every vote is extremely important, as a single vote could decide results. Your vote against another icon could even save your own from getting eliminated, as the tallies are often that close.

• Voting for Challenge #07 will end Friday, April 18 at 7:00 PM EDT (22:00 BST).


( Icons under the cut. )


If you have any questions, you may ask them here.

Good luck to the participants!

Since today has been a ridiculously long day for me and I'm not going to be able to put up the voting until 6 PM, therefore...

I AM EXTENDING THIS DEADLINE UNTIL 6 PM EDT (11 PM GMT) TONIGHT.

THERE ARE A TON OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT YET SUBMITTED ICONS.

IF YOU DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR ICON TO THIS THEME YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED FROM THE ROUND. THAT WOULD BE BAD. OKAY??

THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE NEED TO SUBMIT:

Black, Sirius
Diggory, Cedric
Dumbledore, Albus
Granger, Hermione
Malfoy, Lucius
Potter, Harry
Riddle, Tom
Umbridge, Dolores

SO SUBMIT YOUR MONOCHROME ICON TO THIS LINKED POST BY 6 PM EDT!

THANK YOU!!!!