Members will notice that moderators and administrators will append prefixes to the beginning of the contest threads once they have run their course. Here's what they mean:

[Winner announced] - This is appended to a contest once a winner is announced. The thread is still open for final comments.

[Contest over] - A few days (give or take) after a winner is announced this will be appended to the beginning of a thread title and the thread closed to further comments so that active contests don't get buried in a clutter of completed threads. The "contest over" comment is also used for contests that are closed by the contest holder without declaring a winner.

[Contest closed] - This is appended to contests that are closed because of policy violations or abandonment. Typically the contest holder in question was banned from these forums. Normally we try to resolve issues before declaring a contest closed in this fashion.

Abandonment is defined as not following up at the end of a contest and announcing a winner or at least stating that a winner is not going to be declared. We do realize that not every contest will result in a satisfactory outcome for the contest holder. We just ask that contest holders work with us to try and bring contests to a successful conclusion and have the courtesy to announce if they aren't choosing a winner. Contest extensions and finalist rounds are a great way to finally bring a contest to a successful conclusion.