This is it! We're pleased to announce the six finalists in our Small, Cool Outdoors Contest. Click on the thumbnails above to view each entry again, and then come back and vote for who you think should be the WINNER. Voting is only open until 11:30am EST on Wednesday, August 31, so don't delay!
ELIGIBILITY
• The outdoor space must be 250 square feet or less.
• The outdoor space must be part of a home which is lived in by the contest applicant—the home can be owned, rented or sublet.
• Only one entry per household.
• All readers age 18 and up are invited to enter the contest and share their outdoor space.
• Employees of Apartment Therapy may not enter.
• Entries may NOT include links to other webpages or Apartment Therapy or Re-Nest pages. Reader comments that include links will be deleted.
• Once submitted, no contest entry may be changed, altered or enhanced.
CONTEST SCHEDULE
8/3 thru 8/21: Submit your entry. No entries will be accepted after 11:59PST on 8/21.
8/5 thru 8/28: Select entries will be posted and voted upon by readers for 48 hours each.
8/29 thru 8/31: Votes will be tallied and voting begins for six finalists. Readers will have 48 hours to vote for their favorite outdoor space.
8/31: Winners announced!
Prizes
We are thrilled to partner with PUBLIC Bikes as the Small, Cool Outdoors 2011 prize sponsor! PUBLIC "pays close attention to details in designing a complete city bike that offers all the features you need for simple yet highly functional city riding."
Bonus: In addition to the prizes listed below, all winners will receive a signed copy of both Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan and Good Food to Share by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan.
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GRAND PRIZE
One Grand Prize Winner will receive their choice of either a C or V model bike from PUBLIC. Option include the C7 model, the V7 model, the C3 model, or the V3 model. The bike will also be Ready To Ride and outfitted with either a Front or Rear Rack and a U-lock for a total prize worth just under $900.
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RUNNERS-UP
Three runners-up will each receive a PUBLIC bike basket and a PUBLIC bike bell.
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INTERNATIONAL SUBMISSIONS
Unfortunately, only U.S. residents are eligible to win the Grand Prize and Runner-Up prizes. We really wish international applicants were eligible for the main prizes; however, legal obstacles prevent this from happening. (A good explanation for how complicated legal contest laws are can be found here.) However, the favorite international applicant will receive a signed copy of both Apartment Therapy's Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan and a signed copy of Good Food to Share by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. I received confirmation that you received my entry, why wasn't my entry posted?
Our system does not automatically post entries as they are submitted. Rather, due to space limitations, we select the best entries to post.
2. I made a mistake in my submission, how do I change my contest entry?
Please re-submit your entry.
3. How are winners chosen?
Winners are chosen by readers' votes. To vote, readers must be registered with Apartment Therapy. Register here.
4. How do you handle voting fraud?
Evidence of excessive multiple votes from a single IP address will be deleted.
5. My outdoor space was previously featured on one of Apartment Therapy's sites. Am I still eligible to enter?
Yes, readers who previously shared their space with the Apartment Therapy community are eligible.
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STILL HAVE QUESTIONS
If you need help or have more questions, please email re-nest@apartmenttherapy.com and put "Contest Question" in the title.
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I was torn between the Brooklyn gardens, you've all done a lovely job!
Amazing garden Bridge & Mark!
Chrissy it's beautiful!! Not only beautiful but creative too?? Amazing!!
Sarah's Hideaway Brooklyn Backlot is a great example of how you can take a nothing space and turn it into something magical. Great job1
I'm super impressed with the style and utilization of space that Rachel used...love, love, love this one!!!
All are very beautiful ...
Beautiful Chrissy!!
chrissy
nice job grrrl!!!
Chrissy's has so much character!!! I love it!!!
BRIDGE AND MARK'S GARDEN IS THE GREATEST.
CHRISSY'S DECKED OUT DECK ROCKS!!!!
good luck
gl Bridgette and Mark's
good luck bridgette
voted bridgett
bridgett and mark votes
wow, alot of votes bridgett
voted, bridgett
Great job!
best of luck
good luck
I see some of these entries posted on http://www.getonlinevotes.com - I didn't know paying for votes was allowed? is this a fixed contest?
The point of this contest seems to be about an eye for design and genuinely voting for the quality of the 'Small, cool outdoor space'. I understand its the number of votes that count in the end, but feel it takes away from the spirit of the contest to use a website designated to just get votes. Thanks.
I agree with the two comments above. Trading votes for votes on other contests seems to be against the spirit of the contest. It may be within the rules, but is tacky. B & M could withdraw.
Vanessa I couldn't agree with you more. I think it is pretty lame when you have to go to a website that is only for exchanging votes. What does that say about the design and the people themselves. I don't feel they are in it for the art/creativity but only to WIN...How sad...It is ok when you go to your friends and family and ask for votes because we all support each other but it says a lot about someone when you go to complete strangers, so you can win at any cost...
I do hope in the future that re nest has rules against using websites that are designated only to get someone votes.
My firends and I have tried to vote for Lacee and Nathan - but on the WEB page the radio buttons were not even activated and we were signed in....I complained to the site but they said all was well...well it wasn't well down here! and a website for voting??? Totally UNCOOL! Seems a little fishy from my view!
Thank you all for the comments and concerns. For those of you wondering, this issue has never come up before, thus currently we do not have a rule against it. Each new contest on the site addresses rules and makes changes as needed, however, so this will be discussed for future contests.
