The Origami Forum

Below is a listing of the Monthly Folding Challenges and a short summary of the theme and rules of each. Further below is a list of the past yearly Zodiac challenges, and a collection of miscellaneous other large challenges.

-Monthly Folding-

Info on the start of the monthly challenge
viewtopic.php?t=2437

September 2010 ("Ancient Egypt", models of ancient Egyptian culture/myhtology, one or more squares/rectangles, no cuts or glue)
viewtopic.php?t=7380

August 2010 ("Curves", models featuring curved folding, one square or rectangle, no cuts or glue)
viewtopic.php?t=7226

July 2010 ("15 degree angles", models must have angles based on 15 degrees or multiples/divisions thereof, must be from one sheet)
viewtopic.php?t=7070

June 2010 ("Dinosaurs", dinosaurs and their kin)
viewtopic.php?t=6924

May 2010 ("Primates", any sort of primate besides humans, one square or rectangle sheet, no cuts or glue)
viewtopic.php?t=6787

April 2010 ("Transportation", any type of transport, from one or more squares/rectangles, but fewer than 5, no cuts or glue)
viewtopic.php?t=6687

March 2010 ("Flora", flowers, trees, etc. from one or more regular polygons or rectangles, must hold together without glue)
viewtopic.php?t=6582

Feb 2010 ("Paganism", old gods, idols, runes, etc. from one or more squares or rectangles)
viewtopic.php?t=6478

Jan 2010 ("Twins", two similar objects from one square)
viewtopic.php?t=6365

Dec 2009 ("Final Fantasy", subjects from the gaming series Final Fantasy from one uncut square)
viewtopic.php?t=6265

Nov 2009 ("Japan: Legend and Myth", Japanese legendary and mythological subjects, from one or more squares)
viewtopic.php?t=6167

Oct 2009 ("Human Form", a full human form, from one uncut square)
viewtopic.php?t=6000

Sept 2009 ("Triangle", any subject folded from one triangle shape sheet of any type)
viewtopic.php?t=5897

Aug 2009 ("Complex made Simple", a complex model interpreted into less than 30 folds, from one square sheet)
viewtopic.php?t=5801

July 2009 ("Famous Sculpture", a famous work of art from 1-5+ sheets of paper, shape not specified)
viewtopic.php?t=5676

June 2009 ("Scenes", a collection of models, the main "character" being from a square or other rectangle)
viewtopic.php?t=5527

May 2009 ("Famous People", any famous person, such as batman, no other rules stated)
viewtopic.php?t=5459

April 2009 ("Military Equipment and Weapons", any implement of war, can be from any shape or number of sheets)
viewtopic.php?t=5355

March 2009 ("Black and White", any subject that is naturally black and white, from either a square[s] or rectangle[s])
viewtopic.php?t=5265

Feb 2009 ("Sea Life", subjects from oceans/seas, from 1+ sheets of paper, no shape specified)
viewtopic.php?t=5130

Jan 2009 ("Color Change", subjects with a noticeable amount of dual-tone, from one sheet of any shape of paper)
viewtopic.php?t=5030

Dec 2008 ("Holiday", subjects from holidays and festivals, from any number or shape of paper)
viewtopic.php?t=4902

Nov 2008 ("Video Games", characters, etc. from video games, from any number or shape of paper)
viewtopic.php?t=4802

Oct 2008 ("Mythological Creatures", any subject from myth, no other rules stated)
viewtopic.php?t=4688

Sept 2008 ("Sports", any subject involving sports, no other rules stated)
viewtopic.php?t=4556

Aug 2008 ("Cute", any subject definable as cute, one sheet of paper, no specific shape stated)
viewtopic.php?t=4435

July 2008 ("Pirates of the Caribbean", subjects from the movie, 1+ sheets of square or rectangle paper)
viewtopic.php?t=4277

June 2008 ("Movies", a subject from any movie, one sheet of square or other rectangle paper)
viewtopic.php?t=4166

May 2008 ("Life in Oceania", subjects from the Oceanic region, shape and number of sheets not stated)
viewtopic.php?t=4044

April 2008 ("Out of Time", subjects from the last 100-200 years past or forward, any shape or number of sheets)
viewtopic.php?t=3864

March 2008 ("Microscopic", subjects microscopic in size, no other rules stated)
viewtopic.php?t=3768

Feb 2008 ("New Years Card", make a new years card, anything goes as long as its paper)
viewtopic.php?t=3674

Jan 2008 ("Food", any food, from any shape or number of sheets)
viewtopic.php?t=3594

Dec 2007 ("Emotion", models that convey a feeling, any number or shape of paper, any number of models)
viewtopic.php?t=3506

Nov 2007 ("Something Fishy" a fish, any number or shape of paper)
viewtopic.php?t=3443

Oct 2007 ("Combinations", more than one subject, from one sheet of any shape of paper)
viewtopic.php?t=3337

Sept 2007 ("Horned Animals", any creature with antlers/horns, two sheet maximum of any shape of paper)
viewtopic.php?t=3260

Aug 2007 ("Transformers Unleashed", any model that can change forms, any shape or number of sheets)
viewtopic.php?t=3155

