MY BENTO CONTEST

Finally the time has come :)! I've been so crazy busy lately that I've not had the chance to officially announce the bento contest that I've been talking about since last week. I am so excited, because this is my first bento contest ever :D). I am incredibly lucky that CasaBento has generously offered to sponsor this contest and the talented Lia from Bentolicious and the sweet Nami from Just One Cookbook have agreed to help me co-host this event.

CONTEST DETAILS

• Photo: Take a good, clear picture of your bento.
• Theme: Let your imagination fly :). Can be anything really, it doesn't have to be a charaben either, tradional, modern or whatever kind of style is fine as long as it's a meal in a box/container.
• Description: Please include a description of what you have inside your bento.
• Contact Details: Include your name or nick, e-mail address and the country where you come from to be eligible for the competition. If you have a food blog, you can also post your entry there and send me the link, but you're still expected to e-mail me your photo, description and contact information to enter the contest officially.
• Limit: 1 entry per person
• Send your entry to: Cookinggallery@yahoo.de
• Can everyone (worldwide) participate? YES
• Contest Period: 19th November 2011 - 20th December 2011

CasaBento, Lia, Nami and I will judge your bento photo based on the following criteria:

• Food Balance: We'll not only look at how cute or pretty your bento is, but also if your bento is well balanced. Let's say, a bit of carb, meat, veggies, fruit, etc instead of just rice with a cute nori face.
• Colour Balance: People would be more attracted to your bento (including us, judges) if your bento doesn't look too dull.
• Creativity: Impress us with your creativity :)!

PRIZES
I chose the following prizes myself. I hope you like them :).

The 1st prize: 1 Totoro bento box, 1 set of Totoro cutlery (chopsticks, spoon and fork), 1 blue thermal bag, 1 Winnie the Pooh pancake pan, 1 set of bento picks, 1 set of mini sauce bottles and 1 set of mini sandwich cutters.

The 2nd prize: 1 big Yume Sakura bento box, 1 small Yume Sakura bento box, 1 Yume Sakura bento bag with matching chopsticks.

I hope a lot of people would participate in this contest and if you're not so confident in your bento making skills, there's still a chance that you might win the fantastic book 'The Just Bento Cookbook' from Makiko Itoh, the writer of the wonderful and informative sites Justbento.com and Justhungry.com, because I will also draw one random winner using random.org. (NOTE: The 1st and 2nd winners would not be eligible for this).

After I have received your photo including the decription and your contact information, I will post your photo in this Flickr group, so that all of you can see all the entries.

I will announce the winners on Tuesday, 27th December 2011.


Good luck everyone :D)!!

By the way, I'd like to hear what you think about the bento items I chose for the prizes. Do you think that they're something that you would like to add to your bento collections? If not, please do give me some feedbacks on what kind of prizes you would like next time I do another contest or giveaway. Browse CasaBento site and suggest me some items you would love to have from there. Thank you :-)!

UPDATE

You will receive a confirmation e-mail from me that I have received your photo. If you sent me a picture but haven't heard anything from me, please let me know...!!

Another UPDATE :)

This contest is closed. Thank you for participating :)!! There are 60 submissions in total, I didn't expect there would be so many people who would join in the contest, especially because my contest was held at one of the busiest times of the year...^-^.

The slideshow below shows all 60 pictures from the bento contest participants.

You can also check out my Flickr Page to see what the participants say about their bentos.

I will announce the 3 winners on the 27th of December 2011, so stay tuned :D)! Currently Casabento, Nami, Lia and I are still having a headache - we don't really know which photos to choose because all of you did such a marvelous job with your bento creations...;)!!