Recently Erin and I have been contacted by a few people who are running contests for artists. We normally don't post these sorts of things but when the winner of one of the contests is awarded a house (yes, you read that right) we had to look twice. Win a house? Yes. Seriously. I didn't believe it at first and read the fine print with extra care, waiting to find the words "nigeria" and "bank account." Thankfully, both terms were omitted and, instead I got "park city, Utah mansion" "lovely art-loving couple" and "send us your art for submission."

Oh, who wants to read my blabber when you can just watch here for yourself:

If your boss raised an eyebrow at all the noise coming from your office and you had to stop the video, here's a summary:

It's been our longtime dream to start a foundation. About a year ago we decided to sell our dream home in Park City, UT for the funds to start The DO Tank. You've probably heard, the market is slow so we had to think outside the box to try and make our dream come true. The 200 Story Home was born!

The contest is called "The 200 Story Home" as we are collecting 19,000 "stories" in the form of written stories, photographs, collages, scrapbooking, poems, etc. We'll narrow it down to the top 200 entries and our panel of judges will pick the grand prize winner who will pick a charity to receive $50,000 and win our home or half a million dollars in cash! Every piece of art will be on our site after the contest closes. We also created some awesome Early Bird prizes: Mini Coopers, Harley Davidsons and cash...it is possible that one person could win 12 Harleys or 6 Minis! (We are giving another $50,000 to our favorite charities.)

Here are some photos of the home up for grabs. Remember, winner gets choice of the house or $500,000.

Oh, I miss the cold weather so much living here in Austin, I think I could get used to having a second, snow-covered home.

Ok, normally, I would take the $500,000 cash (did you catch that the winner gets their choice between the house and $500,000) but that in-door heated pool could tip the scales.

Interested? Here are the rulz:

ALL PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED OR YOUR MONEY AND ART SUBMISSION WILL BE RETURNED!
Tickets are $100. Each ticket is good for one art entry into the contest. THE ART CAN BE SUBMITTED AFTER (LONG AFTER) YOU HAVE BOUGHT YOUR TICKET. Please enter early so you are eligible for Early Bird Prizes.
An art entry is anything 8 1/2" x 11" x 1/4" in size or smaller and relates thematically to "home." It can be a photograph, poem, scrapbook, collage, mosaic, story or a photo of something larger like a sculpture, a quilt or a cake! NOTE: We cannot accept submissions electronically/via email.
We'll narrow the entries down to the top 200 and the panel of judges will pick the Grand Prize Winner.
The Grand Prize is our home in Park City or $500,000 in cash.
The 199 runner-ups will each receive $500 in cash.
The Grand Prize Winner will get to pick a charity to receive $50,000 in cash.
The top 200 entries will be published in an ebook or bound book and we plan to take them on a traveling art exhibition.

Be sure to consult the Official RULES and the FAQs for all the details

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I know it sounds insane, but I strongly encourage any artists among our readers to look into this. You can see the entire site here: 200 Story Home