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MRTvision Screenshot Contest

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MRTvision Screenshot Contest
MRTvision Screenshot Contest.png
The current logo, in use since the seventh contest
CreatorMinecraftYoshi26
No. of contests13
Based onEurovision Song Contest
MRT Screenshot Contest
Production
PresenterMcYoshi26[a]
Production locationsVarious host cities
Producer(s)McYoshi26
Various individuals
Release
BroadcastersMBS (2–4, 6–present)
Box Television Network (5)
Show runJune 16, 2018 – present

The MRTvision Screenshot Contest, often known simply as MRTvision, is a server-wide screenshot competition held among the cities of the MRT Server organized and produced by McYoshi26. Each participating city submits an original screenshot to be shared publicly, and then all participants and the public cast votes for the other cities' screenshots to determine the winner. All ranked cities are currently eligible to compete as long as they meet the requirements.

Top-placing screenshots from contests have been featured on the front page of the MRT's website.

History

In 2015, the first MRTvision Song Contest occurred, with major similarities to the Eurovision Song Contest with members singing. In 2018, MinecraftYoshi26 became more interested in the Eurovision Song Contest wanted to create a contest that brought the Eurovision Song Contest to the server where everyone could partake, regardless of singing abilities. He ultimately came up with the idea of mixing the Eurovision Song Contest's style of voting and other aspects with the MRT Screenshot Contest. The concept was first proposed secretly at the June 2018 General Staff Meeting. The format had players voting using the Eurovision format of voting and participation, as participants would be branded under a town or state that they owned. The initial format required all screenshots to be of the 'host city', as an incentive to win the contest. This was dropped in favor of allowing more variability in screenshots and giving more freedom to participants. The concept was approved and made public following the General Staff Meeting on June 16, 2018, with the first contest opening submissions the same day.

Beginning in the third contest, semi-finals were introduced for the first due to the higher volume of participants.

Format

Elecna Bay's screenshot from the third contest featured on the MRT website's carousel in 2019

Participants sign up under towns or states and are referred to as "cities", regardless of whether they are of Senator rank or higher or are a state. Cities submit original screenshots, all to be shown to the public. A city is typically represented by, but not always, that city's mayor. States may participate to embody many cities; however, any cities in that state may not partake. A player may only represent one city and have one final screenshot.

During a specified period, the cities' participants then proceed to cast votes for the other cities' screenshots: participants are not allowed to vote for their screenshot. At the end of the designated voting period, the screenshot with the most points is declared as the winner. The winner receives the prestige of having won, hosting or choosing the next competition's venue for the ceremony, influencing the slogan, and between $3,000 and $5,000. Second place receives $2,000 (formerly $3,000 for the first contest) and third place receives $1,000. For the first two contests, the top 12 were featured on the MRT website. From the third contest on, the top 10 were featured on the MRT website.

A qualification round, known as the semi-final, was introduced for the third contest. The highest-placed screenshots from the semi-final qualified for the grand final, while the lower-placed screenshots were eliminated. In each of the semi-finals, the voting is conducted among those cities which participate in that semi-final. The automatic grand final qualifier, the prior winner, votes in both semi-finals. The public may not vote in the semi-finals, as that is closed to participants only. The top 10 cities which receive the most votes in each semi-final qualify for the grand final. The qualifiers are announced by the presenter in random order. Full voting results are withheld until after the final.

External documents
document icon MRTvision Screenshot Contest data

A semi-final allocation draw was first introduced in the fifth contest. Semi-finalists are allocated into a number of pots, based on aggregate rankings by participant, not by city, from prior contest data. These allocations were introduced to reduce the chance of lopsided semi-finals by predicted placement from prior contests. The allocation of which semi-final the participants in each pot is determined by random draw.

The draw order in the semi-finals and finals is determined by random draw. The draw order determines the order in which the screenshots are presented in each contest's Google Drive folder and in the voting form. The draw order may also be used to break ties where point distributions are identical.

The contest is typically held one to three times a year.

Participation

Cities may choose to join by filling out the provided form to join before the deadline. From the first to the fourth contest, cities confirmed their participation directly with MinecraftYoshi26 to join. The city must be on the New World and have a flag. Members who opt to run under a state must have at least one of the state's constituent cities on the New World. The city also must be ranked; however, there is some flexibility. For members who own a town that is unranked and have no other ranked towns, they may enter their town as long as they fit the other requirements. If a member does not have any towns, then they may represent someone else's town. For example, chiefbozx owns Vermilion and Schillerton, but could only represent one and have SilverWolv, who does not own a town on the server, represent another. Such is allowed specifically as an option only for members who do not own towns. In certain circumstances, the mayor of a town can elect their deputy mayor to represent their city.

