Final 12 Entries WordPress Design Contest – Vote Now!

23 January, 2008 - Amy Armitage, Contests, Design

By Amy Armitage

WOW! We had a load of fantastic submissions for the contest and after removing all the broken or duplicate ones, or themes we weren’t convinced were designed by the author “claiming” them, we now have 95 FREE and beautiful WordPress themes for you all to enjoy. A special thanks to all of the designers who entered.

Maybe we should have another contest soon?

Below are our final 12 – 6 voted by our community and 6 chosen by Lunarpages! Polls closes on February 13th and first prize is $1000 and 5 years of web hosting.

[Round 1 Finalist]

Revival by Mike Nocek

[Round 2 Finalist]

Damai by eches

[Round 3 Finalist]

Winter Styled by Speckyboy

[Round 4 Finalist]

Auric by not (that) ugly

[Round 5 Finalist]

ModernMagic by Lorelei

[Round 6 Finalist]

Spa by Kate!

[Our 6 Picks for the Finals]

X4 by Xeroxaven

Light by Stephen Reinhardt

Ruins by Daniel St. Jules

One Winged Angel by Fath

Daisy dream by Michal Uhrin

DanceQueen by Liza Kliko

Vote now!

{democracy}

Update: Hello, due to some of the claims here in the comments we are pushing back the announcement of the winners for 2 weeks. That should give us enough time to investigate any and all claims of cheating. We will let you know via blog.lunarpages.com once we get things finalized. Thanks!

Update #2: Voting has now been closed. Thanks to all who voted – and we should have a winner for you in about 2 weeks. Thanks!

http://www.witheridge-devon.com Master

I would not normallypost here, but having voted for one of the designs entered in your competition I have been following the progress of the competion with interest.

As in most similar polls there has, since the start, been a clear pattern of favoured and not so favoured sites, but the pattern in the voting has been stable throughout, and following an easily descernable pattern.

However, the last two days have been completely of the scale for one site, and for anyone who has watched the voting from day one, it is blatantly obvious thatthere isan attempt going on the fix the result. Shame on the competitor, and shame on the organisers that being placed in such a position. Regretably he guilty entry should be banned, irrespective of who is placing the votes.
designer

Michal Uhrin it took you 3 weeks to gather 400 votes and then 3 hours to get additional 350 votes

Very suspicious and assuring us? Wake up this is the internet everyone knows polls can be tampered and cheated on, your a great example. You’ll be known all over as a cheater and poor sportsman.
Ben

You know, as it is possible that what you’re saying is correct uhrin, I seriously doubt that everyone is coming here to vote for yours (as stated by mike). Your numbers have increased so quickly it’s beyond a fair game. Infact, it was beyond a fair game from the moment you became in the lead. It’s a terrible design, and there is no way any designer or human with at least some taste would vote for it. I will be outraged if you end up winning.
Mike127th

I must say, as I voted for ModernMagic, I saw that it was a 10 vote difference. I thought to myself how it was going to be a race down to the wire. Then I refreshed the page, and Uhrin was suddenly15 votes ahead. I was like, damn. Then I checked again and again over the following minutes, and saw Uhrins numbers rising and no one else’s. Now, I’m sure there are a lot of people that frequent this site, but I highly doubt they are all coming to vote for Uhrin’s design. I’m not saying it is bad, but you can tell who put forth more effort into their submissions.

When I saw his votes up 100 within a half hour, that is when I called Lunar directly to voice my concerns. We are all designers that are trying to keep the edge over the competition, but when you have someone that is questionable. It looks bad on all of us. In the future, I think Uhrin needs to think about his actions before he acts upon them.

Great designs to all. Good luck in the final review of everything.
http://wptemplates.org Michal Uhrin

Hello guys, after I have read all the post, I’d like to ensure you that I am not cheating and using any proxies as well.
designer

Daisy dream by Michal Uhrin should be disqualified the guy is using proxies to give FALSE vote results in this competition and stopped using it when everyone noticed.
Captain

hmmm….exactly 200 votes ahead and it stopped voting for some time now, can be coinsendence or a good programmer….lol
I am sorry Lunar, for spamming in the comments, but it really does my head in…

Tell me to stop refreshing and close the browser!!!

