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343 Guilt O' Lantern

Results are now up.

Go see!


The History

The idea of pumpkins carved in Halo forms was started by Bungie, in 2003. The winning pumpkins were pretty cool. We followed suit in 2004, with the first annual Guilt O' Lantern contest. It was, by most accounts, a success. Then, again, in 2005. And 2006. Looks like it's a tradition at this point.

The Contest

The rules are basic, and the same as they've always been: Carve the coolest Halo-related pumpkin you can think of. Please the community, win a prize. Check out the pages above for examples of what's won in the past.

The Prizes

Every year, we try to have cool prizes. Sometimes, we plan ahead, and good things happen. Other times, we space, but we get fantastic donations. And sometimes, we just fail. Hopefully we're doing good this year.

First Prize:

  • One Legendary Helmet (the helmet that comes with the Legendary Edition of Halo 3, albeit without the discs)
  • One Copy the Limited Edition of Halo 3
  • One Copy of the Halo 3 Official Soundtrack, signed by Marty O'Donnell
  • One Copy of Contact Harvest, signed by Joseph Staten
  • One Copy of the Piggyback Official Halo 3 Strategy Guide
  • A 12 month subscription to Xbox Live
  • One UNSC Pin (Metal)
  • 2 T-Shirts of the winner's choice from the Bungie Store
  • Added 30 October 2007: Tim Dadabo, the voice of 343 Guilty Spark, will record a message of your choice on your home answering machine, in his character's voice Added 1 November 2007: This can include the voice of Steve Downes, as well!

Second Prize:

  • One Copy the Limited Edition of Halo 3
  • One Copy of the Halo 3 Official Soundtrack, signed by Marty O'Donnell
  • One Copy of Contact Harvest, signed by Joseph Staten
  • A 12 month subscription to Xbox Live
  • One Spartan Helmet Pin (Metal)
  • 2 T-Shirts of the winner's choice from the Bungie Store

Third Prize:

  • One Copy of the Halo 3 Official Soundtrack, signed by Marty O'Donnell
  • One Copy of Contact Harvest, signed by Joseph Staten
  • A 12 month subscription to Xbox Live
  • One Copy of Shadowrun (for Xbox 360), signed by Major Nelson, Trixie, and KP, of Xbox.com

Legacy Prize: (in case folks who won last year win again)

  • A 12 month subscription to Xbox Live
  • One Copy of Shadowrun (for Xbox 360), signed by Major Nelson, Trixie, and KP, of Xbox.com
  • Added 14 October 2007: One Copy of Crackdown

The Rules

1. Your picture must reach HBO HQ by midnight, Eastern time, October 31, 2007.

2. Your picture, if digital, must be at least 640x480 pixels.

3. Your picture cannot be digitally altered. If we even THINK it's digitally altered, we'll toss it. (Yeah, we stole that rule from Bungie. It's a good rule.)

4. Your picture must not have been entered in the 2003 at Bungie.net, the 2004, 2005, or 2006 contests at bungie.org, or sent to us any time before October 1, 2006.

5. To win one of the two top prizes, you must have a mailing address within the continental US or Canada. (Sorry about this one. The copies of Halo 3 are NTSC; you couldn't use them in Europe anyway, and we really don't want to pay to ship stuff to Japan.)

6. You can enter as often as you wish, but you can only win once. If two or more of the top three pumpkins are made by the same person, the third-place prize will go to the fourth-place finisher. (If all three pumpkins are made by the same person, actually, prizes will go to fourth and fifth-place finishers.)

7. If any of last year's winners are in the top 3 scorers, they will win the 'Legacy Prize' - but they're not eligible for the top three prizes. We want to spread the wealth.

7.7. new rule for 2007 We will allow the use of Funkins, if you'd rather go that route.

The Judging

Entries will be judged by the Halo community. Images will be put up in a gallery, starting in early November, and will be accessible for voting for one week. Votes can be cast by anyone with a valid email address (but if we suspect ballot stuffing, we're tossing ALL your votes - again, don't even give us a REASON to suspect you). Winners will be announced sometime around mid-November.

This is a pure popularity contest - make a pumpkin everyone thinks is the coolest, you'll win.

How to Submit Your Entry (or entries):

You have two options for getting your contest entries to us:

  1. Upload them to us on the web, using this page.
  2. Send us a photo (or a CD, if you must) in the mail (the address is given below)

After you have done one of these two things, you need to send us an e-mail at lantern@bungie.org. Include the following information in your e-mail:

  1. Your name (or your online handle if you don't want us to use your name)
  2. The e-mail address where we should contact you
  3. How you sent your entry to us (was it an upload, or in the mail?)
  4. Where we can find your entry -- if it was an upload, give us the filename of the upload. If you sent it in the mail, tell us what the return address on the package is.

Make sure that you include ALL of the information that we ask for. Incomplete entries will be discarded. (All of the information in the email should ALSO be collected via the upload interface... but problems have occurred in the past, we're being thorough.)

If you're sending us a photo or CD, mail it to:

343 Guilt O' Lantern
56 Deerfield Lane
Bethany, CT 06524

Good luck!



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