Gandalf the Grey from The Hobbit by DebraTZ

Thanks to everyone who joined in on our SECOND annual AllHallowsThing contest! Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I love getting to see your creativity shine. If you’d like to take a look at all our submissions this year, you can find them in the AllHallowsThing2014 tag gallery. The LT staff judges have spoken, and, without further ado, I am proud to present our winners:

Costumes

Grand Prize

I love all the detail and effort that went into this Gandalf costume. It’s both adorable and impressive, complete with robes, hat, satchel, staff, and let’s not forget the beard. You can see another snapshot of it here, which shows that orb on the top of his staff glows. Amazing work!

Dobby the House Elf by a-squared

Wonka Family from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory by VVilliam

2nd Place

This costume looks both head- and heart-warming—a-squared knitted the hat and elf ears. Those of you with good memories (or deep knowledge of Harry Potter trivia) will appreciate the S.P.E.W. button, sock, and pillow-case dyed with tea, to match Dobby’s tea-towel garb early in the series.

3rd Place

What a great family ensemble! We’ve got Willy Wonka, Charlie taking a ride in the glass elevator, a lollipop girl, and tiny Violet as a tiny blueberry. Wonka’s coat and hat are spot-on, and Charlie certainly seems to be enjoying himself. I don’t know what was used to make the elevator, but it looks great! If there’s a golden ticket in that Wonka bar, can I come tour the factory with you guys?

Pumpkins

Ernest Hemingway by vbradford

Grand Prize

Cinderella‘s carriage by emperatrix

Starting in high school, where I—like many American teenagers—read The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway’s face has been a familiar one. And it translates well into the pumpkin medium, too! I’m particularly impressed with the way different “shades” of pumpkin were used, by carving not quite all the way through the pumpkin. Great job!

2nd Place

Painted all silver and gold, but retaining it’s pumpkin shape, this is what I always imagined Cinderella’s carriage looked like, as it whisked her off to the ball. I love the gold wreath wheels!

Kitten’s First Halloween by foggidawn

3rd Place

As a lover of both cats and the inspiration Kitten’s First Full Moon, this pumpkin has a special place in my heart. It’s even got a moon hanging out above the kitten!

Honorable Mentions

The Scrolls of Zndaria pumpkin by zndariasj features some truly excellent carving skills. Well done! I’d also like to commend LynnCoulter on her Audrey II piece. Little Shop of Horrors is one of my favorite musicals, and Audrey II looks great!

Thanks, everyone!

To all our contestants, thanks so much for joining in! Every one of you did excellent work (and hopefully had some fun in the process), and I look forward to seeing what bookish hauntings you come up with next year!

To our winners, congratulations! Look for a profile comment from me shortly with instructions for claiming your prizes!

2013 Grand Prize Pumpkin by Sylak

Today marks the launch of our 2nd Annual AllHallowsThing Contest!

“What is AllHallowsThing?” you ask? Last year, we asked you to send us pictures of your literary-themed Halloween costumes and pumpkins, and boy, were we impressed.Your submissions knocked our socks off.

Help us celebrate Halloween once again!

How to enter

• Choose one (or both!) of the two categories.
• Costume: Dress up as a character, object, etc. from your favorite book.
• Pumpkin: Decorate a literary pumpkin!
• Take photos of your costume/pumpkins.
• Upload your photos to your member gallery.
• Be sure to tag your photos. Tag them with “AllHallowsThing2014“. Yes, capitalization matters.
• Go ahead and add a title, description, etc., detailing how you made your costume or creation.
• Deadline: Be sure to submit your costumes and pumpkins by 6pm Monday, November 10th to be considered for one of our fantastic prizes!

Prizes

On November 11th, LibraryThing staff will have a top secret meeting in which we’ll choose winners for each category.

Grand Prize: One per category

• One (1) book from their LibraryThing wishlist (up to $25).
• A LibraryThing t-shirt
• A LibraryThing stamp
• A lifetime LibraryThing gift membership
• Bragging rights, for at least the next year

Runners Up: Two per category

• Your choice of a LibraryThing t-shirt, stamp, or CueCat
• A lifetime LibraryThing gift membership

Fine print: You can enter as many times as you like, to either category, but you can only win one prize. By entering the contest, you certify that your creation is your own. All decisions regarding winners will be made by LibraryThing staff, and our decisions are final, damn it. LT staff and family can enter, but can only be honored as prize-less honorable mentions. We reserve the right to use your photo, but the copyright remains yours. You can release them under a copyleft license.

Questions? Comments? Post links and questions here on Talk.