Thanks Amy, I always say who laughs last, laughs the loudest
http://www.lunarpages.com Amy

We are definitely looking at this and from the time the poll closes tomorrow to the announcement on February 24th we will be looking at unusual trends in voting and removing any votes we believe to be cheating the system :)
Kalina

It’s one thing to cheat, another to do it so obviously, like, that fast climb is real obvious and pathetic.
Captain

I already seen a lot of threads on different forums, where it is noticed too by a lot of different people.
No-one thinks this can be achieved in a fair and normal way.
Its becoming a hot topic world-wide…good for lunar….bad for the contest
Anyway, last post here for now, and hopefully at the end justice is served.
Kalina

Oh sorry, it’s 724, it took me a few seconds to write that :rollseyes: this is unreal
Kalina

Geez, now it’s 717 votes from 680 minutes ago? I better just leave, constantly seeing this is just peeving me off, lol. I hate when people do this.

SOLDIER, I definitely agree about the design being nowhere near ModernMagic, there’s actually I think 4 that are quite a bit better.

Voting should be closed right now to be honest, this is INSANITY. Kudos to Mitch for keeping a level head, he has a lot to deal with ahead of him, my head would be spinning.
S0LDIER.

I really think Michael Urhin is cheating!! That design is NO WHERE NEAR as good as the other designs, ModernMagic should win! Unless you want to give away $1000 to a cheater, thats up to you, I really suggest you think about disqualifying Michel Uhrin.

Think about who you give the prize to… WISELY.

All I have to say.
Captain

My suggestion for the Lunar-team is to deduct ALL doubtfull votes, like Kalina said also someone else can be supporting the contender without his/hers knowledge.

In this way the contender has nothing to be blamed of, and the result would be a fair result
Kalina

It’s sad how dirty this had to get though, it just went up another 20 votes!!! Is there a bot that can do this? I surely would rather win because my theme IS the best, not because I cheated… this is why I don’t enter contests or even like to hold them anymore, too many unscrupulous people out there.
Kalina

Captain, it’s being quite generous to say we might be wrong, we are right, I guarandamntee it! lol…. no sense blaming the contenders, no way to know if it’s actually him or friends, associates, etc… doing him a huge disservice, yes that’s the word I meant earlier,I knew I got it wrong. :)
Captain

Mitch,

Thank you so much, again we might be wrong, but I have my serious doubts about if we are.
Allthough there is a possibility to get so much votes in a short period of time, but reflecting to the total ammount of votes this contest, and the sudden boosts of votes in such a short time-span.

I hope I am wrong and blame someone for nothing, and if I did I will full-hearted leave a big apology to that person.
Kalina

I tested with proxies, proxies do allow more votes, someone is cheating, doesn’t mean it’s a contender, it could just be his friends, etc…. really doing him a disfavor here…. I left and just came back minutes later and there’s 30 more votes on that entry… perhaps more steps need to be put in place to help secure this more, such as registration to vote… nothing’s foolproof but it might help.
http://www.webhostingshow.com Mitch

Hello, due to some of the claims here in the comments we are pushing back the announcement of the winners for 2 weeks. That should give us enough time to investigate any and all claims of cheating. We will let you know via blog.lunarpages.com once we get things finalized. Thanks!
Captain

Kalina,

Thats what I noticed this noon also, coming from 10-15 votes behind to 50 in the lead in abt 20-30 minutes.
Now he felt the heat again, because Lorelei closed in, upto 9 votes behind, and now within half an hour he is almost 100 in the lead again.

I CANNOT conclude anything else.

400 votes since the start of the contest, and now almost 300 in one day extra…hmmmm
Kalina

I have been refreshing the page and watching the votes, the votes for “Daisy dream by Michal Uhrin” are rapidly increasing by the second, please look into this.

