The winners of the Foldees "A Comic Book Christmas" greeting card design contest

Just a bit of background for the non-regulars... We need to start doing that since our site's traffic spiked up during our last contest, with ALOT of international traffic.

So anyway, Foldees.com is a site that holds regular greeting card contests to recruit designs from the public based on a theme we set. These cards are then sold to the public, with a royalty of US$0.10 for each printed card sold. Our contest to gear up for the Christmas season was set with the theme, "A Comic Book Christmas", inviting designers to come up with their best comic-themed Christmas cards.

And ooh boy what awesome awesome designs they came up with this time. As mentioned in my earlier post, we were a bit pickier this time with the entrants, as you can probably tell. We received about 20% more entries this time,but picked only 60 for the final count. Part of the reason for the better response was due to our AWESOME prize list, which included cash prizes for the top three and a dip into Santa's Bag'O'Gadgets, which held 10 gadgets that the winners would get to pick and choose from worth over US$2000!

Speaking of international traffic, out of the ten winners, 6 are from outside Malaysia, so kudos to them (for those not in the know, Foldees.com is a wee little Malaysian company)! Despite this, however, a few of our local heroes have done us well and truly proud with some awesome cards in the top ten. So, without further ado...

10. Are These Gifts Tax Deductible? by HP (Washington, USA)

Winner of the Apple Keyboard & Mighty Mouse

When this card was first submitted, it went through about a bazillion modifications to actually reach the state it's in now. The original card had loads of gradients and shadows in it, which had to be removed to stick to our theme. Speaking of the theme, it's a reflection of the times we live in that TWO CARDS about economic difficulty made it into our Top Ten

9. Surprise! by monkeypim (Bangkok, Thailand)

Winner of the Belkin Messenger Bag

To be honest, when we first came up with the theme, we were expecting a whole LOAD of anime-themed cards. However, only a handful were submitted. It was a pretty good handful though, seeing as how two of those anime-ish cards have made it to the top tier (both, incidentally from Thailand!). We particularly love this one for the totally Japanese way it represents both Santa and his favourite reindeer.

8. Stuck on Christmas by terryisdafox (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Winner of the 8GB FlashDrive

Terryisdafox was actually one of my personal favourite designers from our previous contest, with his design, You Defragment My Life, so we're quite excited that this up and coming designer made it through this time. We particularly love the looks on the individual faces of the reindeer. Look closely at Rudolph's face at the top. Priceless.

7. Express Delivery... by MagicPotion (Unknown, USA)

Winner of the Western Digital 320GB drive

Alot of the designers for this contest came up with ideas that put Santa in Superman's shoes, but none of them quite like this. This card lets Superman literally take over Santa's job for a few days, which i think is nothing short of brilliant! Superman's version of HOHOHO is gut-busting.

6. Oops Chimney by Iconwalk (Bangkok, Thailand)

Winner of the iPod Nano 8GB

The second of our designers hailing from Thailand, this design was also anime-ish in style. It's a modern take on Santa, and the fact that most people don't really have chimneys anymore. I have to say, for this one, the inside illustration is the money shot, which is unusual, but quite awesome.

5. The Adventures Of Dave by KelvK (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Winner of the Canon MPC-145 Printer

Who is Dave? Why not Alvin, Simon or Theodore? We don't know... but we don't care either. We're nuts about the cutey pie lil guy. Awwwww.....

4. Snowboarding Santa by Kokuzo (Bandung, Indonesia)

Winner of the iPod Classic

The only entrant this time from our brothers down in Indonesia, this is one of my favourite designs, style wise. The simple clean lines and sense of movement without movement lines is exactly the kind of design aesthetic we love here at foldees. Speaking of which, I think the illustration on the inside is even better!

And now, down to the Top Three kahunas, who will also win US$600, US$300 and US$150 respectively.

*deep breath*

....

Ok, here goes...

3. The Penguin Christmas Wishes by micute85 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Winner of the WACOM Bamboo Fun Tablet and US$150!

Another theme that's starting to get alot of attention today is the environmental issue. As you guys already know, we at Foldees love our greens! As such, we're all for cards that carry a message along with the joy of knowing someone loves you. This deadpan delivery conversation of two penguins perfectly encapsulates that in a way that's both funny, and not heavy-handed, even in the slightest. It also reminds me of a really good book i recently read. Congratulations to micute85, and we wish her a quick recovery from a recent road-rage attack.

2. All I Want For Christmas Is by ZacYouth (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Winner of the Apple iPod Touch and US$300

And once again proof that Malaysian designers can still hold their own in an international arena. ZacYouth (aka BryanZ) was a designer that also participated in our first contest. He didn't win anything in the previous round, but if there's any proof of that old message "If at first you don't succeed...". This card is another one talking about the current economic climate, with an absolutely hilarious inside illustration that shows one of the reindeer having taken off his antlers in protest.

1. Don't Forget by salchipunk (Jalisco, Mexico)

Winner of the LG 22" Monitor, US$600 and boundless glory and fame!

And the winner of our second Foldees contest hails from distant Mexico (our logistics experts are still scratching their heads on how to send him that 22-inch monitor)! This card has enough ideas for three cards, crammed into one. Despite the intense competition, this card has been leading since the first day we opened for ratings, and never looked back since. It's a testament to the combination of clean design, and good ideas, and is a thoroughly deserving winner of our 2nd contest. Congratulations to Mexicans everywhere and we hope to see more of you guys in our next contest!

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Also congratulations to all the winners! If you didn't make it into the Top Ten, and would like to fnd out what placing you got, please email me at contact@foldees.com. And don't forget to tune in to the blog this weekend to see our Honourable Mention list :)

In the meantime, thanks to everyone for joining, don't forget to check your Royalties every so often and and get your entries in early for "The Game of Love" for a chance to win that first prize of a cool US$1000 in cold hard cash! The fun never stops at www.foldees.com!