What's up, my birds, Tiago here, and I'm here with an exciting announcement for everyone!

(Warning: Long post! Make sure you have time to read it all! I will be editing this thread to trim it down as much as possible!)

Now, as some of you may know, we recently had a contest in April to celebrate Rio 2's first anniversary, but despite the creator's good intentions and best efforts, things were a bit... flawed. Due to the unsatisfactory results and the misfortune that some of our fellow members couldn't even compete, I've decided to cook up a new competition!

Introducing: The 2015 Rio "Birds of a Feather" Contest!

So, how will this contest work? Well, we're actually going to try something I don't think has ever been done on this wiki before: a multi-division contest! You see, many of the issues with our recent April contest revolved around the fact that many of our members don't have the same skills or resources others do. I don't know how to use photo-editing programs, and my manual drawing skills aren't too great either. I thought a writing contest might be easier, but I realize some of our most brilliant artists might not be able to write half as well.

Therefore, in order to help make things more fair, this contest is specifically tailored so that pretty much anyone who wants to can compete!

First, there will be two divisions: Writing and Visual. Each of these divisions will also have two equally honorable tiers. The links will appear here when the contest is ready.

[Link not ready]
[Link not ready]

Here's the outline and instructions. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visual Division
Tier 1: Creative

So, this first tier will be a good old fashioned fanart contest! I will be posting a short Rio story in the above thread. It could be anything Rio-related, and I'm not going to give hints! I want to truly test your wit by keeping everyone in the dark and unprepared until the thread is up, so as to challenge your creativity. Your goal is simple: carefully read the story, and draw ONE, ORIGINAL piece of fanart as a visual for the story. Manual or digitally edited is up to you, but it must be reasonably originial.

Tier 2: Imaginative

A picture can tell a thousand words, and vice versa! Just because you can't draw doesn't mean you're not artistic! Your task is to read the Tier 1 story, and find one UNORIGINAL image on the Internet and post it with a description of why you think this image fits the story well! Allow me to clarify. You have to use an image that was NOT drawn by a fan or edited by a fan. It must be an official RIO image, from the movies, books, promotions, etc. Use your imagination to describe why this image fits the story I made well. It takes a strong mind to take an image of one thing, and interpret it as something else! If the story involves Blu and Jewel, don't just post the first photo you can find of them kissing! If it involves Nico and Pedro, don't just post a photo of them dancing at the samba club!

Writing Division
Tier 1: Visionary

Now, let us see who can master the pen! For this tier, we will be reversing things. This time, I will post one image to the thread. It could original, it could be unoriginal. Your goal will be to write a story based on that one Rio image!. Your fanfiction must, of course, be Rio-related. It can be as long as you want, but a paragraph might not be enough, and a novel might be too much! :P. This story MUST be original, made by you! If you want to post this story to Fanfiction, DeviantArt, Tumblr, etc., feel free, but your story MUST be submitted to the thread to be considered!

Tier 2: Unbound Shakespeare once said brevity is the soul of the wit. So for this contest, we will be following the great poet's example. Your task is to view the same image as tier 1, and write a ONE-SENTENCE description, no bigger than than 50 words (numbers, spaces, commas, etc. do not count as words). Even if your not the best author in the world, you can still be a master of the word. Show me how you can condese meaning. I want to see a sentence that is so small, but so powerful, meaningful, emotional! Prove your talent! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Meu Deus, this is taking forever to write.

So, that's the outline of things. Here's a few more notes:

1. You can participate in multiple or ALL divisons! 2. As host and judge, I will not be competing. 3. You can use the image in the Writing division for the Imaginative tier, but remember, message is important! 4. You cannot, however, use the stories in the Visual division for the written division. Remember, except for the Imaginative tier, you must be ORIGINAL.

Are you excited? Do you have any further questions? Tell me down below!

PS. If you have advice on how to trim this post, let me know! :P