There’s definite cheating going on here.
Captain

I really start to wonder about this contest now…Noticed something very weird this noon, and NOW I am noticing the same thing again…….over 70 votes in less then 15 minutes….CAN SOMEONE FROM LUNAR PLEASE COMFIRM, that the votes will be checked, looks likes a proxies are in use…..
Rescuer

I have some thing to say.
You know how we know Michel Uhrin is requesting people to vote for him? His theme is not all that great, its actually nothing special. Iv seen a million like it. If anyone deserves to win it is either Lorelei or Kate.

So yeah.

Michel, You Suck!
http://www.wpmix.com/ andrej

I think asking for votes and posting on multiple forums really is what Lunarpages wanted this contest to be like. It is a perfect link bait for their blog and maybe they also get some new sign ups for their hosting. So $1,000 will be awarded to the finalist with the highest number of votes (most likely the one who has built the highest number of backlinks for this blog).

Considering how the winners are determined in this competition, I wouldn’t even call it a WordPress “Design” Contest. Design contests are held by people who know what is design and the winners are selected by professional designers. I would say this is a link building contest, not a design contest.

So may the best link builder win this contest! :D
http://wptemplates.org Michal Uhrin

Captain, I didnt complaint and didnt write that it is unfair ;) so I dont know why these things…

Again I wasnt complaining about the voting system ;) it was only note and my opinion… that it would be better so :)))) but didnt know before that nowadays almost all contests are like this. I was just wondering to make a WordPress contest as well, but with people that I know good and are proffesionals in WordPress… Its only an idea to the future ;)

And I didnt say somethink like “look what other contenders are doing” ;) so why this ?

And look on my post on February 9th, 2008 at 12:39 pm, there i am writing where exactly wasnt true what she wrote… You can find a posts in that thread.

So than she can try to sign up at some interesting forum, greet the people and make her campaign as well ;)

Lorelei, I am sorry but I didnt expect what you have written about me…
Captain

Let me go over your comment and respond from what i read there with my comments about it attached.

Ofcourse you can use all sources you want to gain votes, you are not the only one who is doing that I think, but no-one else complaint about it.

About your first post,
You did participate with your design in the first round (but didnt make it to the final but got selected by the lunar-team itself)
You could have seen back then already that voting would be like this, WHY didnt you make a comment about the ünfair” voting it back then?

About what you said about Lorelei, sure she promotes it also, and mostlikly so do others, but I never seen them complain about the voting-system because they knew (just like you) it would be like this way, straight from day one.
(ps. So did you, because you made your first comment about it, on the first day of voting, again I keep with my conclusion that you didnt know about the pingback)

Your comment about campaigning and with that raising Lunars popularity is nice for them to read, but we all know that ALL designers do not promote for Lunar but ofcourse to get votes (only some do it in a different style).

I dont blame you for promting the contest (or even asking people to vote for you, or promoting lunar itself…hehe)), but simply with what you said about the voting-system you made yourself look: Like aaaaaaw, look what other contenders are doing, while you knew it would be like this from the start, why else such a comment on the first day of voting, while no-one else even posted anything about it, or got a pingback from where they promoted.

Concerning Lorelei, may I ask where she lied?She did never say she wouldnt promote or that the voting-system is unfair, and if everyone is standing behind her and her family is that big why isnt she leading by 100s of votes then, it can be just because of the simple reason I mentioned in my previous comment about where she promotes herself or the contest (or maybe even Lunar…hehe).
Also she did never sign up in a forum to make a comment on posts you made just to as in that forum you mentioned earlier, btw did you know that by bumping that thread while you posted there you actually might have given her some votes because YOU brought it under attention again and not she?

Ok, like you said, enough energy wasted.

Funny, I hope that Dancing Queen will make a sparkling come back and win this contest
http://wptemplates.org Michal Uhrin

Captain, I think I am innocent. I can use all forums that I have registered not only for this, and moreover I gained much more votes from forums that I have been registered for long time… And as well as I gained (many) votes from my friends.
And I would like to ensure you that I have all these forums in my ff favourites so I have already returned there more times, you can check it out, and in the future you can check it that to know about those forums is a big advantage…
What is bad on it? Although I am letting people know that this contest exist and they have their own mind. On the most forums that I registered, nobody voted for me, but for lorelei, because they think what you say as well about my 1st post… So yes it was bad idea for me, because I gained a lot of votes for others .

