Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=104179&page=1#10 Author: Katty Time Posted: 10/20/2022 at 7:41 PM See that's the thing. Pumpkins are coming into season in the states and with thanksgiving around the corner pumpkins are in abundance. For me to buy a pumpkin in spring to carve I'm looking at $4 a kg. To get a decent one I'm looking at I dunno like $15-$20. 1k dias =$20 that's if I win and I tend to not. So I'm probably not going to participate cause the cost doesn't equal what I will send for participation prizes. To do a digital design, I have a wiacom tablet I can attach to my pc and I don't need to spend money I could spend on food, on a pumpkin.

Does a spring pumpkin last to fall?? Nevermind, see bottom

Whoever's selling you those pumpkins is ripping you off if you're buying them in-season, unless you're getting the massive field pumpkins or purchasing from a grocery store. If you can find one, I 100% recommend buying from a farmer's market or a stand. They tend to be cheaper. Source: farmer family xD

Also, for the food perspective - you can eat the entirety of a pumpkin (excluding stalk)! All of it is nutrient-dense and can be tasty by itself or in a multitude of recipes. I can send you some if you'd like to see a few favorites of mine :D
Have an idea ready before you get your pumpkin (sketches are handy), scoop out the seeds onto a rack and have them bake while you carve, then snap your finishing photos and chop it up for meal prep! Unless you want to display its beauty, of course.

I'm also assuming you're American, though, so I have no clue how it is for finding cheaper pumpkins if you live somewhere else >.> no clue on the density of markets in other regions
Nevermind, you're Australian, right?

You can also carve with something that isn't a pumpkin!

Want to post in support of the "Please make the prizes the same, just increase the participation prize for the traditional". As Eim said, equal, if different, effort and time can go into both types of submissions - making the prizes awarded to traditional so much more is just a slap in the face to digital art. Submissions like Eim's dragon absolutely took a ton of time and effort - but they notably didn't COST more than someone who submitted a non winning pumpkin.

I think Katt raises a good point as well - the real cost difference or barrier would be against those who live in the Southern Hemisphere, or in countries that don't celebrate Halloween. Should Katt or Synnove (from Germany, used as an example with permission) receive a greater prize if they win because their pumpkins cost more than the free one I (United States) got from my neighbor? Should someone who can't get a pumpkin and thus carves a squash, or an apple, receive a lesser prize because apples/squash/etc. cost less than a pumpkin? Awarding placement prizes based on some idea of "oh this must have cost more" is just not a good standard. Furthermore, with that standard, someone could submit their electricity bill from the digital art and say it cost them as well - placement prizes should not be based on trying to guess what cost more IRL money.

I'd also like to point out there are several contests - some that occur every year - where traditional and digital mediums are NOT judged separately. I baked a cake for the Week of Love contest one year, and placed along with some people who had submitted a drawing/digital art (no disparagement meant, they were all lovely and deserved) - should my prize have been increased because I spent IRL money on the cake and they didn't on their drawing? I assure you, the cake ingredients cost FAR more than a pumpkin does - if we're going with proportional diamond prizes, I'm happy to accept my 10k (100 dollars USD) dias any time.

I'm not suggesting we combine the traditional and digital contests - I think having them be separate is a logical acknowledgement that they draw (no pun intended) on different skill sets and sorts of talent/effort. I just want to demonstrate that a) the placement prize difference is ridiculous and a pretty bad standard to set and b) the site does NOT always separate and award prizes differently for traditional vs digital mediums, so why the disparity for the pumpkins.

Tl;dr - Full support for just increasing the traditional participation prize, but the placement prizes should be equal between the contests.