Deputy 26ers,

Well, here we are, three months later, looking at our final Deputy 26 contest. We’ve had nine great contests so far with all of you doing a great job. We’ve had our ups and downs but those that have stayed on and continued submitting have helped build our community from 35 at Comic-Con last July to almost 55,000 today.

The Deputy 26 challenge was always designed to be a fun, engaging, interesting challenge that would help get the word out about this book that you all love so much. We wanted you guys to create teams that had their own identity, their own members, and then throw contests at you, all in good fun.

As a reminder, the winner and a +1 of their choosing will be flown out to Los Angeles during the shooting of the cyber-bridges for Book 2. We will provide coach flights from one airport (thus, if your plus one is flying from another place, they’ll have to pay the difference), a hotel room and make every effort to visually put you in the cyber-bridges.*

Now, the final Deputy 26 challenge:

We’ve provided you guys with 13 Tarot cards in our Final Deputy Challenge Album. Click the link to view and download the images. These cards will be heavily featured in the narrative for Book 2.

I want you guys to take five cards of your choosing and turn them into a storyline with Steve Dark chasing a killer with a proficiency in Tarot. The Tarot cards can factor into the story any way you choose. This story line does NOT have to be Black Sqweegel centric.

You must tell this story by providing the card and writing a paragraph (no more than 5-7 sentences) for each card.

I will personally read all the submissions. Whoever creates the best, most engaging storyline in my opinion will determine the Top 7 winners.

Since this is our last contest, I would encourage ALL of the Deputies to participate. Any negativity or bashing of the winners will result in immediate termination from the site. This is it, guys. Let’s end this competition with everyone having a really positive experience.

When you've completed your story, post the cards and paragraph in a blog on your profile and flag it as "cool".  We want to make sure that everyone's submission is counted, so if you're having trouble posting, please let Site Admin Jason know.

The deadline for this contest is Friday, March 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST.

Now, I’ve always encouraged, without hesitation, members of the site to submit their own ideas for the book series and said that I would take those into consideration. There is a possibility that what you guys submit could resemble what we’re working on for Book 2. As such, I’m required to include the following disclaimer:

Be advised that any content, feedback, comments, ideas, suggestions and/or materials (collectively, the “Materials”) posted or uploaded by you to this website shall be done so without the reservation of any rights or further control over the Materials or the Materials’ use by you and you specifically authorize this website and its owners, affiliates, licensees and assigns to use such Materials in whole or in part, throughout the universe, in perpetuity in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, free and clear of any and all claims for royalties, residuals, or other compensation.  By posting and/or uploading any such Materials, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to the foregoing. Please see the Terms of Use for further details.

Once the final winners are determined we’ll dissolve the Deputy 26 teams and go back to being a place where individuals can discuss Level 26. However, we’ll keep all of your submissions up for the time being.

I want to thank everyone who participated from week to week. I really believe you’ve helped this site grow beyond my expectations and it’s been a lot of fun coming up with challenges for you from week to week.

Zuiker

* A walk-on roll is typically a NON-SPEAKING part, usually in the capacity as an extra. We cannot guarantee that a walk-on will appear in the final version of the cyber-bridges.

Who Dat?

Well, Deputies, here are the current standings for the Deputy26 contest. To calculate the scores we used a slightly altered system from the one that Fiction Addiction thought up. For doing all that hard and complex work, I’m giving Fiction a Gold Sqweegel Award. The system FA worked out was extremely fair, and yet made things super close.

So, here you go, the Deputy 26 and Community winners for the Sqweegel Office Pool Contest:

Community Winners:

Gold Sqweegel: Mimi
Silver Sqweegel: Tourist
Bronze Sqweegel: Vikingkid82, 7Hippiechick, Jay Martin

Runners Up: Mikus, Deonie Jensen

Deputy 26 Football Pool Contest Winners:

A special congrats to Chris Cassady who managed to predict the final Super Bowl score EXACTLY.

