The Dinosaur Toy Forum Diorama Contest 2025 sponsored by Happy Hen Toys is now open!
It’s time to get creative again and begin planning and building your ‘dinoramas’ for the latest contest! And thanks to the fantastic folks at Happy Hen Toys we’re delighted to announce there are generous prizes this year.
Rules, regulations, terms and conditions
Anyone can enter. All members of the Dinosaur Toy Forum, including staff, can participate. Non-members who wish to participate are invited to register an account on the Dinosaur Toy Forum (this is free).
Dioramas. Dioramas must feature prehistoric creatures: from belemnites to Brontosaurus. We are using a broad definition of “diorama” so it could be anything from a traditionally constructed self-contained diorama scene, to a photograph of toys arranged outside. Dioramas must be new (never published or shared on the internet before) and must have been produced by the entrant. Stealing somebody else’s diorama will result in disqualification.
One diorama per member. Entrants may submit one photograph of their diorama. Once submitted it cannot be exchanged for an alternative entry.
Title. Entries must be accompanied by a creative title. If no title is provided the entry will be listed in the contest as “Untitled #”.
Photoshop. Photoshop is allowed, but original photograph(s) used in the diorama must be your own. Using somebody else’s photographs will result in disqualification. This includes for background scenes (e.g. stock images are not allowed).
AI. The use of AI is not allowed in any form. AI generated backgrounds are not allowed.
Winners. There will be three winners in first, second and third place respectively (no joint positions). These will be selected by an anonymous public poll open to all Dinosaur Toy Forum members. This poll will take place within seven days after the closing date (see below). A tie-break poll will be created in the event of any tied positions. There will also be three additional honourable mentions for dioramas in positions four to six.
Prizes. This year the contest is sponsored by Happy Hen Toys who have provided the following generous cash prizes:
1st place prize: $100 (USD)
2nd place prize: $50 (USD)
3rd place prize: $25 (USD)
Prizes will, preferably, be transferred to winners via PayPal, and if this isn’t possible, then via bank transfer. Any currency conversion or transfer fees will come out of the prize money. Winners will be contacted by email in October 2025 after they have been selected and officially announced.
How to enter
Entries must be anonymous until the winners are announced. We therefore request that entrants do not watermark or sign their entries, or discuss them on the forum until after the results are announced.
Submission. Entries should be submitted as a jpeg (.jpg or .jpeg) image file at least 1500px wide. Larger images are allowed, but when the images are shared online the contest organiser will resize them, so they are all the same width, for consistency and for ease of viewing on the web. Send your entry as an email attachment to dinotoyblog@gmail.com with the following format:
The email title should read as follows: “diorama contest 2025 [ forum username ]”
The body of the email should include the diorama title.
A confirmation reply email will be sent to entrants within seven days of receipt. Please be patient. If, after seven days, you have still not received a confirmation reply, then feel free to email again to ask if your entry was received.
Deadline. The contest is open from today (Monday 3rd March 2025) until the deadline on Friday 10th October 2025. Entries received after Friday the 10th, according to Eastern Standard Time, will be invalid.
Additional terms and conditions
By entering this contest, you agree to give the Dinosaur Toy Blog and Dinosaur Toy Forum the right to share your entry in the public poll, in public blog and forum posts, and on social media, for the following purposes: the public vote, announcement of the winners, and promotion of this and future Dinosaur Toy Forum Diorama Contests.
Good luck everyone! We hope you have a great Dinosaur Toy Forum Diorama Contest 2025 sponsored by Happy Hen Toys, and have lots of fun making and sharing your dioramas!
Thanks once again to our fabulous sponsors Happy Hen Toys for getting behind the contest!
Disclaimer: links to Ebay and Amazon on the DinoToyBlog are affiliate links, so we make a small commission if you use them. Thanks for supporting us!
I have a question. I live in Iran, which as most of you know is enemy with America. If I win the contest (which is almost impossible as most of the members are way more professional than me lol) how can I receive the cash prizes? And also, can the diorama be unrealistic? For example, can I put two species that didn’t live at the same time/place in the same photo?
The sponsor is transferring the prize fund to the organiser (me) in the UK, so I’ll send the prizes out to the winners. If it’s simply impossible to transfer to certain counties, we’ll work out an alternative. Maybe convert to vouchers or something. But we can cross that bridge if we come to it.
Sure, you can create a mix and match diorama if you like. We’ve had science fiction dinosaur dioramas in the past, and Jurassic Park dioramas. So long as there are prehistoric animal models in the scene, it counts.