And about my first post again, I meant it in general.(i have to repeat it was only note to this, not complain) , and tell me please what is bad on it that i tell you my opinion.
On the other hand I had to do some campaigns because everyone made it as well (before, in first rounds) – so knowing this I wrote my right opinion on this and tell me again what is bad on that I am telling you my opinion…

So I dont see any difference between how this contest is promoted by me or by lorelei or anybody. ( I only found more votes for another themes except of mine ;) )

And moreover where is it in the rules that it is bad , incorrect or so? Youve said that I am playing for innocent. So did you think about it, maybe I am innocent? Why these all comments?
Promoting this contest ( what I have done I think the most effective ) will raise traffic for lunarpages as well ;) but its shame for me that I gained only a few votes from new forums for me…

I have already growed up I am 21, and I am not complaining again, I am telling you truth what has lorelei wrote as well : “that guy is really funny if u read (all!) the comments in the contest page, when he is suggesting if i will win — it will be unfair.” Again you wrote nothing on that she has lied… Why? Because she has a big internet family… And everyone is standing behind her…

In general, my best friend told me that it is worth of energy to reply on that all, but I dont think…
Captain

I do so a BIG difference on how this contest is promoted, the way YOU do it, Michal, and the way Lorelei does it.

After some googling and just checking some of the result, I come to this conclusion.
Lorelei indeed does also promote this contest, but SHE only does it on her OWN sites and in forums where she actually DOES participate.
I could not find ANY forum where she just signed up to make ONE post and to never return there anymore, even the url you gave above is a forum in where she DOES actually participate.

What you say about your fist comment, that people will start begging for votes, I guess you made that AFTER you read the comments here (pingbacks) from the sites where you asked people to vote.
I see no other reason for that, dont play the innocent person here.

Grow up and lets stop complaining here, I think we are dealing with adults here.
http://wptemplates.org Michal Uhrin

Mike and designer, both themes Loreleis and mine are valid, but when you put to http://validator.w3.org lunarpages demo page, it will show some errors. I dont know why…

Lorelei, about the sites that I have asked people to vote in general or in direct way : doesnt matter because as I said before everyone has his own mind , and you were complaining that this what I am doing is unfair, than why are you doing this?(not saying you that you are doing bad thing) When you post here – http://www.webtalkforums.com/showthread.php?t=11316 that “Lorelei needs community help” and than “I am not asking to vote for me” what kind of help will you gain if someone vote for another?
Yes it is not written in a direct way but it is the same as my posts.(in that slovak forum as well)
And what you wrote in that thread about me : “that guy is really funny if u read (all!) the comments in the contest page, when he is suggesting if i will win — it will be unfair.” – where I wrote this, that it will be unfair if you will win? I am still standing behind that you have very nice theme and have still chance to win, youre on the 1st place and it wont be unfair.
And I know that I wrote in my first comment (it was only note to this, not complain) that this, in my opinion, would be better in other way, lets say if there would be some certainly (f.e.50) people, that would be more objective, because now it is up to communities they voted and still are voting from forums…and even though I have made some campaigns because in first rounds it was so as well.
And for me it doesnt matter that you understand slovak perfect. I dont shame from those posts.
Moreover I was not suggesting that you have voted for yourself, but you havent understand me, because I meant it that you had so many posts from your campaigns (or mine :)), friends, etc.

Regards
Mike

Warning: Selector expected. Ruleset ignored due to bad selector.
Source File: http://blog.lunarpages.com/contest/wp-content/themes/ModernMagic/style.css
Line: 494
http://www.toronto-forums.com Zap

To complain about asking people to vote for you is just plain dumb. Does a politician ask people to vote for them? Yes, of course. This is a contest won by votes from the public. Of course people are going to be asking for votes and trying to get as many votes as possible. It’s not bad. It’s smart.

