Excited about our photo contest announcement but not sure where to start? Let’s get inspired by the winners of last year’s contest!

Last year our Judges’ Choice award went to Snowman Friends by Emily.

See, it doesn’t take a fancy set or exotic location to take a great photo of your mochis! I think this photo really works for its simple concept that was executed with care.

Our other winners were chosen by popular vote—it’s easy to see why they were big crowd pleasers! In third place we had Best Beard Contest by The Happy Cupcake.

This photo is made by its delightfully silly premise, and the sight of gnomes knitting their own beards. The gnomes are so colorful against the more neutral background that I didn’t even notice the rocks propping them up at first!

In second place was Bird Conga by Bonnie.

This photo is all about color and composition. The shallow focus also lends an artful effect. There’s no denying that multiple tiny mochis are very photogenic!

And finally, our top winner was Giant Squid Love by Jill Watt!

Of course, it’s easy to see why Jill’s photo won everyone over. What a striking work of art! It’s also a very unexpected use of a toy, and a really big toy at that. The colors are also fantastic and really pop against the everyday background.

I love how each of these photos is doing something totally different artistically, and they’re all really effective in the things we care about: cuteness and cleverness! So whether you photograph one mochi with a prop or two, or whether you construct an entire elaborate set and knit a cast of characters, you can make an eye-catching image. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Update: Congratulations to the winners!

Sharpen your needles and charge your cameras: It’s now officially time to enter the 8th annual Mochimochi Photo Contest!

Once again, we’re looking for the cutest, funniest, most interesting photos of Mochimochi Land toys. All you have to do to enter is upload your photo(s) to the Mochimochi Friends group on Flickr by Monday, December 1st.

This year we also have an exciting new category: VIDEOS starring your mochis! See below on how to enter your videos in the contest.

Winners will receive awesome prizes from our generous sponsors Knit Picks and Milk+Honey, gift certificates to the Mochimochi Shop, PLUS vintage knitting kits from Bonney Teti, my mother-in-law and owner of the world’s biggest yarn stash!

Eligibility

This contest is open to knitters worldwide. To be eligible, your photo 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, 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 permitted, and other characters, including other knitted toys, are welcome to appear in your photo or video too!)

Note that we’re looking for humor, cuteness, and originality—not necessarily the most professional-looking photos and videos. We want everyone to enter!

How to enter

PHOTOS: Simply upload your photo(s) to the Mochimochi Friends Flickr group. If you don’t have a Flickr account, it is free and easy to register (though we recommend signing up as soon as possible, because it takes a little time for your account to be approved for sharing photos in a group). You can enter as many photos as you want, within reason. (A series of photos is great, but each photo will be judged individually. We focus on series in our spring contest!)

All photos uploaded since the deadline of the 2013 photo contest last year—with the exception of those entered in our springtime contest—are already entered in this year’s contest!

VIDEOS: First, upload your video to any public video sharing site (like Youtube or Vimeo). Then email us at info [at] mochimochiland [dot] com with with subject line VIDEO ENTRY, and include a link to your video. Please do not send the video as an attachment. The length of your video can be really short (just a few seconds) or up to around 5 minutes long. You can enter as many videos as you like, within reason.

Deadline

The last day to enter the contest is December 1st, 2014. We’ll announce the semi-finalist photos shortly thereafter here on the blog, then everyone will be able to vote for their favorites! So be sure to check the blog in mid-December.

Since this is our first year for the video category, those entries will be judged by us instead of popular vote.

Prizes!

The first place photo prize will include a Candy Rainbow Yarn Sampler from Knit Picks (pictured above—perfect for tiny mochi knitting!), a gift bag and two additional lotion bars from Milk+Honey, a $20 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop, and a vintage knitting kit from Bonney Teti’s giant yarn stash.

Second place photo prize will include a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a gift set and additional lotion bar from Milk+Honey, a $10 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land, and kit from Bonney.

Third place photo prize will include a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks, a gift set from Milk+Honey, a $10 gift certificate to Mochimochi Land, and a kit from Bonney.

The video category prize will remain a surprise for now… but trust that it’s going to be good!

Update: The video prize will be 10 tiny mochi kits!

Needles ready? Yarn set? GO!