So many contests, so little time. Yet, which one is right for you? That's one of the harder things to figure out. There are a total of 21 different contests in Neopia. Some of them for writing, some for drawing, and some are totally random.

Writing Contests

The Neopian Times
There are four ways to get into the Times:
Articles
Articles need to be 1,000-50,000 words in length and Neopets related. Anything will do, guides, quizzes, rants, and tips are just some of them.
Comics
Comics must be ORIGINAL and need to be in GIF or JPG format. 200 KB is the max file size, and 470 pixels is the max width.
Series
A series can have up to 12 parts, but it is asked to keep it in the 6-8 range. Each part must be 1,500-50,000 words in length.
Short story
Short stories need to be about something (anything!) in Neopia, from pets to items to petpets, anything will do. They need to be 1,200-4,000 words in length.
No matter what you try, getting into the Times is very hard (believe me, I know). The best thing to do is read a few issues of the Times before you start to see what TNT likes best. You get a trophy for each thing, and an avatar when you get ten things in.

Caption Contest
This contest is announced twice a week on the news page. Simply think up a funny caption for the picture, type it in the box and hit submit! You get 5,000-10,000NP and a rare item if you win or get in, depending on the number of votes you get. You also get a trophy.

Story Telling Contest
Every week on the news page a new story telling contest is announced. Read what there is so far and enter a few more paragraphs to add to the story in the box at the bottom of the page. Stay on topic and keep it interesting. You get 2,000NP and a rare item if you get in.

Poetry Contest
To enter, simply write a Neopets related poem and send it to TNT via the provided submition form. It might take a while for them to get back to you. If they take more than a week, re-submit. You get 1,000NP and a rare item if you get in.

Mystery Picture
Every week on the news page, a new contest is announced, and sometimes extended if no one got it right. Simply look at the pixilated picture and try to guess what it is. The first 250 winners get the specified item at the top of the page and all of the winners split the 2 million NP pool.

Art Contests

Beauty Contest
This is another weekly contest. To get in, draw a picture of your pet and enter it under that pet's species. An eight line or less "speech" is also required. Once it has been deemed appropriate, the picture will be put up for users to vote on. Most votes for species and overall win. Since April 2008, you can't win prizes from the Beauty Contest anymore. Your pet will still be awarded a trophy if you make it to the first, second or third position overall or within your pet species.

Art Gallery
Draw a picture and submit it. The picture can be of anything, and often it's best to draw one of a pet for an upcoming pet day, or something for a coming event, like Sloth Day. If sites have unrelased news for an upcoming Random Theme day, then those also have a high change of getting in. You get 10,000NP and a rare item and a trophy if you get in.

Game-based Contests

Neoadventure Spotlight
For this spotlight, start off making a Neopian Adventure (duh) at the Neopian Adventure Generator and submitting it. You must include a paragraph describing your neoadventure. You get 10,000NP and a trophy for winning.
Faerie Cave of the week and Pirate Cave of the week work in the same manner.

Better Than You
Each week a new contestant is chosen and has a high score set on a cirtan game. If you get a higher score than tham on that game, you get a trophy and NP (gold and 20 for being one of the first 10, silver and 10k for 11th to 50th, and bronze and 3k for 51st to 500th) and a desginated item. Plus whatever NP you get from submiting your score. The score you submit must be one of the three that you get NP for. It will not count if you send it after that. The number of people who have beaten the current challenger so far is on a ticker at the top of the BTY pages. It moves fast.

Spotlights

Pet Spotlight
To make the pet spotlight, you need a drawing (by you) of your pet, (all images need to be in GIF or JPG format for further reference) and a story about them (no specifics are given, I'd say try for 500+ words). Your pet also gets a trophy for winning.

Site Spotlight
For the site spotlight, you need to design your pet page in a neat fashion (HTML knowledge required for coding) with a story about your pet or info on a type of item, like ice cream. You get a trophy for winning.

Petpet Spotlight
This is just like the pet spotlight, only for petpets. There is a trophy that will be added to your pet's cabinet for winning.

Neohome Spotlight
For starters, get a neohome and decorate it, having a theme helps. When you're done, submit it with a description of your neohome and an optional picture. You get a trophy for winning.

Gallery Spotlight
For this, you need a gallery and a theme to it, be it a color, a pet species, or petpet species, anything will do. Try something unique, plushie galleries won't win unless their really something. This takes a LOT of NP, so be ready to spend. You get 10,000NP and a trophy for winning.

User Lookup Spotlight
This spotlight requires a lookup MADE BY YOU. No pre-made. It can be on anything as long as it's appropriate and has a Neopian theme. HTML knowledge required for coding. You get a trophy for winning.

Customisation Spotlight
Every Monday a new round of this Spotlight starts and you can rate entered pets on a scale of 1 to 10. There is a section for pets with NC Mall items, and a section for one without, even though they're not separated in the voting area. You can enter however many of your pets as you wish, and as the only prize is a trophy on you're pet's lookup, you can enter pets on side accounts too.

Misc Contests

Lenny Conundrum
This contest is weekly and announced on the news page. It's a puzzle of some sort, and can be a math problem, a logic problem, or many other things. The first 250 people to guess right get a trophy and a specified item, and all of the winners split the 2 million NP pool.

Book Award
This contest is based on how many books your pet has read. The current number to get on the list is 1359, and you need 1593 to get a trophy.* If you get first, second or third (that would be in the top 17) you get a trophy.
Note: Books from the Booktastic Book store count as another contest. Books from Faerieland, Neopia Central, and all other places count for the regular Book Award.

PPL
PPL stands for the Petpet Protection League. Every week a petpet (color and species) is chosen at random, and people with that petpet get 10NP for each day it's been attached. There no way to try and win this. The best way to up your chances is to have a different petpet on each of your pets.

Gourmet Club
This club requires your pet to eat rarity 90 or higher foods. Currently you need to eat 447 to get on the list, and 686 to get in the top 17 and get a trophy.* Only FOOD items count. No rare furniture or such that a Grarrl or Skeith can eat will count.

Random Contest
The random contest can be ANYTHING, although most of the time it is to be done off the computer. Everything you need to know for that week is on the page. You need a picture and a description to enter. You get an avatar, an item (unspecified) and NP (unspecified) for winning.

Neovision
All of the specifics are listed on the submission page. Remember that you can't show any real people (accept for your hands) and you can record this, animate it in any program, or make it in Flash. Any music or lines need to be written by you, and played/sung by you. Unless of course it's something that Neopet's owns. Then you can use it all you want. You get a trophy for winning.
Sometimes there will be Neovision contests with a specific theme. There will be judged and have a first, second, and third place winner that get NP and a special trophy. The submission form for these contests are linked off of the main one.

*These numbers are as of Dec. 27, 2007. Please check the listing for the current numbers

This Neopets help article was written for The Daily Neopets by staff member animetriplicate.
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