It's now the end of January, nearly a month after the cutoff date for my first contest.

batou's anima: "It's okay baby. The first time isn't that great for lots of guys..."

I'm not too disappointed, as a matter of fact. I'm kind of pleased with myself for putting myself out there and saying, "Here's an idea; try it out with me. Together we can create something beautiful."

It might be because I didn't allow enough time. (Possibly.) It might also be because I didn't promote it enough. (Likely.) It might be because neither I nor the subject of the contest are popular enough to elicit a large response from the general public of dA. (Very likely.) Whatever the reason, only one shiny, hopeful individual sent me a note with a desire to enter the contest. Here it is:
Sing the Angels Down, by *Zhinggibiis.

If you read it, you might notice that it's not exactly the Carol of hope, faith, and humanity I was hoping for. I'm going to reward him anyway. He'll receive a 3-month subscription or a print of equal or lesser value which he can keep or donate as he chooses. You might ask why I don't just say he's disqualified and call the whole thing off and save myself the money and head on home with my tail between my legs. Well, it's because that's not what Christmas is all about. If he had entered this one, [link] , he'd have been a shoe-in. Instead, he entered it in the litmas prose contest and won, so I decided to borrow it for featuring here to lend an air of credibility.

Thanks for all the . Keep an eye out for the contest again next year. (That is, Christmas of this year, 2008.)