To complain about people asking for votes just shows that you really don’t understand what a vote is and it shows your personality in a bad light. The contest is decided by votes. If you don’t like the idea, don’t enter the contest.
http://www.toptut.com Lorelei

“designer”, what do I miss?

http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toptut.com%2Fmodernmagic%2F&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&group=0
Mike

I agree with that. That should have been in the rules from the start.
designer

The only entries that should of gone into the finals were ones that follow web standards and validate, this is 2008 not 1998.

Lorelei and Michal Uhrin your designs are nice but both have coding errors.
gonjeng

all the top 3 theme here is unbelievable.. good luck for your prizes.. not all of it even got into cssmania or some css galleries..
http://www.toptut.com Lorelei

Michal, I am not saying asking people to vote for yourself is “bad”, nor I say your theme is any “bad”, however, you obviously have far more interesting designs in your portfolio, I think it’s just unfortunate that you had this one chosen for the final vote. Of course I asked my friends to vote, though 2 of my very good friends voted for someone else’s theme. I might have a big online family, but I leave the choice to their taste and wouldn’t want to lose my dignity in their eyes over night.

I believe *everyone* here either asked friends to vote for them or promoted the contest in a slightly suggestive manner, and that is fine, but since you were the first and ONLY ONE here to raise the awareness of people who might start asking in forums to vote for their theme (which is according to you — unfair), stuff like this pretaktovanie.sk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=31865 where you register in a forum just to ask people to vote for YOU (and yes, I understand Slovak perfect) make your attitude to the contest a bit inadequate. That’s all. I hope I didn’t offend you in any way because this really wasn’t my intention …and yes, I see some voted for me too in that slovak forum, but naturally, not everyone from “my campaigns” voted for me as well (and I know not everyone did). So what, do I complain? My personal opinion is that One Winged Angel design is the best here, not mine, and I really wish it will gather more votes.

Oh and.. You are the second to mention those famous 5 hours when my theme got 100 votes. I have no idea when exactly has this happened, i probably slept over the event, but if I wanted to vote for myself (or whatever u suggest that i did), wouldn’t I cast MORE votes? You are only 16 points away after all.

Cheers
http://wptemplates.org Michal Uhrin

Lorelei, you are right, but I have made posts to vote themes that people can decide, not to vote certainly mine ( only a few – 5 are regarding to my theme, even though many people from those voted for another themes as well and they have their own opinions ). So many people from my campaigns came here to vote another themes except of mine – yours as well. BTW I am not standing above the people with a gun to vote for Daisy Dream.
I dont know what exactly you mean with tinyurl, because I have used it only in my signature because of limited space of letters. You have very huge internet family so I am not confused that you are leading now.
And some people expect of me gained votes here from forums as well, I mean in previous rounds and here as well.
I think what am I donig is only regarding to this competition, I am not pushing to people, everyone has his own mind.
Lorelei, I have noticed that you have come to the first place with about 50 votes lead in a few hours, I dont know how you did it, I dont care about it, if you will have so much people in the next few days you will be a few hundreds of votes in the lead… But anyway I wish you all the best, you have a really nice theme, its a shade that I dont have here my best design that I think it is.

Btw here are I think 2 or 3 other templates (under 100 votes) that should deserve to succeed but unfortunately they havent made any bigger campaign yet, maybe they will.

So, as I said all of you that voted for themes are personalities that can decide alone and can choose theme they like, doesnt matter if I am looking for more voting communities (not only for my theme) i think.

Maybe not the best theme will win but the theme with more friends as Lars said.

