And the winner is ...
Za’Neria! with her lovingly crafted image of her Evil Sailor Moon costume.
Sadly, this contest was disrupted by the news that the New World development team was fired, so we dropped the ball on promoting it while we recovered from the shock. Luckily, we still received three high quality entries and it was a very difficult task judging the winner. Our judges (me and Landi) had to get out a spreadsheet and calculate how well each contestant met the criteria in the rules. In the end, there were only points between them!
Because we didn’t really get enough entries to run a People’s Choice prize this year, we split the prize money between our two runners up.
Za'neria
Evil Sailor Moon
We loved Za’naria’s excitement about this competition and the energy she brought to her entry. The addition of layers of detail to the original screenshot speaks to both her theme and her passion. The added elements are seamlessly integrated, and the costume draws creatively from New World skins to represent the Sailor Moon character. The Blood Moon is a clever touch. Well done!
First Prize: 50,000 gold
JSBU
Thor on Halloween night
This classic hammer pose is both familiar and masterfully pulled off by JSBU, who has used clever camera tricks to capture himself in action. This brings a huge energy to the image and we love the contrast between the golden lightning and the deep blues of the background. Our only criticism was the Nighthaven buildings were more vampiric and less Thor-related than we would have liked. The composition itself is fantastic and the colours of the costume and character styling are truly recognisable. Nice work.
Prize: 25,000 gold
ABYZZMOS
The Huntress
This image has a calmer vibe than the others and there is a wonderful cohesion between the character styling, choice of weapons, and location. The tall alpine trees and path before our subject speak of a journey through wild and untested lands, and a determination to seek out her goal. The only immersion breaking detail is the weight of her gloves, which look too heavy to use a bow with the deftness and ease we would expect of her. The fur detail and muted palette are on point and we love that you chose to show the back of the outfit, as that is the part you see when you play. Great job.
Prize: 25,000