While I applaud the attention the administrators of the blog are paying to these issues, I am very skeptical that any action will ever be taken, in this contest or the ones that follow.
Whether votes are coming into re-nest from a pay-to-promote website, or coming from patient people like me who walked my computer challenged relatives through registering for an account and voting to show their support, accounts are still being created and site visitor numbers boosted which leads to advertising revenue for Apartment Therapy. It is in re-nest's best interest to get accounts and increase traffic, and I'm sure PUBLIC doesn't mind the buzz around their bikes - negative press will always be swept under the PR rug in the light of increased sales.
A contest which is biased by the almighty dollar is no contest at all.
I like Chrissy's!
@enzo.arace, your comment implies that the "administrators of the blog" are autobots and not living, breathing individuals who, like myself, work full-time at Apartment Therapy and care very deeply about the concerns coming from the community and the enthusiasm of our readers. It should be noted that the website in question is NOT a pay-to-promote site; rather, it appears to be more of a social network for contest participants. Still, my gut tells me that going to these lengths to get votes is not in the spirit of this contest. Therefore, all we can do is continue to work towards establishing contest guidelines that reduce grey areas like this.
@Cambria Bold, I didn't mean to infer you were not a living person, just to suggest that your hands may be tied by higer-ups if you wanted to do something that stops hundreds of accounts/a few thousand page views from being added to your baseline.
And for a little more detail, the first post on the site in question is free, if you want to bump it to get more visibility, you have to pay (select any entry and press the "Re list this at the top" button for prices).
As one of the contestants who was doing this FAIRLY, I would be embarrassed if I had to resort to those tactics to get votes. I just hope you guys really need that bike!
Checking your marketing kit, it appears re-nest also got at least $75,000 from PUBLIC for this sponsored contest. I doubt anyone at AT would want the contest guidelines to change if it jeopardizes this kind of ad revenue. There's a difference between holding a contest that's actually a design challenge and holding a contest where the sponsors and hosts win and the only losers are the contestants and the hard work they put into a flawed contest.
@chrissybklyn, apparently it wasn't about the great design and the hard work the fair contestants put into it, but it was all about WINNING A BIKE.
they should be ashamed.
As someone who's created contests like this, the POINT of the contest is for the website to obtain as mainly emails as possible.
If it was a contest that was meant to be won solely on design then the fate of the winner wouldn't have been left up to the INTERNET. I'm also curious why some of you were on the "vote swap" site yourself? Were you planning on doing it yourselves? Or were you really trying to police this contest?
@chrissbklyn: Are you sure you didn't suddenly send out a mass email/facebook message encouraging people to vote for you once you entered? Some of which may or may not be people you know well, just casually? And are you sure you didn't have a few who used multiple email addresses to vote? I'm only asking since you mentioned that you did it fairly.
I don't really see what the big deal is about? chrissybklyn are you sure it's not about the bike for you too? Cause I would be happy knowing that 165 people think my deck is cool, and consider myself a winner. Hey, just think you now have 165 people who'll chip in to buy YOU a bike!
@fifers.83 Although I understand the POINT of the contest, I can't help but not understand your point that sending out a mass email to your address group or getting on social media is the same as going to a website specializing in helping you solicit yourself for more votes. Through friends, not strangers, Chrissy obtained legitimate votes that are considered and fair...rather than simply googling "How to win a contest," and going your dishonest route. Obviously not your first rodeo, which is why you're so defensive.. Laughable in my opinion.
Totally tainted "victory" - the only fair solution would be a "do-over" since now everyone knows "how to win".....or as suggested above - all the finalists should get a bike.
fifers.83-What seems to be even stranger is that I don't see where you made a comment for any finalists. Or at least with that login. Where did you come from and why is this so important to you? Maybe some people informed contestants that some people were on voting websites. Don't people deserve the benefit of the doubt instead of thinking they are guilty. And like I said before the votes should come from our friends and family that are supportive of what we do, I don't think the bike is the issue...It is the fairness of a contest...You know Some people think fairness and honesty is more important than winning. She could have kept her mouth shut and did the same thing, but instead she decided that it was not only fair to her but to any of the other contestants that didn't use that as a means to get votes. I don't think she was the first one that commented about this but this was a perfect opportunity for her to let that person know she agrees with them...
Some people lack morals and ethical boundaries... What a dirty shame.
Shouldn't such qualities as aesthetics and creativity have been what these spaces were judged on? I thought so, and for that reason I didn't run around soliciting votes from friends and family, since IMO those wouldn't be honest votes: they would be votes for me, not my garden. Some of the spaces here that I liked most and voted for or commented on got few votes, and if that was because these contestants have fewer friends and family, that seems unfair. But I guess drumming up friends-and-family votes is generally expected and accepted in these kinds of contests, and if I had really cared about winning, I probably would have pursued that avenue. But the vote-trading scam is a whole 'nother thing -- really not sporting.
P.S.: I advise the winners to sell the bike and use the money to get some kind of wall or screen built to disguise that grill, because that thing is truly hideous.
Clicking on thumbnails is not letting me see these spaces! What's up??
I think everyone's space is beautiful because it is their space and their style. The contestants have put in so much time and hard work I think we should all applaud them.
I think now that we have all voiced our opinion, all the contestants should go out and sit in their cool outdoor space and have a glass of wine. Bon Appetit...Enjoy!!!