Contests are no longer allowed in the galleries, they must be run in the contest area.
BUT
The galleries have the option to flag images for nudity and/or violence. Many people don't want to be confronted with violence or nudity, and young people should not be, so these flags are a very useful feature. I believe these options are even legally required, since Renderosity does not prevent minors from viewing the site and becoming a member.

BUT

THE CONTEST AREA DOES NOT HAVE THESE OPTIONS!

So if a contest is being held, it should automatically default to "no nudity/no violence." It is nice that the moderators and admins are willing to allow nudity/violence in a contest, but I'm afraid Renderosity can find itself in major legal trouble.
A change of the contest area is in order. A contest as a whole must be able to be flagged. That way contest initiators have the same freedom of subjects and requirements they had in the gallery, and everyone's arse is covered.

I wasn't aware that the contest area didn't have an option of flagging...I agree, the option should be site wide.

Thank you for pointing this out svdl, the matter is already being looked at. As an interim measure, all contests that have nude submissions will have their contest descriptions edited to point out that there may be nudity in contest entries whilst we await a more permanant solution. Shoshanna.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12372&Form.ShowMessage=1928631

Trying to get some clarification~ does this include private contests as well as "official" Renderosity contests~ private meaning non-renderosity sponsored as in the H&H contest and FCC contest and stuff? I'm trying to figure out what's going on cause I posted a background challenge in the challenge arena and in the beginning urged contestants to put their finished pieces in the gallery. Am I to believe that this is no longer allowed? Thanks for your help! Elizabeth

Private contests in the gallery are no longer allowed. There's been an enormous stink over it last week, and some issues still need to be resolved - not all images that were deleted have been restored yet. The H&H contest has been moved to the contest area. I don't know what happened to the other running contests, they may have been stopped altogether or they may have moved to other sites. I'd think you'd best contact the challenge arena moderator. Hope this answers some of your questions. Steven P.S: I'm just a member, this is what I know, the mods and admins may know more.

Awesome, thanks for the info.

Hi Elizabeth, If you are offering prizes, then your contest must be held on a contest page. If you would like to transfer your contest over to a contest page, please im or email me and we can get one set up for you. You would need to get the people who have already entered to repost their entries onto the contest page. If you were holding an unprized challenge, then you are free to hold your challenge in the challenge arena. I hope this helps to clear up your confusion. Shoshanna

Just to clarify... by: "hold your challenge in the challenge arena." Is that where the challenge images should be posted, or should they be posted in one's own gallery, and a link posted in the challenge arena.

If it is an unprized challenge, then there is a Challenge Arena gallery especially for posting them in. You can post them there and post links in the challenge forum to the relevant thread if you wish. Shoshanna.

Unless of course, it's part of a specific Forums' monthly challenge. So if you're taking part in the Bryce or Poser monthly challenge, then by all means... follow the procedure for posting within that forum. The challenge arena is for open challenges. Any platform, any software. It's just a challenge that you throw out to the community as a whole to see who can meet the demands... and to have a lot of fun in the process. :)