Neopians, we’ve seen the feedback and discussion regarding the recent contest and spotlight changes, especially around communication and the suddenness of some updates.

We regret that a clearer explanation was not provided earlier and are sharing this update to provide a comprehensive picture of what’s changing, why we’re making these changes, what work is being done behind the scenes, and how we’ll communicate more effectively moving forward. We know many of these contests are a core part of how many players create, connect, and spend time on-site, and because of that, we want to be transparent about what’s happening and what comes next.

2026 Contests and Spotlight Schedule Update

Below is the new contest schedule roadmap. Some dates are confirmed, and others are still tentative while updates are finalised. 

Planned Changes

• Update Creative Contest Prize Pool
• Centralised and updated FAQs
• Petpet Protection League
  • Status: Pausing at Round 1050
  • Date: March 18, 2026
  • Note: This is being paused for backend updates and script optimisation.
• Storytelling
  • Status: Frequency reduction
  • New cadence: Once a month
  • Start date: Tentatively March 2026 
• Art Gallery
  • Status: Frequency reduction with expanded winners per contest
  • New cadence: Once a week 
  • Winners: Increasing from 36 winners per contest to 48 winners
  • Coming Soon: “Easel-y the Best” Avatar grant mechanism to be updated to be awarded to users who view the “Picture Competition Trophy” (Art Gallery trophy) on their userlookup 
• Neopian Times
  • Poetry is being added to Neopian Times to diversify writing 
  • Capped submissions (5 submissions per issue) 
• Poetry
  • Status: Will be moving to the Neopian Times with reduced frequency
  • New cadence: Twice a month/will release with the NT 
  • Additional updates: Improved prize/reward support and backend judging optimisation
  • Note: Submission caps and winner counts may be adjusted based on volume
• Mystery Pic
  • Coming Soon: Neopets Companion App Integration and new prize pool/rewards
• Customisation Spotlight
  • Coming Soon: Adding overall gameplay improvements and themes, capped submissions, better voting system and presentation, as well as category clarity, and NC & NP Prize Pool improvements
• Beauty Contest
  • Coming Soon: Prevention of users from submitting the same pet that won a previous week, to enter the next week’s Beauty Contest, and looking into the increase of submission file size for the Beauty Contest.

Why These Changes Are Happening

These decisions were not made lightly. Over the past several weeks, multiple internal reviews were held to evaluate the current Contest and Spotlight lineup. The main issue for our team is sustainability: there are many recurring contests (some daily, some weekly, some concurrent), but not all of them require the same amount of staff time, and several rely on older, unreliable backend tools and workflows that are difficult to manage consistently.

A significant factor in these changes is that the contest systems have not had meaningful backend or process updates in years. These systems were also not designed for a modern submission environment, including the increased volume of AI-generated entries that require additional moderation. In practice, this affects not only submission handling, judging, and winner selection, but also often requires time-consuming manual workarounds involving both the limited staff running the contests, devs troubleshooting backend errors, and results in process bottlenecks that require additional support from other teams, including Customer Support, to review tickets and resolve mistakes. Over time, there has been a compounding effect on consistency, turnaround time, and the ability to improve the overall contest experience.

Another factor we have taken into consideration is participation. While some contests, such as the Customisation Spotlight, receive more than ten thousand submissions in a single week, others, such as the User Lookup Spotlight, which received only a few hundred valid submissions in the past year, are less popular. Participation volume is not the only factor considered, but it is one of several factors when balancing a limited team’s time and deciding where resources can have the broadest immediate impact while improvements are underway.

Our end goal is not to devalue creative or niche communities, as we are also looking to drive participation to those communities in more modern ways. The goal is to make the contest system more sustainable, upgrade the overall contest experience, and create a better long-term foundation for both players and staff, including but not limited to more accessible submissions, better judging workflows, and improved free-to-play incentives.

Additional Q&A

Why were these changes announced so suddenly?

We acknowledge that the communication around these changes was not handled as clearly as it should have been. A roadmap and fuller explanation should have been shared before some of these changes became visible, especially for long-running contests. When it comes to the User Lookup Spotlight specifically, it’s understood that the way it ended was not communicated well. Internally, the decision was made to end it on a round number, but we regret the lack of foresight on our part to recognise that the community should have been given more notice. That feedback has been heard clearly, and future changes to recurring contests will be communicated earlier whenever possible, starting with updates like these.

Will new creative contests be introduced?

In short, yes! We understand users need outlets to express their creativity for Neopets, and part of this broader contest update is making sure creative opportunities continue to evolve in ways that are both sustainable and modern. A new contest, inspired by the Random Contest, that will accept submissions via our social media channels, is currently in development, including a new avatar and trophy. More details will be shared soon!

What about the reduction in themed days?

The reduction in some themed days was made for a similar reason as the contest changes: sustainability and resource allocation. Creating new themed content, like new items, takes significant planning, ideation, art, and implementation support. Our goal is to shift that time towards the existing 56 Pet Days as well as major site events and holidays, so those celebrations can include better and more free-to-play content overall. These improvements will not all be visible immediately, but they will be rolled out over time as updates are completed. This reduction, however, does not mean those smaller themed days will no longer be recognised or celebrated. The plan is to continue celebrating them in other ways, such as a special themed art gallery, as contests and site features are updated.

What other theme days will be reduced?

Limited to no new items will be created for: Sloth Day, Gadgadsbogen, Cancelled Day, Grey Day, Tyrannian Victory Day, Fyora Day, Coltzan Day, Discovery of Meridell Day, Discovery of Brightvale Day, The Annual Chocolate Ball, Annual Gormball Championships, Symol Day, Slorg Day, & Borovan Day.

When will we see these changes?

As contest frequency is reduced in some areas, the plan is to pair those changes with revamps, feature improvements, or alternative outlets for creativity. These updates will be phased in over the next 6 months to allow time for the backend, process, and reward improvements. 

Closing Notes

Thank you for the continued feedback, passion, and honesty around these changes. The goal of this update is to be more transparent about what is changing and why, while continuing to build a contest and site-content experience that is sustainable, rewarding, and worthy of the community’s creativity.