• Home
• Articles
• Creative Contest Prizes

Creative Contest Prizes

Fancy yourself the creative type? Or maybe you're looking to get rich, quick? Well, the creative contests might be the spot for you! But fair warning—like the old adages says, you can't make max bank without finding a few Globilols! Or, well, something like that.

There are five different creative contests: the Art Gallery, Caption Contest, Neopian Times, Poetry Gallery, and the Storytelling Contest.

Since the dawn of time Neopians have gotten a lil' extra something for their hard work in the form of a trophy, item prize, and/or Neopoints. Occasionally, you might even find a new avatar! Sure, we do it because we love it, but material recognition can be nice too.

As of December 2025, all five contests share the same base prize pool.

A Brief History

The general item prize pools were updated at the following times in Jellyneo's recorded history:

• Summer of 2012
• Autumn of 2018
• Spring of 2023
• Autumn of 2025

Unfortunately, we don't have solid records of the pre-2012 era as JN did not collect that data during those times.

The Neopian Times began awarding prizes in January 2024 (it had previously only awarded items for certain themed issues). The Caption Contest stopped awarding prizes beginning with round 1478 in February 2024, but resumed again with round 1501 in December 2025.

The contests do not not always change over to the new item prize pool on the same date. For example, the 2023 prize pool rollout happened over the course of several months—starting with the Storytelling Contest in February, followed by the Caption Contest in March, and finally the Art Gallery and Poetry Gallery in mid-May.

The 2025 prize pool rollout occurred over the span of a month, with Storytelling again being the first to transition, in early September, and Art Gallery being the last to transition in early October. The Caption Contest, as mentioned before, began awarding prizes from the pool with round 1501 in late December.

Trophies

Each contest awards a trophy for your cabinet. If it is not your first time being published, your trophy will update on your userlookup to include a multiplier beneath it, indicating your total number of publications.

Creative Contests
10xCHAMPION!!!

Neopoint Awards

All contests except the Neopian Times award a meager amount of Neopoints.

• Art Gallery: 30,000 NP
• Caption Contest: A currently unknown amount of NP for a top 5 voted entry, or 10,000 NP for places 6-25
• Poetry Gallery: 15,000 NP
• Storytelling Contest: 30,000 NP

Avatars

All contests except the Poetry Gallery have exclusive avatars that can be earned.

Art Gallery

Random Contest Winner / Guide

Awarded to the winners of the monthly "Handmade/Homemade" themed Art Gallery, as of April 8, 2025.

Previously awarded for winning the Random Contest until early 2021.

Released: November 2, 2004

Easel-y the Best / Guide

Awarded to the winners of the Art Gallery.

Released: December 19, 2025

Caption Contest

Caption Contest - Funny / Guide

Awarded to the top 25 captions in every 10th round of the Caption Contest starting with contest #1400.

Originally awarded to the top 25 captions in every 100th round.

Released: April 14, 2004

Caption Contest - Hilarious / Guide

Awarded to the top 12 captions in every non-10th round of the Caption Contest starting with contest #1478.

Originally awarded to the top 5 captions, from rounds 1407-1477.

Released: February 22, 2018

Neopian Times

Neopian Times Star / Guide

Get into the Neopian Times 10+ times and view your user lookup with at least 10× Neopian Times trophies. (Editorial Questions do not count.)

Released: July 23, 2004

Neopian Times Writer / Guide

Awarded to all users published in a 25th, 50th, 75th, or 100th edition of the Neopian Times, as of issue 941 (July 2021). Prior to issue 941, and since issue 200, you had to be published in a 50th or 100th edition.

Released: July 26, 2005

Storytelling Contest

Storytelling Competition / Guide

Awarded to all users who are published in every 5th Storytelling Competition starting with Storytelling #1005 on November 24, 2025.

Originally awarded to winners of Storytelling #1000 (later changed to a different avatar on September 26, 2025.) It was later awarded back to the winners of the 1000th story on November 30, 2025.

Released: September 8, 2025

Item Prizes

As of December 2025, all five creative contests currently award prizes from a shared pool.

View All Active Creative Contest Prizes »

General Prizes

The current pool was introduced in early September 2025, with the start of Story 1000. The Neopian Times and the Poetry Gallery moved to the new pool approximately 2 weeks later, with the Art Gallery being the last to switch in the first week of October. The Caption Contest was added in December 2025, after historically not awarding prizes for the prior 2 years.

Neopian Times Exclusive Prizes

There are additionally some Neopian Times-themed items that can only be awarded via the Times.

Milestone Prizes

In addition to a general prize for winning, the Caption Contest, Neopian Times, Poetry Gallery, and Storytelling Contest all award exclusive prizes for milestone issues—every 100th Caption Contest, every 25th issue of the Times, every 100th Poetry Gallery, and every 100th story. For all contests except Caption this item is awarded in addition to your general item prize. For the Caption Contest, it has historically been awarded in place of the general item prize.

The Poetry Gallery also awarded an exclusive prize for the 1000th contest.

Although the prize is now standardized, the Times previously awarded different prizes for each milestone issue, and has not infrequently awarded special prizes for themed issues, or sometimes just for fun! Check out our Neopian Times prize guide for more details.

Previous General Prizes

This page was written by Herdy & noileh and last updated on December 26, 2025.