keeno “in the rain” Cover Contest PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT:

The 2013 Keeno Cup Trophy/Grand Prize

Well thanks to some good luck and excellent timing, the very last part of this year’s keeno Cover Contest prize bonanza was assembled today! I apologize for keeping everyone waiting, but due to my work schedule it has been quite a headache to try and meet the postman at my house to accept the delivery. (Doing COD as always thanks to our wonderful credit card-less society we live in over here). Recently things have been hectic with a mid-year prefectural teaching conference, Halloween lessons for all my elementary school kids, and slowly getting my new weekly evening English class with my town’s Women’s Association off the ground. However, despite all this I am still very much looking forward to all the keeno covers that are set to be rolling in soon (with over 40 people now saying they are planning on submitting one). I can now finally do my part as contest coordinator and let everyone see just what they are competing for!

As I finalized the prize list for this contest, I did so with two things in mind. First, I tried to make sure I was able to find some Vocaloid goods that are either rare or non-existent outside of Japan. If you are going to win this contest you might as well get something cool and sorta unique for it right? Secondly, I tried to make sure that the prizes were broken up into bite-sized chunks to some extent. Since I decided to open the contest up to a wide variety of covers, including choruses, duets, and the like, I figured that people might want some way they could split up prizes amongst team members. But no worries if you win as an individual, you’ll still be getting all of the awesome goodies!

So without further ado let’s take a look at the keeno “in the rain” Cover Contest Prize Collection:

“Pickup Cover Prize”

So while technically the “smallest” of the prizes, I still think the “pickup prize” is something people will be very happy to have. This prize package is headlined by a brand new, unopened copy of the collaborative doujin Vocaloid album “gekkabijin.”, Which features one of keeno’s lesser known most but still beautiful songs: “depth”. The CD also features lots of other tracks from a wide array of producers, many with similar styles, including my favorite song from the album, “Telomere’s First Cry” by producer HeavenzP. The other parts of the package are a ecobag (small shopping bag) featuring Vocaloid artwork by doujin circle Jetcapsule02 (illustrations by Ryouji Kanikoro) and a cute Miku/Strawberry Cake keychain charm by doujin circle Akuriru. One cool thing to keep in mind about the gekkabijin album is that the album cover actually transforms in a beautiful full-sized poster like you can see here:

First and Second Place Prizes!

So the only major difference between 1st and 2nd place for this contest will be awesome prize you saw at the beginning of the article. 1st place will receive a brand new copy of keeno’s debut album, “in the rain”, which comes complete with the keeno letter-charm bonus. Other than that both 1st and 2nd place prizes will contain the awesome items below:

First off we have a pair of sticker sets once again from Doujin group Jetcapsule02 (art by Ryouji Kanikoro). There’s lots of interesting and uncommon stuff here ranging from a Mikuo sticker to a sticker featuring Miku’s outfit from T-Pocket’s famous Vocaloid classic, 1925. Piko, Haku, Neru, and several others make their appearance as well.

Next up we have a cute ribbon-style sticker of Snow Miku 2013 by Circle SOS (illustrated by Obachin) and a different “eco-bag” from the pick-up prize, this time illustrated by artist Miruko and featuring an adorable picture of Miku in her Project Diva Red Riding Hood outfit.

And last but not least, my favorite part of this prize, a series of amazing folders created by the doujin circle Pekopoko, featuring some of the most awesome PV-related art you can find. I should also mention that these folders are the real deal and aren’t as flimsy and thin as some of the other Vocaloid folders out there. Check them out:

I’m guess that most people didn’t have much trouble figuring out what songs most of those folders are from. Some of them even have different art of the backside (but you can check that out when you win them right?).

I hope these prizes well help get people excited and motivated to do their very best for this contest. While we have plenty of entrants, there are already lots of other people (including some in the Japanese Vocaloid Community) who are looking forward to hearing everyone’s performances. So give it your best show and maybe you’ll be winning some of these gifts here in the near future! (And maybe it’ll help push a few more people over the hump and get them singing as well!)

Well that’s all from me here on this busy night but just remember that I am really looking forward to everyone’s covers and I hope that we all do our best to help spread the awesomeness that is keeno’s music to people far and wide! Also feel free to discuss the prizes or ask any questions about the contest in the comment section below. Get singing/creating people!