Announcing the 2025 Show & Tell Contest!

[RGM81]

We are thrilled to announce the return of the Show & Tell Contest for 2025! This is your chance to share some of the gems of your collection, and also to pump up your fellow members who take the time to show their cards as well. In an effort to enhance member engagement all year long, we want this to be more than just "post & vote"--we encourage you to say a few nice words if someone's card pops for you, and hey, this is supposed to be a hobby where we're all having fun and enjoying ourselves, right?

OK let's get to it!

Rules

Every week, entrants will be asked to showcase one of their cards following a predetermined theme.
There will be a new thread created every Monday in the Show & Tell Forum. I'll tell you the theme, a few words of explanation (if necessary), and from there you'll have until Sunday at 11:59pm PST to post.

1. Each submission will be made by a post in the thread, displaying both the card and the user ID of the cardholder. The picture/scan must show your handwritten user ID next to the card (I'm not going to make you coin & date, but feel free if you wish, and also add some cool elements to the background). This is to avoid anyone just picking a random picture on eBay and saying the card is theirs.
2. One submission per member per week will be allowed (unless noted).
3. A card can only be entered into one weekly contest. You cannot, for example submit your McDavid Future Watch Auto in Week 2 and then again in Week 10. It's all about that variety!
4. After the Sunday deadline for entry has passed, a new thread will be created asking members to vote on which card they think is the best card of the theme. Please see below for new Voting Thread Rules. You do not have to have submitted a card to be eligible to vote. Members can consider any of the card's characteristics when placing their vote: the condition of the card, the beauty or the patch/swatch, the value of the card, the print run, etc. We do reasonably expect people to be voting on the best card, not one posted by their friends. I'll also post up the next week's submission thread at that time.

Note: if you edit a post which you have made to submit an entry, your entry will not be counted. If you change your mind, make a second post and let me know that you want the 2nd card posted to be your entry.

At the end of the 52 weeks, in the event of a tie, we will have a special one-week tiebreaker to determine a winner.

Voting Thread Rules

NEW: At the end of the submission period, SCF Staff will conduct a vote to determine the top three cards, which will then be posted for voting by the general membership.
NEW: All votes will be made public, to allow each member who votes to receive points in the standings.
NEW: If your card is a finalist, you cannot vote for your own card. Any such votes will not be counted and you will not receive your voting points.


How points will be awarded:

3pts for entering
2pts for voting
6pts for first place
4pts for second place
2pts for third place

Prizes:

There will be two prizes awarded this year, and we are grateful to our returning sponsors Market Movers by Sports Card Investor


1. Contest Prize – the member who accumulates the most points throughout the year will receive first choice of two hobby boxes provided by our Contest Sponsor!

2. NEW: Member Engagement Prize – all members who enter at least 26 (that’s 50%) of the weekly contests will be entered into a random draw to win the other hobby box prize. This is a new offering, so that we see people continuing to participate throughout the season and recognize their efforts, even if they are not at the top of the standings.

Each entry will earn you 25 Rewards Points. For those not familiar with SCF RP, it's a site currency that can be used to purchase cards from other members, the SCF Rewards Store, and get into special Group Breaks hosted by @doniceage

The winner of each week's contest will be awarded an additional 250RP

Weekly Contests (some subject to timing and may be changed throughout the year)

Jan 1-5 - Best Card You Got Over the Holiday Season

Jan 6-12 - Best Card of an Olympics or World Juniors Gold Medal Winner

Jan 13-19 - Best Card of a Player with 1,000+ Games

Jan 20-26 - Best Heritage/Winter Classic Card

Jan 27-Feb 2 - Best Card of a Retired Player from your Favourite Team

Feb 3-9 - Best Card from a Pacific Division Team

Feb 10-16 - Best Card from a Player in the 4 Nations Cup

Feb 17-23 - Best Jersey Card

Feb 24-Mar 2 - Best Card from a Player who Won the 4 Nations Cup

Mar 3-9 - Best Card from a Central Division Team

Mar 10-16 - Best Card of a player traded at the 2025 Trade Deadline

Mar 17-23 - Best IP/TTM Autograph (card/photo/puck)

Mar 24-30 - Best Card from a Metropolitan Division Team

Mar 31-Apr 6 - Best PWHL Player Card

Apr 7-13 - Best Card from an Atlantic Division Team

Apr 14-20 - Best Artifacts Card (Any Year)

Apr 21-27 - Best Card of a player from a playoff team in the Western Conference

Apr 28-May 4 - Best Card of a player from a playoff team in the Eastern Conference

May 5-11 - Best Card of a player from any team in Round 2 of the Playoffs (timing?)

