Howdy all ranchers,
We're having a tough time picking out the cover person for the next Head First book (Head First Design
Patterns) which is coming out in late October. So... we thought we'd have a contest and let the javaranchers do it!
Everyone who submits an entry "essay" will be entered in a drawing... we'll give away a total of FOUR copies of the book. We'll give another copy to the person who submits the one WINNING entry. You can submit more than one essay, and we encourage you to also comment on other essays. Who knows, your comments may help influence the final decision... but if you do not submit the "winning" essay, you'll be entered only once in the drawing regardless of how many posts you submit. But each of your official essays has a chance to be the real WINNER.
(And we've been known to give *extra* awards sometimes to people who surprise us
)
The contest ends on Thursday, September 9th at midnight javaranch (US Mountain Time).
Here are the content details:
1) In a separate topic in this forum, I'll post a message that has all 16 possible pictures on it. Warning, if you're on a high-speed connection, it'll come up immediately. If you are on dial-up, this could be a little slow.
Cover People Possibilities 2) In a third topic called "You Choose the Head First Cover", you submit your essays and you can comment on other essays.
Essay Thread 3) You may submit more than one essay, and all of your submissions have a chance to be the final WINNER, but you will get only one entry in the drawing regardless of how many posts you make.
3) An "essay" is your message telling us WHO you think should be on the cover (from the choices provided) and more importantly, WHY. We aren't judging you on your writing skills
... we're just trying to see who can come up with a good reason why that person should be the cover. Your reason can be funny, ridiculous, serious, emotional, factual, whatever... just try to convince us why THAT person belongs on the cover. You might come up with a story about who that person is. Or you might decide that one person will be more popular or look better on shelves. Or you might decide that one person will look better on the cover when you're at work, so your boss won't think you're just having FUN. Be creative.
You are free to submit an essay on the same person that someone else has already written about. We will pick the one essay that does the best job of convincing us (although *best* might mean "most entertaining").
4) The judges are the four Head First Design Patterns authors, Beth Freeman, Eric Freeman, Kathy Sierra (me) and Bert Bates, although if we have trouble choosing, we may ask some of the javaranch bartenders and sheriffs for help. Bartenders and sheriffs are DEFINITELY eligible as well!
We'll pick the essay we like best, and the winner will get his/her name credited in the book, as well as a copy.
Everyone else will get their name entered in a drawing for one of the other four copies.
So... your next step is to go look at the actual photo possibilities, then write an *official* essay in the You Choose the Head First Cover"
thread.
Thanks!!
[ September 03, 2004: Message edited by: Kathy Sierra ]