All entrants receive between $10 to $30 for full participation by voting, regardless of placement.

As of the thirteenth contest, 150 unique towns and states, excluding states that originally participated as a singular city, with 126 unique members having participated at least once. Italicized cities refer to a new city participating, but not with a new member. The cities are listed here alongside the contest in which they made their debut:

Contest City making its debut entry
1 Aprix[b], Arbatskaya Moscow[c], City-State of Kitania, Covina, Coruscant, Deadbush, Eagleshore, Eden, Elecna Bay, Espil, Kessler, Lacledic Republic, Marblegate, Murrville, New Bakersville City, New Woodbury, Nymphalia, Oasis Sands, Peripotamia, Quiris, Radiance Square, Rank Resort, Richville, Segville, Seoland, Silver Mountain, Utopia, Waverly, Wazamawazi, West Calbar, Whiteley, Woodsdale
2 Bawktown, Birchwood, Cactus River, Carnoustie, Fort Yaxier, Kevtropolis, Kyoto, Pixl, Secunda, Sunshine Coast
3 Arcadia, Christi, Euphorial, Lakestead, Larkspur, New Amsterdam, Onemalu, PMW City, Venceslo, Verdantium, Victoria
4 Achowalogen Takachsin, Fernar City, Hamblin, Moramoa, Nymphic Union[d], Spruce Valley, Storalia, Tokyo
5 Bahia[e], Boston, Courtbush, New Genisys, Redwood, Republic of Formosa[f], Sylvania, Titsensaki, Waterville
6 Foresne, Geneva Bay, Gillmont, Lapis Bay, PhoenixVille, Sansvikk, Santa Abeja, Skogheim, Totem Beach, Tranquil Forest, Wenyanga
7 Castilion, Dand, East Mesa, Eastlake, Hendon, Malosa, Oparia, San Dzobiak, Shenghua
8 Ardaman, Armada, Barshat Abtalit, Beachview, Cape Cambridge, Caravaca, Cardinal Bay, Chillington, Encinitas, Frikandel, Lanatam, Macapa, Millville, Niwen, Winterside, Winterville
9 Broville, Caprica, Cirno Bay, Creeperville, Essex, Miu Wan, Itavanga, Midbay, Musique, Silverville, Upton Ulster
10 Bristol, Cornwall, Dewford City, Idk, Itomori, Konten State[g], Porton, Tres Ríos, Tung Wan, Winter Wind
11 Auburn, Cypress, Kanata[h], Keriyowna, New Chandigarh, New Constantinople, Newark, Nibel, Nuuk, Stillwater
12 Birmingham, Filipowice, Memphis, Minery City, Pascal, Port Dupont, Republic of Miu Wan[i], Solstice Springs
13 Durham, Gander, Greenwich, New Beech Woods, New Moon City, Ox River, Rainer Bay, Refuge, Sienos, Torino, Tureon

Hosting

Each contest has been presented by McYoshi26[a]. McYoshi26 is also listed as a producer often alongside the mayor of the host city if they aided in logo, slogan, and design work or selection.

Host city and venue

Cities which have hosted the MRTvision Screenshot Contest
     A single hosting      Two hostings

Beginning in the second contest, a city owned by the previous winner typically hosts the following contest. The venue is required to have a stage, seating for viewers, and an optional location for a camera. Host cities and venues have sometimes been chosen from a pre-released list of venues in all New World towns owned by the winner of the previous contest. Some venues have been built or refurbished as a direct result of the contest, including the Champion's Bowl in Arcadia.

Two cities have hosted the contest twice: Arcadia (fifth and sixth contests) and Wazamawazi (third and ninth contests).

For the tenth contest, a public bid format was used to determine the host venue rather than simply choosing from the prior winner's cities.

Logo, slogan, and identity

The original logo used from the first contest to sixth contest

The original contest was proposed with all screenshots required to be taken in the prior winning town; however, after GSM discussion, this was removed before the first contest occurred.

Before the second contest, MinecraftYoshi26 and host city owner Cortesi discussed a possible idea of a theme for all screenshots. After a poll was put on Discord, it was decided that there would be no theme. Although the poll showed a slight majority wanted a theme, MinecraftYoshi26 stated that they had come to the decision of no theme as they "want to not limit the people participating and avoid people from complaining their photo was rejected on the grounds of not fitting the theme".

Each contest's logo contains the generic MRTvision Screenshot Contest logo often with another design. The original generic MRTvision Screenshot Contest logo was an edited version of the Eurovision Song Contest logo. The current generic logo is an edited version of the MRTvision 2017 Song Contest logo created by MikeRoma. The slogan and logo are typically used to plan and formulate the show's visual identity, including the logo, broadcast, and scoreboard coloring.