May 12-18 - Best Card from the 2010's

May 19-25 - Best Card featuring a player who won the Art Ross Trophy

May 26-June 1 - Best 2024-25 UD Series 2 Card

June 2-8 - Best Card from the 2000's

June 9-15 - Best Card featuring a player in the Stanley Cup Finals

June 16-22 - Best Card of a 1st Round Draft Pick

June 23-29 - Best Card featuring a player from the 2025 Stanley Cup Champions

June 30-July 6 - Best Card of a 2nd Round Draft Pick

July 7-13 - Best Card featuring a Vezina Trophy Winner

July 14-20 - Best Card of a player who signed as a UFA this off-season

July 21-27 - Best Card from the 1990's

July 28-Aug 3 - Best Card of a 4th-9th Round Draft Pick

Aug 4-10 - Best Goalie Card

Aug 11-17 - Best Pickup from your LCS in 2025 (so far)

Aug 18-24 - Best Card of a Player you started collecting within the past year

Aug 25-31 - Best Defenceman Card

Sept 1-7 - Best Card from the 1980's

Sept 8-14 - Best O-Pee-Chee Card (any year)

Sept 15-21 - Sickest Patch Card

Sept 22-28 - Best Card from the 1970's

Sept 29-Oct 5 - Best Rookie Card

Oct 6-12 - Best Card of a current player on your favourite team

Oct 13-19 - Best Graded Card

Oct 20-26 - Best Multi-Player Card

Oct 27-Nov 2 - Best Card of an American-born player

Nov 3-9 - Best Card you acquired at a card show

Nov 10-16 - Best Tim Hortons Card (Any Year)

Nov 17-23 - Best Card of a Player with 500+ Goals

Nov 24-30 - Best Rainbow (min 3 parallels)

Dec 1-7 - Best Card of a player that you used to PC, but he got traded and now you're stuck with it

Dec 8-14 - Best 2025-26 Upper Deck Series 1 Card

Dec 15-21 - Best Autograph Card

Dec 22-31 - Best Card you acquired in 2025

Let's have a great time, and show off some amazing cards in 2025!

[GabbyGuy]

Very nice!

--Curt

[manthis]

get your cards ready..


:)

[Seahawks Fan]

This is awesome and thank you for running the contest again. Any chance they can do this with other sports? I would love to participate in a football one too.

[RGM81]

@Seahawks Fan - that would be a cool concept to have running in all sports, for sure. Reach out to the Football Team and see if they can connect with Don to make it happen!

[RGM81]

In order to give everyone a full week, I'm flipping Week 8 and 9's themes. Week 8 will now be Best Jersey Card, Week 9 will be Best Card of a Player Who Won the 4 Nations Faceoff

[GabbyGuy]

@RGM81

I take it the 2025 Contest is over...is that correct? Was there a post I missed?

And no contest for 2026 I take it, as it is almost the end of February already and no mention of it.

Thanks again for doing this. Always fun!

--Curt

[doniceage]

@RGM81

I take it the 2025 Contest is over...is that correct? Was there a post I missed?

And no contest for 2026 I take it, as it is almost the end of February already and no mention of it.

Thanks again for doing this. Always fun!

--Curt

I 2nd that as Richard spends a lot of time doing this. It not for the faint of heart.

Don

[RGM81]

@RGM81

I take it the 2025 Contest is over...is that correct? Was there a post I missed?

And no contest for 2026 I take it, as it is almost the end of February already and no mention of it.

Thanks again for doing this. Always fun!

--Curt

Hope springs eternally for a 2026 edition. I may just abridge it by a couple months.