1st (25 points): PsychoKillersUnite1
2nd (22.5 points): Big Yellow Sqweegels
3rd (20 points): The Prodigal Saints
4th (17.5 points): Almighty Sqweegels
5th (15 points): Dark Addicts
6th (12.5 points): Z Spirits
7th (10 points): Kingi’s Vegan Vampire Uber Lounge
 
Here is the ‘Dirty Dozen’ Deputy 26 Leader Board:
 
1st (162.5 points): Big Yellow Sqweegels
2nd (150 points): Dark Addicts
3rd (128 points): Kingi’s Vegan Vampire Uber Lounge
4th (100 points): Almighty Sqweegels
5th (95 points): The Prodigal Saints
6th (82.5 points): Z Spirits
7th (67.5 points): PsychoKillersUnite1
8th (60 points): Babes of Darkness
8th (60 points): Dark Wanderers
10th (40 points): Drop Kill Murphys
11th (25 points): Team Splat
12th (22.5 points): Angels of Mercy

Zuiker

Level 26ers,


We had a great response to both contests the past two weeks. I was finally able to sit down and look through the Tarot Card entries and I think everyone did a great job. However, as always, I was only able to choose the Top 7. Those are listed below, along with the community winners and the current Dirty Dozen Leader Board.


However, before we get to that, I know a lot of you are wondering about the last contest and the fact that we still don’t know who won the football pool, and won’t, until the Super Bowl two weeks from now. So, here’s how this is going to work, without giving anything away:
 


We won’t be judging the final contest until AFTER the Super Bowl. So, we’ll know who won the Sqweegel Football Pool BEFORE the final contest is over.


As I said, the final contest results won’t be in my hands, they’ll be in yours. We know there are rumors about teams planning to pad their votes by creating fake accounts. Know this: If you do that you will be disqualified. We have ways of knowing who is creating the accounts and we will be monitoring the situation. If I feel like I can’t trust the community to be fair, I will simply judge the final week myself. Let’s keep it fun, guys!


Now, on to the winners:


Community Tarot Card Winners:

Gold Sqweegel: 11
Silver Sqweegel: Jason Hall
Bronze Sqweegel: DWS Doll Creator

Deputy 26 Tarot Card Contest Winners:

1st (25 points): Kingi’s Vegan Vampire Uber Lounge
2nd (22.5 points): Big Yellow Sqweegels
3rd (20 points): Dark Addicts
4th (17.5 points): Z Spirits
5th (15 points): Drop Kill Murphys
6th (12.5 points): Babes of Darkness
7th (10 points): PsychoKillersUnite1

Here is the ‘Dirty Dozen’ Deputy 26 Leader Board:

1st (140 points): Big Yellow Sqweegels
2nd (135 points): Dark Addicts
3rd (118 points): Kingi’s Vegan Vampire Uber Lounge
4th (82.5 points): Almighty Sqweegels
5th (75 points): The Prodigal Saints
6th (70 points): Z Spirits
7th (60 points): Dark Wanderers
7th (60 points): Babes of Darkness
9th (42.5 points): PsychoKillersUnite1
10th (40 points): Drop Kill Murphys
11th (25 points): Team Splat
12th (22.5 points): Angels of Mercy

Zuiker

No, we’re not talking about a pool of blood. We’re talking about a good old fashion football pool. You probably don’t know this but Sqweegel is a huge football fan. Growing up, Sqweegel wanted nothing more than to play Varsity football. As a kid, he would watch the football games from the stands and picture himself in the ol’ blue and gold.

Considering his flexibility, he thought he would be a great elusive runner since he could probably contort himself out of any tackle. And finally, his opportunity came. He tried out for running back. In the end however, even his flexibility couldn’t put him over the top, and he was denied the coveted Varsity spot. It was probably because Sqweegel was the weird, flexible kid in the corner. (And it might have had something do with Sqweegel’s insistence on wearing a full-body white latex suit.) Sqweegel was left hurt and vengeful, thus beginning his entry into evil.

So here’s the contest for both the Deputies and the Community:

Submit the winner of the two NFL Conference Championship Games this weekend and provide the final scores to each game. The submission that is closest to what actually happened is the winner.

You must also provide your predictions AND the final score for the Super Bowl.

Here are the games this weekend:

Sunday, 1/24, 12:00 PM on CBS: Indianapolis Colts vs. N.Y. Jets

Sunday, 1/24, 3:30 PM on FOX: Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints

Here’s an example submission:

Colts – 31
Jets – 7

Vikings – 24
Saints – 21

Super Bowl:

Colts – 27
Vikings – 14

Deputies: You must submit your predictions and scores by Saturday, 1/23 at 11:59 PM EST. Type them up in a blog and flag it as “cool.”

