The first Torso Item Design Contest was announced March 10 2008, and Gaians had a week to design an item for the avatar's torso, anything that could fit on the chest or back. Wings, however, were disqualified, due to the usual huge number of wing entries submitted to item design contests. Although the contest was officially announced on March 10, the contest had already been running for three days prior to the announcement. Gaia staff would choose a group of finalists and then the Gaian public would have the chance to vote for their favourite, the one with the most votes winning and being made into a real item, and the designer winning 200,000 Gold.