Who

The 1 in 8 is unique in many ways. Unlike many breast cancer charities, they are not dedicated to trying to find a cure for breast cancer, but rather promote early detection. Through early detection, there is a 91% survival rate, as opposed to the current state that sees one woman in the US die every 13 minutes.

They are also unique because they give 100% of the profits they make to breast cancer charities. This is made possible by the scores of volunteers, all over the world, who donate their time and efforts to meeting the goals of the 1 in 8 foundation.

Why

They have decided to stage an international anime/magna competition to create a group of anime characters to fight breast cancer. The primary character is a teenage girl, based on the founders’ 16-year-old daughter, Caiti. That character’s name will be KK. She will also have a male, teenage side-kick, and a magical cat, Alex.

KK will be fearless and impetuous when it comes to fighting breast cancer. She is long legged and very agile. Her male sidekick, (who still needs a name) is good looking and has a huge crush on KK, but would never admit it to her, because he’s too shy. As a result, he tries to be very protective of her; something that makes her crazy – because she feels she can take care of herself – but which she secretly loves. KK’s cat, Alex, aka Alexander the Great, is wise beyond his years, somewhat like a Yoda, and yet has a playful time that he tries to hide. When ever KK’s is not looking, he’s playing with shiny things, eating or climbing trees, but when she catches him doing these things, he denies it.

This threesome will comprise an auto racing team called “Speedsters” and is meant to be something like the classic anime, “Speed Racer” with an edgier more "Final Fantasy" type feel to it. There is also an evil shape-shifter character, which represents breast cancer.
The challenge is for an anime/manga artist to come up with an exciting group of characters for this program.

What

The objective of the contest is to design a set of anime-inspired characters for the 1 in 8 breast cancer awareness foundation. The goal of these characters is to appeal to younger audiences and inform and educate on the importance of early detection and how to cope with the disease.

The character outlines again are:

Lead Character A 16 year-old girl named KK with dark brown hair and vivid green eyes. Her mission is to fight breast cancer, and despite her age, she's also a confident, sexy and fearless young woman. Reference photos for this character can be found here and here

Secondary Character - A good looking, "Harry Potter type" teenage boy, who is secretly in love with KK. While he's a brave young man in the fight against breast cancer, he's far too shy to reveal his true feelings to the girl he loves.

Third Character - A white cat sidekick with magical powers named Alexander

When

Contest Begins - March 17, 2008
Contest Deadline - May 13, 2008

How

Email your entries to kvrana@caitlinproductions.com

If you submitted your entries to the contest category on deviantART - please email them to Ken Vrana at the above email address as well-Thank you

Prizes

Grand Prize - Crystal Trophy ($125 value) + 1yr subscription + and fella plushie
Runner-up prizes (10) - Crystal trophy ($60 value) + 3 mos subscription

The winner will not only see their character used, worldwide, to help fight breast cancer, but will also receive an award and a licensing fee for every place that their characters are used.

The 1 in 8 foundation is dedicated to growing the anime/manga community, worldwide, so if this first competition is a success, we expect to make it an annual event that will include cash prizes for the winners.

Winning artwork and characters become the exclusive property of the 1 in 8 foundation.