This will be a little tutorial for making badges or stickers for the prizes. I am not that good at editing so I can't really show shortcuts or techniques in it. This will just include the simplest methods I use and do. So please spare me if I'm doing something cringey and long cut  edits. Hahahaha!

GIMP2.0 is the only software I use to edit. I have no experience with photoshop or any other editing software.

I'll try my best to explain and walk you through the process of making the badges and/or stickers. Unfortunately, I will not further explain the tools and function of the software since it would be easier for you to watch it on youtube and figure it out yourself.

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#1 Open GIMP 2.0 and create new project with the size of 500x500 pixels. Once created, it should give you a white background image.

#2 Locate the templates you are going to use such as backrounds, PNGs and shapes. In this project, I downloaded square, silver trophy, rose gold texture and gold sparkles.

#3 Import the base shape, I'm going with square, into the project and resize/scale layer to 450x450. This is to give space for the shadow later.

#4 Now, delete the white background by clicking the trashcan icon at the bottom. This should give your square a transparent background.

#5 Import the trophy and resize and position it to your preference. I resized it 300x300 pixels and moved it upward to give space for the texts.

#6 Type in whatever information your want it to represent. I'm going to have this as 2nd place badge and put cover contest at the bottom. Be sure to invest in your fonts so you can have variety of options.

I used Romance Fatal Goth font for the #2 and Poplar Std Bold font for the cover contest. I prefer starting with black as font color to save effort when making shadows.

#7 Import the textures/background layer into the project and move it down the bottom using the 'Up/down' icons.

You can click the 'eye icons' on the left of each layer to make them visible or invisible so you can see your project clearly.

#8 Merge the #2 and cover contest together by clicking 'Merge Down'.

#9 Right click the merged layer and select 'Alpha to Selection'. It will select the image within the transparent area.

#10 Now click one of the texture, I choose gold sparkles, and press ctrl+C to copy the layer and ctrl+V to paste the new layer. Right click the floating layer and select 'To New Layer'. You should be able to see the gold sparkles on top of the black text.

#11 Select the layer with the black text and go to 'Filters' then 'Blur' then 'Gausian Blur'. A New window will pop out asking for numbers. The default is '5'. The higher the number, the more blur it becomes. I used 5 in this one.

This will create a shadow effect behind the sparkling gold image layer. Using the 'move tool', move the shadow layer down to create more effect.

Repeat steps #9 and #10 for the square shape, this time use the rose gold texture and place the layer before the blue square layer.

#12 Hide the gold texture layers by clicking the 'eye icon' beside it. Your project should look like this.

#13  Now select the blue square layer and 'Fill' the color with black. Then repeat step #11 to create the shadow. This time, set the blur to '10'.

It should look like this with the shadow.

#14 Now save the image by pressing CTRL + E to export the file. Type in yor filename and add .PNG to retain the transparent background. Select 'Export'.

That's pretty much it! Sorry if it's confusing.. lol.. I don't know how to explain everything technically. Please do go to youtube and watch tutorials there because it it much easier!

This is the finished product!

Or you can just download PNG award stickers in the internet and put your award in there. LOL!

Thank you for your patience in this tutorial. Hope it helps......?