Design Contest Process

The Design Contest

The Design Contest is a world-wide search for ideas. Once concepts are submitted, the Board of Directors reviews each submission and narrows down the selection to about half a dozen drawings. This year 72 drawings were submitted, six were presented to the paid general membership for their ranking. Once the order is determined, the drawings are taken to Pasadena to be registered in a special meeting called Theme Draft.

At Theme Draft, each float builder picks a number from a fish bowl when they arrive and that number determines the order that drawings are submitted. This year our number was 14. Another float builder with a similar concept to ours had a lower number and registered the idea before us. As a result we had to go to our second choice.

Once accepted by Pasadena, then work can begin on turning the concept into a float.

The link below shows pictures from both the special Board of Director's meeting and the membership's Pick-The-Float meeting. Sorry, there are no pictures from Theme Draft--but it was video taped for a HGTV special that will air just before the start of the Rose Parade.

Pictures from the Pick-The-Float Meetings