Announcing the 2022 Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest

UPDATE: Deadline extended! The new deadline for entries is September 7th!

UPDATE: Check out the Top Winners and the Bonus Award Winners from our 2020 contest for inspiration!

That’s right, The Mochimochi Photo + Video Contest is back for another summer of knitting cute Mochimochi Land characters and making them do cute and weird stuff!

The theme this year: Sharing is Caring

Let’s celebrate being together and the things we like to share: ideas, snacks, a contagious yawn… there are many possibilities!

The top three winners will receive a handmade, one-of-a-kind Mochimochi Land trophy! They will be hand-made by me out of ceramic! Making them will be my own special summer challenge 😉

Eligibility

This contest is open to knitters worldwide who are 18 years or older.* To be eligible, your photo series or video must contain at least one knitted toy made from a Mochimochi Land pattern. This can be a pattern from the Mochimochi Shop, a pattern from one of the Mochimochi books by Anna, or one of the free patterns on the Mochimochi Blog. The pattern may be modified, but not beyond recognition from the original design. (The use of Photoshop is OK, and other toys/characters, including other knitted toys, are welcome to appear in your photos or video too!)

Categories

Like last time, we’ll have three main categories, photo series, short video and super short video. As always, we’re looking for your cutest, most creative photos and videos of Mochimochi Land toys! (We prize originality over “professional” quality entries.)

PHOTO SERIES is a series of 3-10 photos. This should be a short sequence showing an unfolding action with or without “dialog” or captions.

SHORT VIDEO is a video that’s at least 20 seconds long, and up to 2 minutes long. It can be puppetry or stop-motion animation. Make a Mochimochi movie! Please avoid making this a slideshow of photos.

SUPER SHORT VIDEO is a video or animated GIF under 20 seconds long. It can be puppetry or stop-motion animation, Again, please avoid making this a slideshow of photos.

Note that we’re looking for humor, cuteness, and originality—not necessarily the most professional-looking photos and videos. We want everyone to enter! Need some inspiration? Check out the winners from our 2020 contest. They’re fantastic!

PLEASE NOTE: We may share/repost any photos or videos entered into the contest on social media, the Mochimochi Land newsletter, or on the Mochimochi Land website, but only with credit and only in relation to promoting the contest (no commercial use).

via GIPHY

How to enter

PHOTO SERIES: There are three ways to enter a photo series. Please choose just one platform, and enter up to three series of 3-10 photos each.

1) Post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #mochiphotocontest22. Post the photos together in one post if possible, or title and number each photo in the captions if posting separately.

2) Post your photos to the Mochimochi Land Facebook page with the hashtag #mochiphotocontest22. Post the photos together in one album.

3) If you can’t or don’t wish to use social media to enter (understandable if your accounts are private), you can send your photos as an email attachment to info@mochimochiland.com with the subject PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY.

SHORT VIDEOS (20 seconds to 2 minutes long) and SUPER SHORT VIDEOS (under 20 seconds): Enter up to 3 videos in each category. Here’s how to enter a video.

1) Post your video to Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #mochiphotocontest22. (Make sure your post is PUBLIC.)

2) Post to GIPHY (if it’s a GIF) or a video site like YouTube or Vimeo. After posting your video, please email a link to the video to info@mochimochiland.com with the subject line VIDEO CONTEST ENTRY. Please do NOT send the video as an attachment.

Deadline

The last day to enter the contest is September 7th, 2022. We’ll announce the finalists shortly thereafter here on the blog and all the socials. (Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates!)

Prizes!

We’ll pick one top winner in each of the three categories. And the prizes will be a bit different this year! As suggested by a clever knitter, I will be attempting to craft handmade trophies for the winners. They’ll probably be ceramic, but we’ll see what happens with that. It’s my own creative challenge for the summer. 😉 Each winner will also receive a gift card to Mochimochimochi Land, and probably other fun stuff too!

Needles ready? Cameras set? Let’s GO!

* “Family” entries involving creative kids are welcome!