Final Showdown Cancelled
Due to general lack of interest and low voter turnout the 2012 Made By Mac Contest is being cancelled. All contestants have been contacted and will be awarded a participation prize. If you are a contestant please check the email account that you used to submit your entry for further details.

We truly regret that we will not be able to continue the contest.

Will the contest be held next year (2013)? Thanks!

Well thats crappy...

Originally Posted by staceygab

Final Showdown Cancelled
Due to general lack of interest and low voter turnout the 2012 Made By Mac Contest is being cancelled. All contestants have been contacted and will be awarded a participation prize. If you are a contestant please check the email account that you used to submit your entry for further details.

We truly regret that we will not be able to continue the contest.

It's a shame the winner for the last two years didn't make another appearance.

I don't know if we will hold it next year. There are a lot of factors to consider. A big thing is the resources but the other is the negative feedback we were getting. Overall (there are definitely exceptions) People just don't seem to care about or like the contest.

I've gotten an incredible amount of email complaining of the format, the prizing structure, people accusing others of cheating, and those telling me that the rules as we have set them are "wrong" and that they should not have to comply with the rules.

As Ryan C says "It's crappy" to have to cancel but it costs a lot to rent the AV equipment, the student center space, audience prizes, judges gifts, contestant prizes and going forward with an event that is not effective is not the smart thing to do.

We realize that people are disappointed, understandably so, however our energy could be put towards different projects that will touch a wider audience.

So long story short... we probably won't be doing this event again.

Originally Posted by staceygab

I don't know if we will hold it next year. There are a lot of factors to consider. A big thing is the resources but the other is the negative feedback we were getting. Overall (there are definitely exceptions) People just don't seem to care about or like the contest.

I've gotten an incredible amount of email complaining of the format, the prizing structure, people accusing others of cheating, and those telling me that the rules as we have set them are "wrong" and that they should not have to comply with the rules.

As Ryan C says "It's crappy" to have to cancel but it costs a lot to rent the AV equipment, the student center space, audience prizes, judges gifts, contestant prizes and going forward with an event that is not effective is not the smart thing to do.

We realize that people are disappointed, understandably so, however our energy could be put towards different projects that will touch a wider audience.

So long story short... we probably won't be doing this event again.

You could considers people's opinions, the helpful ones and develop a better system for this contest. It's really great for creativity.

We definitely do consider people's opinions. Some great ideas were generated. Some things are definitively doable some things suggested were fantastic ideas but not possible. Not because they weren't good ideas but because when you aren't given the full information i.e. amount of staff, other competing projects and priority and budget etc. it is difficult to know what's possible.

We had many challenges with conflicting opinions on what is "fair" and while there is always room for improvement at a certain point someone won't like it. Ahhh... but that is life.

One thing we are considering changing the format to asking people to create something on a pre-determined theme. It may be helpful with weeding out copyright infringement. We are also hoping to partner with other groups or departments on campus.

While it is far too early to commit ourselves to one path or another we are open to all suggestions.

Its too bad the contest is being discontinued. I suggest starting a thread on MacInsiders and we can post ideas for a NEW contest for 2013. Might get some ideas for an even better contest

We would love that!! I've already had some great suggestions including using Facebook as the voting engine... allowing group entries to raise funds for charity... getting the Multimedia and/or Fine Art Department involved...

Please give us your ideas.

I liked the contest and as a digital artist I wanted to join in though for the past two years I've been reminded about the contest's existence like right before voting so I keep missing out on the time it'd take for me to slap something nice together.

Sad to see people don't want to show up for it though, might just be because it's still cold out. Having contestants get pledges for charity or having people vote by donating is an idea as well. Though overall it just needs more advertising/announcements so you get a bit of hype.

Definitively more advertising - our challenge is that we don't have the staffing to dedicate to this. If there was a club or a department we could team up with to share the workload we would have a much better chance at getting the word out.