The contest has begun, but there is still time to enter.
The cut-off date for submissions is May 16th, 2007.

The prizes:
1st Place $500
2nd Place $250
3rd Place $125

The rules:
1) visual art, either digital or traditional media. Renderings of 3D models may also be submitted. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed.
2) one or more of the characters must be undergoing deflation like a balloon or a beachball (that is, collapse by, or as if by, the release of gas/air/fluid)
3) subjects may be furry or human, male or female, or any combination of those
4) absolutely no minors as subjects (either furry or human)
5) you may submit as many things as you want, but only one will be judged, so be sure to indicate your final choice
6) The contest is set to run for at least six months from 12/2/2006. The official cut-off date for entries will be announced well in advance.
7) I reserve the right to desplay all contest entries royalty-free in perpetuity, so long as I am not selling the entries or access to them. All other rights are retained by the respective artists
8) All works must be signed by their respective artist(s).
9) The judges and I are NOT responsible for preventing plagerism or copyright infringment by anyone submitting entries to the contest. If we receive proof that an entry infringes a copyright or makes use of another artist's work without their permission, said submission will be removed. In the even that a contestant is found to be in violation of rule 9 after the awards have been handed out, a best-effort will be made to reclaim the violator's prize money and redistribute it to the next highest-ranking contestant (e.g. if the 3rd place winner breaks rule 9, we make our best effort to reclaim their prize money and then we give it to the person who was ranked 4th).
10) If the subject or subjects of an entry are not the creation of the artist, he/she must credit the owners.
11) All contestants must be legal adults (in the US, that means over 18 for some states and over 21 for others).
12) Prize money will be distributed via paypal. If you don't have a paypal account, get one. They are free and simple to set up.

Judging criteria:
The most important one, of course, is whether the submission follows all the rules. Break a rule, get the boot. No exceptions.
Quality of work will be a factor, but more important are orginality, creativity, and effort.
What I mean is, even if you're not such a hot artist, your idea might still win if it's an original idea and the judges can see you did your best to make it look good.
Just a hint: a pic is more likely to win if it tells some sort of story, or at least gives some reason why the subject is deflating.

I have three judges and 12 contestants so far.
If you want to be a contestant, email your submission, or a link to it, to balloonycat@yahoo.com. Put SUBMISSION DEFLATION CONTEST in all-caps in the subject so I know what is what.
When the cut-off date comes, I will send all submissions to the judges and we will see who the winner is.

Happy holidays

-BC

...why are you still here? Go forth and spread the word, or get to work on submissions XD