Bears&Buds Fourth Annual Competition                 Official Entry Rules

Major Award Competition is open to all bear and soft sculpture artist world wide.

Contest is now officially open for 2009 entries.

Now until June 20, 2009 - Extended deadline until Monday June 22 at 2 p.m. EST

Accepting URSA Award entry forms and fees.  Final entry deadline June 20th, no exceptions.

Early entries win top positions on the category pages. First come, first serve.

July 1 - July 30, 2009, First Round of voting begins. The URSA Awards Competition is decided by popular vote from our site visitors, collectors, readers and friends. Read more about the voting process.l

August 10 to September 10, 2009 Second round of voting takes place. All who are featured in the last round have won a prize but do not know if it is First, Second or Third place. Awards include prestegious engraved trophies, colorful ribbon, gifts and cash cards! You, the artist will campaign for votes by sending the URSA Awards Competition page links to your friends, family, customers and post on your web site too. Ask them to vote for your entry or entries.  See all the prizes.

Winners will be announced in the October Bears&Buds Webzine!

Completing the Entry Form

Cut and paste the entry form in to an email. One Entry Form for each piece you are entering in the competition. Please do not send pdf files.

Complete the form and delete all but the category line you are entering.

Place the category in the subject line of your eMail.

eMail your entry to bearsandbuds@aol.com

Or use the print feature on your computer. Print the page and mail it to the address below.

One entry per eMail with 3 properly sized photos attached with the description.

One entry per envelop with photos mailed to us.

Tips on how-to photograph your bears/buds see Photo Tips Page

Entry Fee:

Worldwide non-member: $60.00 USD for First entry and $30.00 each for additional entries.

By becoming a Professional Member of Bears&Buds you will benefit in many ways. Join BearsandBuds

Bears&Buds Professional Members: $20.00 USD per entry.

URSA Contest Categories -

You may enter as many categories with a different bear/bud in each category.

[  ] Category  1 - Wee Little Bare Bears or Buds, Under 5 inches, all materials

[  ] Category  2 - Wee Little Outfitted Bears or Buds, Under 5 inches, all materials

[  ] Category  3 - Medium Bare Bears or Buds, 6 to 9 inches, all materials

[  ] Category  4 - Medium Outfitted Bears or Bud, 6 to 9 inches, all materials.

[  ] Category  5 - Large Bare Bears or Buds, 10 to 26 inches, all materials.

[  ] Category  6 - Large Outfitted Bears or Buds, 10 to 26 inches, all materials.

[  ] Category  7 - Needle Felted Bare Bears or Buds, all sizes.

[  ] Category  8 - Needle Felted Outfitted Bears or Buds, all sizes.

[  ] Category  9 - Crochet Bears and Buds, all sizes, bare or outfitted.

[  ] Category 10 - Far Out - Fairies, Angels and exotic creatures.

[  ] Category 11 - Clowns and Halloween Costumed Bears and Buds, all sizes.

[  ] Category 12 - Animal Kingdom - Tigers, lions, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, birds etc.

                               All sizes, all materials

[  ] Category 14 - Furry Pals - Cats and Dogs, all sizes, all materials.

[  ] Category 15 - Father Christmas, Santa Claus, all sizes, all materials.

How to Write a Description of your entry. Please 100 words or less.
Include the name of your piece, size, fabric, paw pad material, type of eyes, construction features, nose details, stuffing types, costume or dress materials and any other descriptive details.

Refrain from using words like wonderful, beautiful, darling, adorable, cute, pretty, sweet, adorable, luxurious or gorgeous. Do not use the word poseability, instead use posing or posed.

Please do not use "w/" or "appox." or "&" in your descriptions. No abbreviations. Replace 'appox.' with the word 'about' and 'w/' spell out 'with'. Please do not double space between sentences.
Do not capitalize words unless they are trademark or proper names of things and places.

Do not include your name or text embedded in the photograph, or any fuzzy or ragged edges.

Photograph titles

Please title all your photos as follows:

Your business name followed by the name of bear/bud.

No symbols or spaces in the photo name. (No '#', '&', '( )', no spaces, '!' - only alpha and numeric.

Abbreviate your business name or bears name should it exceed 18 characters in length

You can leave the word bear off the title if it is part of your company name.

This is how all your jpg photos titles should look.

Mybearco-Unicorn.jpg  = the full sized photo - facing to the front.      

Mybearco-UnicornR.jpg = Looking to the right or right side of the bear/bud.      

Mybearco-UnicornL.jpg = Looking to the left or left side of the bear/bud.

Photograph sizes - See the example

Submit 3 photos with each entry. Photos that best highlight your entry best.

First photo; 500 pixels wide and 300 dpi

Right photo: 245 pixels wide and 300 dpi

Left photo: 245 pixels wide and 300 dpi.

Official Entry Form - Enter now

Copy, cut and paste the entry form into an eMail

Choose a category the delete all but the category line that you are entering.

Choose your form of payment: PayPal, Credit Card, Money Order or Check.

eMail your entry along with your PayPal payment to: bearsandbuds@aol.com

Our PayPal account name is bearsandbuds@aol.com

Please include the category and the bears/buds name in the subject line.

Regular Mail:

Mail regular professionally printed 35mm photos (please no photos printed from your computer) with your business name and the name of entry printed on the back, along with the entry fee to:

Make checks payable to Bright Star Promotions, Inc. Print the Entry Form

Mail to:
2009 URSA Award Competition

3428 Hillvale Road

Louisville, KY 40241-2756 USA

PayPal Payments are made to "Goods" and payable to Bearsandbuds@aol.com

Please indicate in the comment box your Entry Name, Category, your Business Name along with your name and contact information. This is very important considering some PayPal accounts are different than your business or personal name.

All professionally printed photographs must be copyright free or be accompanied by a copyright release from the photographer. Photos not be returned unless a self-address stamped envelop is included with your entry form. All photographs are given the rights, by you the artist, to be used online and for publicity material advertising the URSA Awards and Bearsandbuds.com