July 2007 ("D20 Revisited", any model from the Dungeons and Dragons series, any number or shape of sheets)
viewtopic.php?t=3064

June 2007 ("Household Item", any subject from inside a home excluding food and furniture, one square sheet)
viewtopic.php?t=2975

May 2007 ("World of Insects", any insect, no limit on sheet number or shape)
viewtopic.php?t=2854

April 2007 ("Pure and Simple", a household pet folded in pureland style, from 1-2 square sheets)
viewtopic.php?t=2626

March 2007 ("Human Skull", a human skull model, can use 1+ square pieces, other more hefty rules)
viewtopic.php?t=2436

-Yearly Chinese Zodiac Challenge-

2007 (Boar)
viewtopic.php?t=2384
2008 (Rat)
viewtopic.php?t=3695
2009 (Ox)
viewtopic.php?t=5109
2010 (Tiger)
viewtopic.php?t=6403

-Other Important Challenges-

D20 Challenge
viewtopic.php?t=469

Spectacled Bear War
viewtopic.php?t=6006

Very nice. Yesterday I was just thinking about a post with a list like this!
Thanks for your efforts to retrieve the links/data!

You're welcome, though it wasn't too hard seeing as there are only 2 pages to the challenges section. I think I'll attempt to make a similar thread for important/interesting discussions from general chat and maybe something along the same lines for diagrams/crease patterns. It seems like it was just yesterday, but the forum has been up for 6 years now, and the search function has become less useful (searching "monthly folding challenge" brings up over 1,800 topics). If anyone thinks of a thread with enough content that should be added to the list, just post below.

For the "General"-section such a list already exists. Wolf did a pretty good job there:
viewtopic.php?t=5264

Oh, didn't see that one :p. Thats fairly similar to what I had in mind, it might not be worth going through the 30 pages, but I'm sure there are some uncommon gems in there.

Thanks Joe for the effort. Now if one day I participate and win, I'll know what not to propose as a challenge.

I like your list, Joe! I don't much enter the challanges, but if I do, I (like Brimstone) will be able to see the already existing challanges, and be able to pick a new one accordingly.

Thanks for the effort!

Does anyone keep score of the winners?

Yes, the winners do

.......but only of themselves! (The runners up call it selfishness, more so, the closer they came to beating the winners!).

Someone update this

It's march 2012 already! (I have no idea where january or february went though) there are other challenges now, like the pokemon challenges and the odt.

Here are the subjects for the Monthly Folding Challenges from October 2010 to present. I haven't included links or rules, but it should make it easier to track down specific posts. I put this together to help me come up with ideas for March's challenge, so I figured I'd share it with everyone.

February 2016 ("Pureland")

January 2016 ("Hope")

December 2015 ("Basilisk")

November 2015 ("The Textures of Life")

October 2015 ("Cats")

September 2015 ("Weapons")

August 2015 ("Masks")

July 2015 ("Curves and Rounded Shapes")

June 2015 ("Darkness")

May 2015 ("Animals That Should Exist But Don't")

April 2015 ("Birds")

March 2015 ("The Deep")

February 2015 ("Fear")

January 2015 ("Retro")

December 2014 ("Relfections")

November 2014 ("Music")

October 2014 ("Origami for the Wall")

September 2014 ("Dragons")

August 2014 ("Heraldry")

July 2014 ("Metamorphosis")

June 2014 ("Holiday")

May 2014 ("Madness")

April 2014 ("Contrasts")

March 2014 ("Femininity")

February 2014 ("Geometry")

January 2014 ("Laughter")

December 2013 ("Color Change")

November 2013 ("Reinterpreting a Classic Model")

October 2013 ("The Microscopic World")

September 2013 ("Life-size Object")

August 2013 ("Video Games")

July 2013 ("Speed")

June 2013 ("Living Things")

May 2013 ("In the Garden")

April 2013 ("Humor")

March 2013 ("Green")

February 2013 ("Origami You Can Wear")

January 2013 ("Internet Memes")

December 2012 ("Christmas")

November 2012 ("Fold Something Into A Book or Magazine")

October 2012 ("Masks")

September 2012 ("Patterned/Structured Paper")

August 2012 ("Olympic Games")

July 2012 ("Liquids")

June 2012 ("Monsters")

May 2012 ("Your Dreams")

April 2012 ("Michael Jackson")

March 2012 ("Useful and Astonishing")

February 2012 ("Musical Instruments")

January 2012 ("Origami Forum Logo")

December 2011 ("Science Fiction")

November 2011 ("Mammal Folded in Newspaper")

October 2011 ("Traditional Bases")

September 2011 ("Multi-sheet Representational Origami")

August 2011 ("Angel")

July 2011 ("In the Sky")

June 2011 ("Magic World in Harry Potter")

May 2011 ("Puppets")

April 2011 ("Spring in Japan")

March 2011 ("Action Origami")

February 2011 ("Food")

January 2011 ("Silhouettes")

December 2010 ("Natural Environment")

November 2010 ("A Thing and Its Opposite")

October 2010 ("Horns, Corns & Antlers")

so how do these challenges work.

They basically died late last year. Interest decreased and there were not even submissions for the last 1 or 2 challenges.