UPDATE: Due to the large number of responses, the Cryptic has decided to implement up to 150 designs in the game and give beta keys to everyone whose art makes it into Champions Online. The deadline has also been extended to June 22.

If you'd like to have one of your artistic creations utilized in Champions Online, you should consider entering Cryptic's emblem contest. All you need to do is make a chest emblem using black and red on a white background without too much detail and send it in by June 18. The top five entries will be added to the game's costume creator, and the top 10 submissions will get beta keys. More information can be found after the jump.

Also, the Champions Online Daily News has posted a related article discussing the legal restrictions on contests. Basically, the emblem contest was originally only open to U.S. residents, but has since been extended to include Canada as well. According to marcom manager Ivan Sulic, "Opening up contests and sweepstakes to other territories is a very time consuming and costly legal process as each country has its own restrictions, rules, and regulations. The EU, for instance, cannot be handled as a single entity, and so we must pursue each European country individually. That being said, we are working on opening up our contests to other territories… Right now, actually!"

How would you like to see something you’ve created actually placed in Champions Online? We’re giving you the chance to create a chest emblem, which will then be implemented in the game as an option for all future players to use. Our art team will select five of the best submissions and add the designs to our Costume Creator. The top ten submissions will all receive beta keys as well! Submissions must follow these guidelines:

• Emblems should only use two colors – black and red (on a white background). This is so players in-game can modify the colors as they like using our Costume Creator.
• Emblems should be symbolic, iconic, and ‘basic’ enough to read well at a distance – lots of fine detail and noise tends to get lost.
• Emblem images should be exactly 512 x 512 pixels, and saved in 24-bit uncompressed TARGA format (.tga).

Submissions must be emailed to contest@champions-online.com and will be accepted until June 18th, at which point our team will judge the submissions. This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents. You can check out the official contest rules here. Good luck!