Thank you all for votes and good luck to everyone!
http://www.4webz.com Tom

Judging by what i see and what i saw after some Googling, I think Mr. Uhrin and his theme should be disqualified. I really don’t consider begging for votes across whole internet as fair play. Anyway, keep up good work everyone! All themes are great.
http://www.toptut.com Lorelei

Thanks everyone for the support! I really appreciate not only your votes but also your kind comments, I don’t think I will win even though I am leading now, but it’s great to know so many people actually really support my design without even being my friends / knowing me. *Thank You!*

Why I have little hope? Googling for “vote uhrin daisy” gives 800+ results. It’s hopeless.
To be honest though, I really feel sorry for those who gathered only 1-2 percents of votes so far. Its not like their themes are ANY worse than the leading ones. It’s really a shame, but then again, we still have one week to go and anything can change :)

Oh and btw… Using tinyurl on forums where one openly ask to vote for certain theme, and then direct url (that pings) on forums where one asks to vote in a more “general” manner was a wise move. Even if I am not particularly impressed with the concrete design, the… how to say?.. “sneaky creativity” is definitely quite impressive. Well, who cares, there is a big reward coming up. Good luck Uhrin :)

@ Big Red Flameseph… hmmm… i think I will be the “mommy” then. Do I need to take care of a bridal dress and stockings for ModernMagic? You wouldn’t need to elope as I am not against, and the theme has no father (well, none that bothered to stick around) so we can live as one big happy family and maybe start a blog together. And just to clarify, Modern is the first name, Magic is last. I am more concerned, however, about where will the ring go… maybe on the search box? It is all so sudden, we (me and my little MM) weren’t prepared :D
http://http//faruksmart.blogspot.com U M A R F A R U K

am i vote for ModernMagic. because it is look is very nice!!!
Captain

I agree with BigRed here, ModernMagic is the best theme with this contest and deserves to win, fortunatly that theme is actually leading now!

Good luck Uhrin with your campaigns, I see you have started a lot of them, basically asking to vote for YOU and not promoting the contest itself which would be much fair……
Feeling the heat rising under your feet?

Good luck to all other contenders who are in the contest as well, but Lorelei got my vote!!
Gx3 Grafix

ModernMagic is truly a great piece of work and does deserve to win. There are a lot of great works here or obviously they wouldn’t have gotten this far. To assume that her votes are fake is ridiculous. I side with Sammie on that note, well put!

Gook luck to everyone but my vote is with Loreli.
http://wickedinnovations.com Shannon

I chose Modernmagic by Lorelei, nice design you got there ^_^
http://www.bitchslappedbysammie.com sammie

“gonjol Says:
January 30th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

wow! modern magic from 175 reach up to 240 for just 5 hours! that is fake!”

—————-my reply—————

thats 65 votes, about 11 votes an hour, are you really trying to say that a well made theme and one that really has appeal to the eye, cant get 11 votes an hour?

what planet are you from again?
the only thing fake here is your IQ level. do the math.
Pingback: Vote for nice Wordpress themes on WP contest
Pingback: Vote for nice Wordpress themes on WP contest - Webmaster Forum - Webmasters Heart
Pingback: Vote for nice Wordpress themes on WP contest - Webmaster Desk Forum
http://www.monetizeguru.com Luke Beale

I voted for DanceQueen by Liza Kliko but only because I like the red :)
Big Red Flameseph

I’m back.

@One Winged Angel: Touche’. What font are you using? And is that splatter supposed to be there?

@emptyspace: “modern magic isn’t so pretty” contradicts “pretty wallpaper image”. Proofread your comment.

@lorelei: So, how does one go about asking for a template’s hand in marriage. Are you like… it’s parent? Can i marry it? Can i join the family? Do we (modernmagic and i) need to elope? Is modernmagic it’s first name, or first and last name. Would it be “Modern Flameseph” or “Modernmagic Flameseph” The template is hot. I bet it “Got it from it’s mama”.

@uhrin: “But is is in light and header shows daisy in some fog as a dream.” Thanks for letting us in on your thought process. It’s so much clearer now. It really changes my opinion of the template. Good work……….NOT.
http://Enaxi.com S0LDIER.

ModernMagic is THE best design in my HONEST opinion! I havent a clue how many people voted for Daisy Dream. I think ModernMagic deserves the win completely!! good luck!! :)

Final 12 Entries WordPress Design Contest – Vote Now!

Archives

Categories

View more:

Best Web Hosting

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

@Lunarpages Feed

Who We Are

Our Products

Connect With Us

Stay in touch with us!