Community: Post your predictions and scores in the comment thread below. If you’re worried about other people copying you just go ahead and wait until the last minute and then post.

Deputies will have the Top 7 chosen and respective points awarded. The community will receive Sqweegel Awards.

We'll be announcing the winners of the Tarot Card caption contest early next week.

Deputies, let’s see if we can’t get everyone involved on this one! After this, we only have one more contest and so you know, the final judging will be left in the hands of the community.

Zuiker

Level 26ers,

First of all, Happy New Year and here’s to a great 2010 at Level26.com. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday, had fun with families or friends, didn’t get stuck in any airports or bad weather, and are looking forward to a great New Year. Let’s put 2009 behind us and make 2010 one for the books!

Now, as most of you know, we’re gearing up to start work on Book Two. And [SPOILER ALERT] the next installment in the Level 26 series will encompass the spirit of Tarot Cards, so, this week’s contest for both the Deputies and the Community, will be to choose your favorite Tarot card from the Tarot Card Album and write a caption for it.

As always, only one submission per Deputy team or community member.

Deputies: Post your Tarot card of choice and your caption in a blog and flag it as “cool.”

Community: Post the Tarot card of choice and your caption in the comments section of this post.

The deadline for this contest will be Wednesday, January 20th at 11:59 PM EST.

For the Deputy contest I will choose the Top 7 and Sqweegel Awards will be handed out for the community contest.

Best of luck to everyone and I’m happy to have everyone back as we head towards the Deputy contest finish line!

Also, we have the winners of the “Sqweegel Sightings” contest below. Only three more weeks until we find out who will be coming to LA!

Deputy 26 Sqweegel Sightings Winners:

1st (25 points): Dark Addicts
2nd (22.5 points): Big Yellow Sqweegels
3rd (20 points): The Prodigal Saints
4th (17.5 points): Dark Wanderers
5th (15 points): Z Spirits
6th (12.5 points): Angels of Mercy

Here is the ‘Dirty Dozen’ Deputy 26 Leader Board:

1st (117.5 points): Big Yellow Sqweegels
2nd (115 points): Dark Addicts
3rd (92.5 points): Kingi’s Vegan Vampire Uber Lounge
4th (82.5 points): Almighty Sqweegels
5th (75 points): The Prodigal Saints
6th (60 points): Dark Wanderers
7th (52.5 points): Z Spirits
8th (47.5 points): Babes of Darkness
9th (32.5 points): PsychoKillersUnite1
10th (25 points): Team Splat
10th (25 points): Drop Kill Murphys
12th (22.5 points): Angels of Mercy

Zuiker

Level 26ers,

I know some of you had issues with the winner of the Black Friday video contest. We want to let you know that it was an honest mistake on our part for not being clearer with the rules. Our intention was that you find clips that were not from a well-known movie, which would make the contest too easy. We’ve seen Linda Blair’s head spinning, we’ve seen Jason trying to kill Jamie Lee Curtis, we’ve seen zombies attacking people, and so on.

What scared me most about the video I used as an example was that it might be real. I don’t know. I didn’t see it up on the big screen at my local AMC to know that it’s fake. Documentaries are comprised of real footage, especially in the case of The Bridge. In fact, I originally saw The Bridge clip on YouTube, having no idea that it was a full feature film documentary.

I couldn’t have anticipated that someone would post that clip. So, it’s an honest mistake. I’m writing for 10 hours a day, I’m running this site, and sometimes, at the end of a long day, my mind is gone, and I miss something.

Did we say you couldn’t use clips from movies? Yes. Is The Bridge clip a manufactured (fake) situation designed to scare you? No. It’s a haunting, eerie piece of footage that is very scary. It’s an honest mistake and I apologize for any confusion or feelings of “rule changing.”

I don’t play favorites on this site. To keep it fair, a member of my staff prints out or emails me the entries with your names blacked out. At the end of a long day of writing, I sit down and I watch the clips or read the entries and then I choose seven of them, send it back to my staff, and they provide the winners to Jason who then posts it. I’m just as surprised as you are when I jump on Level 26.com the next day and see who won.

