CONTEST BEGINS AT 12:00:00 AM (PT - Los Angeles Time) on FEBRUARY 11, 2014 AND ENDS AT 11:59:59 PM (PT - Los Angeles Time) ON FEBRUARY 20, 2014 (THE "PROMOTION PERIOD").

  1. HOW TO ENTER:
    • Membership to www.deviantart.com (the "Contest Site") is required to enter the "LIGHTNING RETURNS™: Final Fantasy® XIII" Contest (the "Contest"). Membership to www.deviantart.com is free. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Only entries from valid deviantART accounts will be accepted. If Entrant is already a registered member, Entrant is not automatically entered into the Contest.
    • Entrant must be at least 13 years old as of FEBRUARY 11, 2014 to be eligible to enter the Contest.
    • Contest is void where prohibited by law. Entrant may reside in any country of the world.
    • Entrant must follow the instructions on the Contest Site and submit the completed entry of an original artwork that depicts a "customized" version of LIGHTNING, the lead character of Lightning Returns: FINAL FANTASY XIII ("FFXIII"). "Customization" means changing Lightning's look, body, apparel, weapons, other accessories and anything else on Lightning.
    • The completed entry ("Work") may originate in any visual medium but must be submitted at the Contest Site as a single JPG or PNG file.
    • The Work:
      • Must be in the form of a JPG or PNG approximately 2,000 pixels in width and 550 pixels in height;
      • Must be the Entrant's original work made for the Contest and may not use stock materials from others, trademarks, or characters from others.
      • Entrant may use the material from the FINAL FANTASY XIII trilogy or the materials provided at the Contest Site but may not use characters that appear only in other Final Fantasy chapters.
      • Licensed brushes and textures are acceptable as well as original assets from the Entrant's own work and visual elements from Final Fantasy XIII. Do not include the names of Lightning and/or Final Fantasy in your entry;

      The Work must be in keeping with the image of deviantART ("Sponsor") or Square Enix, Inc. ("Square Enix"); may not be inappropriate, offensive, libelous or defamatory, pornographic, sexually explicit, unlawful or plagiarized, as determined by the Sponsor and/or Square Enix's sole discretion; must not be harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, profane, obscene, excessively violent, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable or offensive in any way, as determined by Sponsor and/or Square Enix's sole discretion; may not violate or encourage others to violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation; may not defame or invade publicity rights or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person's personal or property rights or any other third party rights, or involve physical harm to any person or animal; may not contain verbal or visual mentions of commercial/corporate advertising, including but not limited to corporate logos, brand names, and slogans, other than those permitted by these Official Rules; may not include any viruses, worms, corrupt files, Trojan horses, or other forms of corruptive code or content that may harm or compromise the Contest Site and/or the proper conduct of the Contest; may not use any watermarks but may contain a signature by the artist provided that the signature is capable of removal at the request of Sponsor or Square Enix if the entry is adapted for use by the Sponsor or Square Enix as a winning entry in accordance with these Rules; and, if found to be in violation of these Rules will be disqualified and therefore removed from the Contest Site Gallery.

    • Only online entries will be accepted. No hard copies of the entry will be accepted for judging. Do not submit original files or Works.
    • Note: The three winning entries will be used in connection with a direct advertisement for LIGHTNING RETURNS: Final Fantasy XIII placed on deviantART as a home page billboard takeover.
    • ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED BY 11:59:59 PM (PT) FEBRUARY 20, 2014 . No illegible, incomplete, forged or altered entries will be accepted. Works will not be returned.
    • Entrants may enter as many Works as they like however duplicate entries are not allowed.
  2. ENTRANT'S RIGHTS:
    • All Works submitted will remain the exclusive property of the Entrant, provided that:
      • Entrant will not acquire any ownership or other interest in any and all trademarks, logos copyrights and other intellectual property of Square Enix, Ltd. including any Final Fantasy characters, costumes, devices or other elements, or any characters, costumes, devices or elements rendered by Entrant as part of the Work that use any copyrighted or trademarked element of materials owned and controlled Square Enix, Ltd. (collectively the "Marks");
      • Except as expressly required in these Official Rules, entrant may not use the Marks in any manner whatsoever in connection with the Work or otherwise without Square Enix's express prior written approval;
      • During the Promotion Period, and for a period of one year thereafter, eligible Works submitted to the Contest may be posted at the Contest Site or otherwise displayed in selections made by Sponsor or Square Enix and in any form in social media applications on or off the deviantART site, but only in connection with promotion of the Contest and/or with reference to the Contest;
      • The three winning entries will be used in connection with a direct advertisement for LIGHTNING RETURNS: Final Fantasy XIII placed on deviantART as a homepage billboard takeover or winners announcement in Square Enix's homepage and announcements. Entrant specifically consents to this use and understands that the winning Work may be adapted, altered or modified in any fashion for this use.
      • Entrant may not authorize or permit any Work to be used to promote any product or service of any party other than Entrant and/or Sponsor and/or Square Enix, may not sell the Work or receive any payment for the use of the Work and may only use the Work for the purposes of display in social networks such as deviantART or in a personal portfolio all to the extent the Work incorporates the Marks.
      • Entrant acknowledges that Square Enix have had, and will continue to have, numerous other artists render artwork based on Final Fantasy properties, and that Square Enix may freely use any such artwork without any obligation or liability to Entrant whatsoever notwithstanding any coincidental similarity between such artwork and the Work.
  3. SELECTION OF WINNERS:

    4. Three winners will be selected on or about March 7, 2014, from all eligible and qualified entries. DeviantART staff will judge and select, from all of the entries, 50 entries which will then be judged by Tetsuya Nomura, the main character designer for Final Fantasy, to decide the three winners. The three winners will be selected by on the basis of (i) Originality of the "customization" of Lightning (ii) Overall Impact of the Work, (iii) Technical and Artistic Skill; all in whatever degree the judges believe to be appropriate in reaching a decision. The judges' decisions are final on all matters relating to the Contest. In the event of a tie in any portion of the judging process, the judges themselves will resolve the tie.