The slogans for each contest are listed below:

No. Host city Slogan
1 Flag of Central City.png Central City "Celebrating Six Years"
2 Flag of Murrville v1.png Murrville "Show Us What You've Got"
3 Flag of Wazamawazi.png Wazamawazi "One of a Kind"
4 Flag of Fort Yaxier.png Fort Yaxier "A Visual Symphony"
5 Flag of Arcadia.png Arcadia "Worth a Thousand Words"
6 Flag of Arcadia.png Arcadia "Hub For Inspiration"
7 Flag of Airchester.png Airchester "Looking Back"
8 Flag of Covina.png Covina "Paint the World"
9 Flag of Wazamawazi.png Wazamawazi "To the Stars and Beyond!"
10 Flag of Nymphalia.png Nymphalia "Efflorescent Quaintness"
11 Flag of Hamblin.png Hamblin "In Vivid Color"
12 Flag of Caprica.png Caprica "Shine Bright"
13 Flag of Solstice Springs.png Solstice Springs "The New Age Welcomes You"

Rules

Screenshots

FredTheTimeLord took his entry to the sixth contest, "City", on a copy of the New World on single player.

The screenshots can be of anywhere on the MRT Server, not just in the town that a participant represents. Renders are accepted. Editing photos, such as photoshopping or using Lightroom, is not allowed; however, using texture packs that do not majorly alter the photo's contents and shaders is allowed. Cropping screenshots are allowed. The screenshot may contain any subjects, including the addition of temporary armor stands or any other modifications to the scene, as long as it is within server rules. The heads-up display (HUD) must be hidden in submissions. Screenshots are allowed to be rejected on any grounds by the producers.

Screenshots are allowed to be taken off-server on a copy of an MRT world or the beta server; however, the locations must not be "very drastically" different than their counterpart on the main server unless explicitly exempted by production.

Each city is allowed to re-submit their entry up to two times after their initial submission during the submission period. Cities would be given approximately two to three weeks to find a screenshot and submit it. The city's designated photographer can only submit a screenshot taken by them.

Beginning in the MRTvision Screenshot Contest 13, old screenshots are allowed to be submitted as long as they have not been released publicly before the final ceremony of the previous contest. Before that, any screenshots released publicly were ineligible to be submitted.

Voting

Foresne's point distribution as seen in the ninth contest's broadcast

Each participant is required to award a set of 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 top screenshots. The public may also vote by filling out the voting form. Public voters must be at least of the Member rank. Entrants may not vote for themselves. Players having someone else represent their city may not vote for their own city but can vote for others as a public voter. The public may not vote in the semi-finals, as it is closed to participants only. Non-qualifiers were required to vote in the final as a participant in the third and fourth contests; however, this changed in the fifth contest with non-qualifiers no longer required to vote in the final. If a non-qualifier wants to vote in the final, they are allowed to as a member of the public.

Voting based on the photographer solely is implicitly not allowed. Participants may not be penalized for doing so. Bribery and plotting with a group or on a large scale to sway the votes is not allowed. Participants may not purposefully vote for what they deem as the 'worst' screenshots to get ahead.

Each city receives a draw number that is used on the voting form.

Beginning in the sixth contest, in ties for any placement, the submission that received points from the most different voters gets the higher placement. If multiple submissions receive points from the same amount of voters, the submission with the most 12 points gets the higher placement. If multiple screenshots also receive the same amount of 12 points, then the higher placement goes to the submission with more 10 points, all the way down to 1 point. If multiple submissions have the same point distribution, the later in the draw order is given the higher placement. In the fifth contest and prior, ties were decided without consideration of the number of voters and instead through the amount of 12 points, then 10 points, then so on.

