Heard about this "Blue's Showdown" thing, have you? Want to know what, who, when and where? Then read on, intrepid Showdowner!

WHAT IS "BLUE'S SHOWDOWN"?
The Showdown started as a friendly challenge between ~obfuscatesart and myself - we endeavoured to have a marathon of art on a certain theme over the course of a weekend. On a lark, I decided to spread the love and invite everyone to join in. The response was so encouraging that I made a regular event of it. The rest is history!

Especially now with the end of the series, I feel we as fans need a bit of motivation to keep our enthusiasm for the wonderful characters high. It would be a dreadful shame to forget them!

WHAT ARE THE RULES?
- Everyone is welcome to participate! You don't have to have me on your Watchlist, you don't have to be a fine arteest - just spread the HP love!
- All kinds of media are perfectly welcome - drabbles, doodles, paintings, sculpture, pixels, interpretive dance, shadow puppets, jello moulds etc etc etc! Surprise me!
- Level of finish isn't important - if all you had time for is a pencil sketch or a 100 word drabble, that is perfectly cool. This is about fun and appreciation not fine art.
- Your submission must have something to do with the word prompt/character specified for the Showdown, preferably with an HP fan theme. Anything goes - all ratings, pairings and situations!
- You have only 1 week to complete your piece! You may only start your submission once the keyword has been announced. Submissions close a week later, as specified in the kick-off post.
- You may enter as many pieces as you like.
- You must link me to your submissions! If I don't know about a submission, I might miss it!

HOW DOES A SHOWDOWN WORK?
I will post the kick-off post either on Sunday or Monday, restating the rules for new participants and generally getting people kickstarted. For 2008, I will be making use of keywords that you may interpret in any way you wish.

Over the course of the week, folks post their awesome submissions to their own galleries and link me to your submissions in the official start post (because I am a forgetful kinda person and need everything in one place).

One week hence, I race to compile all the entries into a Showdown Show Off post. At around midnight, I fall back exhausted, but pleased as punch at another successful Showdown!

I'M NOT A GOOD ARTIST/WRITER... CAN I STILL ENTER?
Of course you can! This is entirely about having fun, making buds, seeing some new art, getting some exposure for _your_ art and generally being fan-ish!

SO, WHAT DO I GET OUT OF THIS?
Everyone who participates will be listed in a Showdown Show Off post in my journal. You also get the immense satisfaction of a job well-done?

PAST SHOWDOWNS:
Previous Rounds - [link]
Umbrella Showdown (10 February - 17 February 2008)
Later Showdown (10 March - 17 March 2008)