FLOAT Contests

Theme: “The Elegant Circus”

Design Medium: Any Medium is Welcome!

Can you believe it? Not only is our theme circus (or should we say cirque) this time around, but you can literally make ANYTHING YOU WANT for this challenge! And you can win free stuff in the process.

Here are the contest rules:

1. Anyone in the professional balloon world can enter this contest; unlike the FLOATEE Awards at the FLOAT Convention, there is no requirement of past involvement in FLOAT or FLOAT’s support events order to enter. However, sponsors and that were part of FLOAT 2024 are ineligible to enter, as well as anyone who served as an official member of the FLOAT 2024 crew. FLOAT faculty members ARE eligible to enter as long as they are not salaried employees of sponsors or vendors from FLOAT 2024.

2. There is no charge for anyone to enter this contest, but with that in mind, contestants are limited to ONE entry and one entry only. Anyone submitting multiple designs will be disqualified, so please put your focus into one piece.

3. While only one entry is permitted, contestants may submit as many as five (5) images of the same piece, in order to show different angles or aspects of the design.

4. All entries MUST be received by no later than November 29, 2024, in order to be eligible. However, there is no timeline requirement for the creation of your entry, so designs or creations that were made before November 1st, 2024, may be submitted without penalty.

5. Submitted entries should be free of any company branding on them, nor should they include any images of people who may be recognized by the judging panel. If an entrant wants only branded versions of their photos posted, they should consider sending two versions of the entry photos, one with branding that we may post and one without for the judging process.

6. Entries must be submitted to [email protected] on or before November 29th, 2024. FLOAT cannot and will not allow for any late entries, including for reasons such as internet outages, heavy work schedules, travel plans and the like. Clients don’t accept your decor the day after their event, do they? Neither do we…

7. Entries may not use any copyrighted or trademarked designs, concepts or images at all. This includes the use of licensed characters, corporation logos and in this case, collegiate or professional football teams, branding and the like that are not part of licensed products and such. The exception to this is the use of licensed products used in the design; because such permission is issued through the purchase of a licensed balloon or item, that would be allowed.

8. In this case and for the sake of this competition, you are eligible to create anything you like out of balloons, including but not limited to an arch, column, garland, wall, centerpiece, mosaic, twisted creation, sculpture, delivery piece, multi-media…literally any way to present balloons as long as balloons are a PRIMARY focus of the decor.

9. All entries must adhere to the design theme of “Elegant Circus.” Entries turned in that fail to follow the theme will be disqualified.

10. Please note that the focus of this contest is on the design of the balloons. While entrants may include supplemental props or other decor elements as accenting or part of the overall presentation of the design, the balloon elements are considered the most important part of the entry and that aspect is what will ultimately be judged.

11. There are no rules specific to this contest regarding how the decor is to be constructed.

12. Anyone submitting an entry in this contest agrees to allow FLOAT the right to add their information to our general email list as well as gives us permission to post photos of their work for marketing purposes.

13. Designs will be judged based on cleanliness, originality and overall composition. In this case with one prize eligible, FLOAT management will determine the top three (3) finalists. Then a panel of five (5) anonymous judges will determine which of the top three finalists is declared to be the winner.

14. Entries will only be judged on the quality of the work completed. Any supplemental content or “back stories” pertaining to the design where the design needs to be explained somehow will be disregarded for this contest.

15. One (1) prize will be awarded to the top finisher as explained in Rule 14, courtesy of Mayflower Distributing, a $100 credit for merchandise they offer through their company.

16. All prizes have been provided by Mayflower Distributing. No substitutions for prizes will be permitted, including cash options. FLOAT will not be held responsible for any issues between the winner of this challenge and Mayflower Distributing should any arise.

Any additional questions should be directed to [email protected].