I wanted you folks to learn about my upcoming Build Knowledge Kit Card contest. I’ve just posted a preview article that can be read here:
A few things in the interests of transparency:
- I was approached by MakerWorld to host “a” contest. Not their contest but mine. About whatever I wanted.
- They have given me full creative control. The concept and idea are 100% my own. There hasn’t been a moment where I felt like I was being steered to an outcome they wanted. They have been very clear with me that this is my contest from start to finish and have been kind and supportive throughout.
- While it did have to go past their vetting process, they did not change anything beyond generously adding additional prize support.
- I am giving my own points to this contest.
- This contest is all me. Mostly. I have an executive functioning disorder (ADHD) and used AI to help me with a few things I struggle with (organizing, rules, criteria, etc.) Everything went through a heavy human edit and rewrite. I spent a solid few weeks agonizing over every detail. In the end, I’d say it’s about an 85/15 split between me and chatGPT.
- All photos are my own, edited in GIMP. No AI was used.
- I am the one choosing the winners. MakerWorld has no say in it. I have developed a judging rubric which I’ll be using to gauge entries. While I can’t promise everyone will be happy with who wins, please be assured that I will be considering eligible entries on their own merits and not on popularity.
- I am actively going to be reporting off topic or AI generated content. However, I’m just me and me has an ongoing family crisis that I’m also juggling. So if you do happen to glance in on the contest and see it filled up with slop, non kit cards, or anything like that, please know that I’m trying my best.
Why I’m telling everyone here first: I lurk mostly but from reading and occasionally participating, I feel like this small corner of MakerWorld’s community believes in the same thing I do. Quality models created with hard work with an emphasis on creating the best the modelling community can give.
I know in the past that there has been talk about how contests are being overrun with off topic and AI slop so they’re not something people here necessarily support.
However, I still hope creators will take a shot at entering this one because my end goal is to increase the number of educational resources for teachers and other educators. I’m a kit card creator myself and while it seems like a bad brand choice to fill up the competition, I believe in providing alternative ways of learning so much that it’s worth it to me on a personal level.
Please feel free to leave any thoughts or questions. I will do my best to answer as long as I feel I can do so without crossing any lines between myself and MakerWorld (I mean in terms of things they may have told me in confidence).
So from me to you, my fellow makers, I do hope you’ll give this contest a chance 