Thanks to everyone who joined in on our first annual AllHallowsThing contest! Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday, and everyone at LT had a lot of fun seeing what you all came up with! The LT staff judges have spoken, and, without further ado, I am proud to present our winners:

Costumes

Grand Prize

Little Free Library by librarypimpster

This is one of the most detail-oriented Little Free Libraries I’ve seen. From the creator’s description: “Library” was made of foam core cut and glued together. Shingles were cut from cardboard, door constructed using actual door hardware, then house was painted. The t-shirt inside is a scan of book spines printed onto 2 iron on transfers.” The door even has a magnetic latch!

2nd Place

Strega Nona by foggidawn

This one has a special place in my heart, as I loved Tomie dePaola when I was a kid (I still have a signed bookmark I got from him when I was 8), and Strega Nona was one of my favorite stories. She even has the magic pot!

3rd Place

Book Fairy by a-squared

a-squared’s little sister is wearing a wand, tutu, and wings all made out of recycle Scholastic book order forms! I love the creativity. And I hope the book fairy will stop by my house soon, because, let’s face it, I clearly don’t have enough books.

3rd Place, Too – It’s a Tie!

Lisbeth Salander by Lauren Meigs

LaurenMeigs is the spitting image of one of recent literature’s most self-possessed heroines. She describes her inspiration best: “Salander is one of the coolest, strongest, craziest chicks that I’ve ever come across between the pages of a book. I bought the temporary dragon tattoo online, but my fabulously talented artist neighbor (and fellow librarian) drew the wasp tattoo freehand on my neck.”

Grand Prize

Cthulhu Pumpkin by Sylak

Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s iconic monster, this pumpkin is truly the stuff of nightmares. Sylak told us that the wings were made of Savoy cabbage leaves, and there are total of 386 individual suckers on those tentacles. Yipes! Matt agrees: “A carnivore’s worst nightmare.”

2nd Place

Book pumpkin by rehme

I’d love to know what book(s) were used in the construction! The light dusting of orange paint is great—you can still read the text on the pages.

The Owl and the Pussycat quartet by tardis

Another tie! “Daringly stacked!” Matt says, and I agree. These are all impressively detailed! While the owl’s eyes are probably my favorite part, I love that there’s even a pea green boat that the owl and pussycat are riding in. Excellent work!

3rd Place

Book pumpkin by UnrulySun

We’ve taken to calling this one the “Econ Pumpkin” around the office, and it brought out Matt’s inner humanities major: “the best use of an Econ textbook I’ve ever seen.” Very inventive!

Honorable Mentions

I’d also like to give a personal shout-out to flor_de_margarida’s too clever by half Invisible Man, and walkingapocrypha’s Mad Hatter. I know that kitty! As a long-time Pride & Prejudice fan, I particularly appreciated the “& Zombies” edition group costume. Well done, everyone.

To all our contestants, thanks so much for joining in! You all did a fabulous job, and I hope to see more spectacular stuff from you next year!

To our winners, look for a profile comment from me shortly with instructions for claiming your prizes!

Pumpkin by Taylor Library

To celebrate Halloween, LibraryThing is introducing a brand new competition, “All HallowsThing.” It could help you decorate for the big night, or even inspire that costume you are worrying about!

How to enter

1. Choose one of the two competition categories, or submit to both.
   • Literary Costume: Dress as a character or object from your favorite book.
   • Pumpkin Creations: Make a literary pumpkin!
2. Take photos of your costume/pumpkins.
3. Upload your photos to your gallery.
4. Be sure to tag your photos. Tag them AllHallowsThing2013.
5. Go ahead and add a title, description or whatever, detailing how you made your costume/creation.
6. Deadline: The deadline is by 6 pm, Eastern on November 8th to be considered for our fabulous prizes!

Winners get

The staff at LibraryThing will choose the winners of each category.

Grand Prize: One per category

• A LibraryThing T-Shirt
• A LibraryThing Stamp
• A secret, undisclosed LibraryThing gift we haven’t announced yet
• A lifetime gift membership
• Considerable bragging rights

Runners Up: Two per category

• Your choice of a LibraryThing t-shirt, stamp, or CueCat
• That secret, undisclosed LibraryThing gift we haven’t announced yet
• A lifetime gift membership

Fine Print: You can enter as many times as you like, but you can only win one prize. By entering the contest you certify that your creation is your own. All decisions as to winners will be made by LibraryThing staff, and our decisions are final, damn it. LibraryThing staff and family can enter, but can only be honored as prize-less honorable mentions. We reserve the right to use your photo, but the copyright remains yours. You can release them under a copyleft license.

Questions? Post links and question on this Talk topic.