FLOAT Contests

Theme: “Outer Space”

Design Medium: Balloon Column

This month, go cosmic with this design contest! Prove that your talents are “out of the world” with the October Frequent FLOATEE Contest and you could take home free balloons!

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 October 25, 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 October 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 October 25th, 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.

7a. As an expansion on this rule, this means that parodies or reproductions of themes from protected properties such as but not exclusive to Star Wars, Star Trek, Toy Story/Lightyear, Guardians of the Galaxy, Men in Black, Aliens, Predator and more are not permitted in this concept, beyond the use of licensed balloons that you purchased.

7b. With regard to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) you are allowed to reproduce space craft and those types of elements (lunar modules, the Space Shuttle, etc) but you are not allowed to replicate logos involved, even with expressed permission from NASA, in this contest.

8. In this case and for the sake of this competition, a “column” is defined as a balloon installation or creation that focuses on a vertical accentuation and uses an internal structure to hold the balloons in place. Helium-based designs or columns reliant on helium to hold them up are not eligible for this competition. The competition director may request additional documentation to prove that the submission entered is in fact a balloon wall.

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

9a. Again, please refer to Rules 7, 7a and 7b pertaining to the use of licensed intellectual property for this contest.

10. Please note that the focus of this contest is on the design of the column. While entrants may include supplemental balloon work as accenting or part of the overall presentation of the design, the column element is 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 column is to be constructed, other than the helium restriction as mentioned in Rule 8. The entry needs to be viewed as one solid piece and not something in segments in it’s final presentation.

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 Havin’ a Party, a $100 credit with Havin’ a Party for merchandise they offer through their company.

16. All prizes have been provided by Havin’ a Party. 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 Havin’ a Party should any arise.

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