This is meant to be fun. I would encourage anyone who doesn’t want to be here, who isn’t going to have fun and take this lightly, to find another site. Okay? We’ve got three more Deputy 26 contests, we’ve got the holidays, and I want everyone to have fun.

Great.

Now, per that previous announcement, I have another. After discussions with several of you, we are, again, implementing a few tweaks to the “Sqweegel Sightings” contest just so that everything is clear.

Apparently, Facebook will only allow you to create a fan page, not a second profile. Since we don’t want to jeopardize any of your original profiles, we suggest that you just set up a fan page for your Deputy 26 team.

Now, the only problem with that is that the “Where I’ve Been” app doesn’t work very well on Fan Pages. So, instead of posting the entries to the map, you need to create a “Discussion” on your Fan Page that is called “Sqweegel Sighting Locations.”

That discussion is for the Deputy only to post the locations of where Sqweegel has been sighted. For example, if you just got a photo in from Detroit, MI, then you need to write in the discussion “Detroit, MI.” Easy. If you get another Detroit, MI then you change the entry to “Detroit, MI (2).” This is also helpful, because if you have multiple people spot Sqweegel in the same city or town, each sighting counts as an entry. (On the “Where I’ve Been” map, once you tag Detroit, MI, it’s tagged and would only have counted once.)

However, we are looking for variety here, so if all you have are twenty entries from Detroit (Detroit, MI (20)) it will count against you. If you have 20 “Detroit, MI” entries, the pictures/videos should all be uploaded from different accounts. We will be checking all of this.

By the end of the contest, you should have a list of all the places Sqweegel has been sighted. You may even want to keep this info as a separate word document. Sometime before the deadline on Monday the 4th, you will need to post that list as a blog on Level26.com and flag it as “cool.”

As for the photo and/or video: the only acceptable entry is a photo of the book or iPhone/iPod app in front of a landmark. The landmark doesn’t have to be a big thing; it can be the welcome sign to your town. And you don’t need to show your face. We just need to clearly see the book/app and the location of where you are. No photoshopping allowed.

That’s it. Remember, have fun!

Zuiker

Level 26ers,

Before we announce the winners of the Black Friday contest from last week we have a few changes to the current “Sqweegel Sightings” contest.

1)  The deadline for the contest will now be Monday, January 4th, at 11:59 PM EST.

2)  We will now allow either photos or video. The same rules apply. You must upload the photo or video to the Facebook page and the Deputy must add the location to the “Where I’ve Been” map.

3)  This will be the last contest until the New Year, so have fun with it.

Now, on to the winners of the Black Friday video contest. You guys did a great job. I was watching these late at night and they were scaring the crap out of me. Really impressed with what you guys found online.

However, I need to say something first. The winning video, from Almighty Sqweegels, is a clip from the documentary The Bridge. For those that haven’t seen it, it’s a gripping film that tells the stories of a handful of individuals who committed suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I saw it a couple years ago.

What you see in the clip is a tragedy and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and victims of suicide. I am in no way condoning or making light of what happens. I gave it 1st Place because this clip is so gripping and so haunting and so real that it is, perhaps, the scariest video of them all.

Community Black Friday Winner:

Gold Sqweegel: Jason Hall

Deputy26 Black Friday Winners:

1st (25 points): Almighty Sqweegels
2nd (22.5 points): PsychoKillersUnite1
3rd (20 points): Big Yellow Sqweegels
4th (17.5 points): Kingi’s Vegan Vampire Uber Lounge
5th (15 points): Drop Kill Murphys
6th (12.5 points): Kassi’s Killaz
7th (10 points): Angels of Mercy

Here is the ‘Dirty Dozen’ Deputy26 Leader Board:

1st (95 points): Big Yellow Sqweegels
2nd (92.5 points): Kingi’s Vegan Vampire Uber Lounge
3rd (90 points): Dark Addicts
4th (82.5 points): Almighty Sqweegels
5th (67.5 points): Jade’s Juggernauts
6th (55 points): The Prodigal Saints
7th (47.5 points): Babes of Darkness
8th (42.5 points): Dark Wanderers
9th (37.5 points): Z Spirits
10th (32.5 points): PsychoKillersUnite1
11th (25 points): Team Splat
11th (25 points): Drop Kill Murphys

Zuiker