    In the event Mr. Nomura becomes unavailable, his judging will be performed by senior creative staff at Square Enix.

    The three winners will appear one at a time and one per day over a three day period in home page billboard takeovers.

  4. PRIZES: 3 Grand Prize Winners

    5. Each Grand Prize Winner will receive the following package:

    • $1,000 U.S. dollars;
    • One original sketch from FINAL FANTASY character designer Tetsuya Nomura (priceless but the paper the sketch is on would be ARV $10);
    • One customized Xbox360 console and controller (ARV $300)*;
    • One FINAL FANTASY XIII trilogy (3 separate copies of FINAL FANTASY XIII, FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII) for the Xbox360 (ARV $100);
    • One Extra Large LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII button-down collar shirt (ARV $30);
    • One LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII logo keychain (ARV $15).

      * If the FFXIII edition Xbox360 console is not available in a configuration suitable to the Entrant's country of residence, Sponsor or Square Enix may replace it with a substitute Xbox 360 console or cash equivalent upon is sole discretion.

      • Total ARV of each Grand Prize package: $1,455.00 USD. Total ARV for all prizes; $4,365.00 USD All prizes will be awarded (assuming sufficient number of entries). No other substitution or transfer of prizes permitted. Sponsor responsible only for prize delivery; not responsible for prize utility, quality or otherwise. Taxes and fees, if any, are the sole responsibility of prize winners.

  5. ELIGIBILITY:

    6. Contest open to deviantART members residing anywhere in the world who are at least thirteen (13) years old as of February 11, 2014, except employees and volunteers (and their immediate families and members of the same household) of Sponsor and Square Enix. and their respective affiliates, corporate parents or subsidiaries, agents, advertising and promotion agencies. There is no charge for deviantART membership.

  6. VERIFICATION OF WINNERS AND DELIVERY OF PRIZES:

    7. Potential winners will, and other potential winners may, be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and liability release and, where permitted, a publicity release. Prize may be forfeited if affidavit or releases are not returned within 14 days after mailing to potential winner or if prize notification letter or prize is returned as undeliverable. Each of the three winners agree to Sponsor and Square Enix's use of his/her user name on deviantART for promotional purposes in connection with use of the Entrant’s Work as permitted in these Official Rules in any medium without additional compensation to the extent permitted by law.

  7. GENERAL:

    8. This Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law and is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. This Contest will be governed by the internal laws of the State of California, USA. Any and all legal actions or claims arising in connection with this Contest must be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction within the State of California. Sponsor and judges not responsible for late, lost, stolen, damaged, garbled, incomplete, misaddressed, postage due, incorrect or misdirected entries, mail or communications, for errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects, or delays in operations or transmission of information, in each case whether arising by way of technical or other failures or malfunctions of computer hardware, software, communications devices, or transmission lines or data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of entry materials, loss or otherwise. Sponsors and judges not responsible for electronic communications which are undeliverable as a result of any form of active or passive filtering of any kind, or insufficient space in entrant's e-mail account to receive e-mail messages. Sponsor disclaims any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participation in, or accessing, posting, uploading or downloading information in connection with, this Contest, and reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to modify, cancel, terminate or suspend this Contest should any virus, bug, technical failures, unauthorized human intervention or other causes beyond Sponsor's reasonable control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness or proper conduct of the Contest. In the event of any such cancellation, termination or suspension, a notice will be posted on the Contest Site and the winners will be selected from among all eligible entries received prior to such time. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any entrant from this Contest or any other promotion conducted now or in the future by Sponsor or any of its affiliates if the Entrant's fraud or misconduct adversely affects the integrity of the Contest. By participating in this Contest, each Entrant accepts the conditions stated in these Official Rules, agrees to be bound by the decisions of the judges and warrants that s/he is eligible to participate in this Contest. By accepting a prize, winner agrees to release Sponsor and their respective directors, employees, officers, and agents, including without limitation, their advertising and promotion agencies, from any and all liability, loss or damages arising from or in connection with the awarding, receipt, and/or use or misuse of the prize or participation in any prize-related activities.

  8. CAUTION:

    9. ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THIS CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS. SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

  9. WINNERS LIST:

    10. To obtain winner's list, go to www.deviantart.com. Winners list will be available after selection and verification of winners as provided in these Official Rules.

  10. Sponsor

    11. deviantART, Inc., 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #788, Hollywood, CA 90028

  11. QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS CONTEST:

    12. Go to www.deviantart.com.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

FINAL FANTASY, the FINAL FANTASY logo, LIGHTNING RETURNS, the LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY logo, SQUARE ENIX, the SQUARE ENIX logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Square Enix Group.

PLEASE NOTE: THESE OFFICIAL RULES TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ANY TERMS OR RIGHTS TO THE CONTRARY SET OUT IN DEVIANTART'S TERMS OF SERVICE, SUBMISSION POLICY OR ETIQUETTE POLICIES AND ANY SELECTION OF A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE WITH RESPECT TO YOUR ENTRY WILL BE TREATED AS NULL AND VOID TO THE EXTENT NOT CONSISTENT WITH THESE OFFICIAL RULES.

By clicking on the "Submit Entry" button below, you agree that you have read and understand, and agree to be bound by, the above Official Rules.