List of contests

No. Final Host city Winner Photographer Screenshot City photographed Points Margin Runner-up Third place
1 July 8, 2018 Flag of Central City.png Central City Flag of Murrville v1.png Murrville Cortesi "After the Party" Daneburg 280 40 Flag of Kessler.png Kessler Flag of Covina.png Covina
2 December 1, 2018 Flag of Murrville v1.png Murrville Flag of Wazamawazi.png Wazamawazi autobus22 "Golf at the Savannah Oasis" Bexley 365 15 Flag of Secunda.png Secunda Flag of Covina.png Covina
3 March 30, 2019 Flag of Wazamawazi.png Wazamawazi Flag of Fort Yaxier.png Fort Yaxier camelfantasy "One Summer's Day" Aeolia 404 27 Flag of Victoria.png Victoria Flag of Elecna Bay.png Elecna Bay
4 July 27, 2019 Flag of Fort Yaxier.png Fort Yaxier Flag of Arcadia.png Arcadia lil_shadow59 "Parks and Recreation" Arcadia 423 4 Flag of Moramoa.png Moramoa Flag of Murrville v1.png Murrville
5 November 16, 2019 Flag of Arcadia.png Arcadia Flag of Arcadia.png Arcadia lil_shadow59 "15 Million Tons of Economic Power" Arcadia 294 103 Flag of Spruce Valley.png Spruce Valley Flag of Lacledic Republic.png Lacledic Republic
6 May 8, 2020 Flag of Arcadia.png Arcadia Flag of Murrville.png Murrville RacCort "Work Starts at Dusk" Anthro Island 221 21 Flag of Covina.png Covina Flag of Peripotamia.png Peripotamia
7 August 15, 2020 Flag of Airchester.png Airchester Flag of Covina.png Covina _Kastle "Like a Shooting Star, I Will Go the Distance" Gray Cloud 302 47 Flag of Arcadia.png Arcadia Flag of Redwood.png Redwood
8 March 27, 2021 Flag of Covina.png Covina Flag of Wazamawazi.png Wazamawazi autobus22 "Before Closing" Wazamawazi 220 32 Flag of Redwood.png Redwood Flag of City-State of Kitania.png City-State of Kitania
9 September 25, 2021 Flag of Wazamawazi.png Wazamawazi Flag of Wazamawazi.png Wazamawazi autobus22 "Villaggio Mistico" Caprica 241 51 Flag of Lapis Bay.png Lapis Bay Flag of Peripotamia.png Peripotamia
10 March 19, 2022 Flag of Nymphalia.png Nymphalia Flag of Malosa.png Malosa ArizTrad "Crowded Solitude" Kazeshima 203 25 Flag of Sansvikk.png Sansvikk Flag of Foresne.png Foresne
11 January 21, 2023 Flag of Hamblin.png Hamblin Flag of Caprica.png Caprica Tonster__ "High Expectations" None[j] 271 89 Flag of Foresne.png Foresne Flag of Larkspur.png Larkspur
12 October 28, 2023 Flag of Caprica.png Caprica Flag of Solstice Springs.png Solstice Springs ReallyTuck "Sunset District" Solstice Springs 282 54 Flag of Murrville.png Murrville Flag of Lapis Bay.png Lapis Bay
13 September 21, 2024 Flag of Solstice Springs.png Solstice Springs Flag of Lapis Bay.png Lapis Bay AlphaDS "Autumn's Bounty" Itokani 254 29 Flag of Foresne.png Foresne Flag of Malosa.png Malosa

Winning screenshots

Some of the following images have been uploaded at a lower resolution due to file limitations on the MRT Wiki.

There have been a total of twelve screenshots that have won the contest, with only eight unique winning photographers and winning cities. The following is a gallery of all winning screenshots.

MRTvision: Celebrating 10 Screenshot Contests

MRTvision: Celebrating 10 Screenshot Contests is a program commemorating ten editions and featured a contest to determine the most popular song from among 35 selected entries from the contest's first 10 contests.

The winner was Covina with the screenshot "Like a Shooting Star, I Will Go the Distance", taken by _Kastle, which originally won the MRTvision Screenshot Contest 7.

Notes

  1. a b Named MinecraftYoshi26 for the first nine contests
  2. Before Aprix was renamed in 2019, it was presented as Sulfureal Lakes.
  3. Before Arbatskaya Moscow was renamed in 2020, it was presented as Hanamura.
  4. Before the creation of the Nymphic Union in 2019, Nymphalia ran as a city. SoaPuffball, the mayor of Nymphalia, opted to run as the state, which included Nymphalia, rather than the singular town.
  5. Before the creation of Bahia in 2019, Sunshine Coast ran as a city. Echohue, the mayor of Sunshine Coast, opted to run as the state, which included Sunshine Coast, rather than the singular town.
  6. Before the fifth contest, Fort Yaxier ran as a city. camelfantasy, the mayor of Fort Yaxier, opted to run as the republic, which included Fort Yaxier, rather than the singular town.
  7. Before the creation of Konten State in 2022, Cirno Bay ran as a city. chimata, the mayor of Cirno Bay, opted to run as the state, which included Cirno Bay, rather than the singular town.
  8. Before the creation of Kanata in 2022, Cornwall ran as a city. Spegit007, the mayor of Cornwall, opted to run as the state, which included Cornwall, rather than the singular town.
  9. Before the twelfth contest, Miu Wan ran as a city. HarborRandom852, the mayor of Miu Wan, opted to run as the republic, which included Miu Wan, rather than the singular town.
  10. The screenshot was taken at the in-construction version of Port Le on the Lab World.