Neopets Contests

So many contests, so little time. Yet, which one is right for you? That's one of the harder things to figure out. There are a total of 21 different contests in Neopia. Some of them for writing, some for drawing, and some are totally random.

Writing Contests

The Neopian Times
There are four ways to get into the Times:

• Articles
  Articles need to be 1,000-50,000 words in length and Neopets related. Anything will do: guides, quizzes, rants, tips, and interviews are just some of them.
  
• Comics
  Comics must be ORIGINAL and need to be in GIF or JPG format. 200 KB is the max file size, and 470 pixels is the max width.
  
• Series
  A series can have up to 12 parts, but it is asked to keep it in the 6-8 range. Each part must be 1,500-50,000 words in length.
  
• Short story
  Short stories need to be about something (anything!) in Neopia, from pets to items to petpets, anything will do. They need to be 1,200-4,000 words in length.

No matter what you try, getting into the Times can be difficult. The best thing to do is read a few issues of the Times before you start to see what TNT likes best. You get a trophy for each publication, and an avatar when you get ten things publications.

Caption Contest
This contest is announced once a week on the news page. Simply think up a funny caption for the picture, type it in the box and hit submit! TNT picks their favorite 40 captions, and those are posted on the Caption Contest page on Friday evening. If your caption is picked, you can campaign for votes. The top 25 captions based on number of votes win 5,000-10,000 NP and a rare item, as well as a trophy. If you win a 100th competition, you will also win an avatar.

Story Telling Contest
Every Monday, a new story telling contest is announced on the news page. New parts of the story, written by Neopians, are added twice a day. Read what there is so far and enter a few more paragraphs to add to the story in the box at the bottom of the page. Stay on topic and keep it interesting. You get 2,000 NP and a rare item if you get published.

Poetry Contest
To enter, simply write a Neopets-related poem and send it to TNT via the provided submission form. It might take a while for them to get back to you. Poems about a species close to their species day or Neopian holiday or poems that are topical based on events in Neopia are more likely to be selected. You get 1,000 NP, a trophy, and a rare item if you get published.

Mystery Picture
Every week on the news page, a new contest is announced, and sometimes extended if no one got it right. Simply look at the pixelated picture and try to guess what it is. The first 250 winners get the specified item at the top of the page and all of the winners split the 2 million NP pool.

Art Contests

Beauty Contest
This is another weekly contest. To get in, draw a picture of your pet and enter it under that pet's species. An eight line or less "speech" is also required. Once it has been deemed appropriate, the picture will be put up for users to vote on. You can win with the most votes in your species or the most votes overall. Since April 2008, you can't win prizes from the Beauty Contest anymore. Your pet will still be awarded a trophy if you make it to the first, second or third position overall or within your pet species. There is also an avatar for winning the Beauty Contest!

Art Gallery
Draw a picture and submit it. The picture can be of anything, and often it's best to draw one of a pet for an upcoming pet day, or something for a coming event, like Sloth Day. If sites have unreleased news for an upcoming Random Theme day, then those also have a high change of getting in. You get 10,000 NP and a rare item and a trophy if you get in.

Game-based Contests

Kreludor Caves Spotlight
For this spotlight, start off making a Kreludor Caves level at the Hannah and the Kreludor Caves page. Then, submit it with a paragraph describing your level. You get 10,000 NP and a trophy for winning. Pirate Cave of the week works in the same manner.

Better Than You
Each week a new contestant is chosen and has a high score set on a certain game. If you get a higher score than them on that game, you get a trophy and NP (gold trophy and 20k NP for being one of the first 10, silver and 10k NP for 11th to 50th, and bronze and 3k NP for 51st to 500th) and a designated item. Plus, you get whatever NP you get from submitting your score. The score you submit must be one of the three that you get NP for. It will not count if you send it after that. The number of people who have beaten the current challenger so far is on a ticker at the top of the BTY pages. It moves fast.

Spotlights

Pet Spotlight
To make the pet spotlight, you need a drawing (by you) of your pet, (all images need to be in GIF or JPG format for further reference) and a story about them (no specifics are given, I'd say try for 500+ words). Your pet also gets a trophy for winning.

Site Spotlight
For the site spotlight, you need to design your pet page in a neat fashion (HTML knowledge required for coding). Topics range from being about your pet, about certain items, guides, image design sites, and more. You get a trophy for winning.

Petpet Spotlight
This is just like the pet spotlight, only for petpets. There is a trophy that will be added to your pet's cabinet for winning.

Neohome Spotlight
For starters, get a Neohome and decorate it. Having a theme helps. When you're done, submit it with a description of your Neohome and an optional picture. You get a trophy for winning.

Gallery Spotlight
For this, you need a gallery and a theme to it: a color, a pet species, or petpet species, anything will do. Try something unique; plushie galleries won't win unless they're really something. This takes a LOT of NP, so be ready to spend. You get 10,000 NP and a trophy for winning.

User Lookup Spotlight
This spotlight requires a lookup MADE BY YOU. (No pre-made!) It can be on any topic as long as it's appropriate and has a Neopian theme. HTML knowledge required for coding. You get a trophy for winning.

Customisation Spotlight
Every Monday a new round of this Spotlight starts and you can rate entered pets on a scale of 1 to 10. There is a section for pets with NC Mall items, and a section for one without, even though they're not separated in the voting area. You can enter however many of your pets as you wish, and as the only prize is a trophy on your pet's lookup, you can enter pets on side accounts too.

Misc Contests

Lenny Conundrum
This contest is weekly and announced on the news page. It's a puzzle of some sort, and can be a math problem, a logic problem, or many other things. The first 250 people to guess right get a trophy and a specified item, and all of the winners split the 4 million NP pool.

Book Award
This contest is based on how many books your pet has read. You can view the current high scores on the contest page . If you get first, second or third (that would be in the top 17) you get a trophy.

Booktastic Book Award
This contest is based on how many books from the Booktastic store your pet has read. You can view the current high scores on the contest page If you get first, second or third (that would be in the top 17) you get a trophy.

PPL
PPL stands for the Petpet Protection League. Every week a petpet (color and species) is chosen at random, and people with that petpet get 10 NP for each day their petpet has been attached to their pet. There no way to try and win this. The best way to increase your chances is to have a different petpet on each of your pets.

Gourmet Club
This club requires your pet to eat rarity 90 or higher foods. You can view the current high scores on the contest page . If your pet is in the top 17, he or she will win a trophy. Note: Only FOOD items count. No rare furniture or such that a Grarrl or Skeith can eat will count.

Old Contests

Random Contest
The Random Contest could be ANYTHING, although usually it involved completing tasks or art projects off of the computer. You needed a picture and a description to enter. You could win an avatar, an item (unspecified) and NP (unspecified) for winning. You can still view the entries from previous Random Contests on the contest page. The Random Contest closed in October 2014.