I'm sorry, I just have to say it... looking through all these entries there does't seem to be one shred of originality in any of these.
A LOT of them are just galaxy/sovereign class ships with slight modifications, but obviously still largly resembling the original design; make this part bigger, add a few more nacelles, put a few gun turrets there...
Quite a few of them seem to have been copied from the Star Trek Ship Creator, just adding parts and passing it off as their own.
Then there are those that just don't even bother trying, I mean really. I'm not talking about the ones submitted by sketching with pencil and paper, I mean the ones like it is most definatly the Enterprise E just photoshoped pink, or very nice drawing of the Enterprise A... really people!?
Seen one or two stolen works, particularly the person who submitted the USS Aventine from the Ships of the Line calander.
And another few that just don't even look Federation in design.
Nearly all submitted ships as far as design are either not moving forward, going backwards or off on a completly different tangent.
In case anyone had forgotten,
THIS IS WHAT THE ENTERPRISE J LOOKS LIKE
Shouldn't the designs start going in this direction? If you take a look at the Enterprise E back to the original, you can see this "evolution" process.
All this complaining and advising/telling how the ship should look, why don't I design one of my own? Plain and simple I'm not
that creative to come up with something like that.
...however
Sean P Tourangeau certainly has the right idea.

And yes I'm being biast because he did design my favorite ship, the Luna class. This guy just knows Trek ship design.
Comments
I know what you mean about rip offs. I saw one that was just a desktop wallpaper of a scene from First Contact.
Technically yes, but you've also got several ships and about 5 centuries to go before you get from the F to the J.
As for Originality, there are so many ship designs that have been created by now, it's hard to come up with one that won't look similar to one that's been invented already. I've seen several so far that I thought were pretty cool, and the response on here is "oh, that looks like this ship over here."
Well of course it does. The Galaxy looks similar to the Ambassador, and the Ambassador looks similar to the Constitution. That's the point. If you look at a Ferrari, they all share similar characteristics. They're all different models, but they're evolutions, just like Starships.
Yes, I have seen your design and I do like it. I was impressed by it.
"The next stage" is what I (and hopefully everybody + the judges) am looking for.
Well said lol
If I was designing the ship, I'd try to keep the "Enterprise" style with a round saucer (or slightly elongated like the Sovereign) and nacelles that stick out. That seems to be the common theme with Enterprises over the years.
I like how on the J the lines and curves are more organic, like how the frame with the nacelles and drive section also has the deflector built into it and it holds the saucer. I've seen designs online where they say it's multi purpose and you can actually switch to having different shaped saucers but with the same drive section.
I hope people start submitting entries that are more futuristic like the J, but still a step away from the Sovereign.
Thank you very much!:)
That means a lot to me since I'm not much of artist.
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise/gallery?filter=search&keyword=holts
As does this
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise/gallery?filter=search&keyword=Thomas%20Henz
And this
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise/sites/default/files/imagecache/preview/marino1.jpg
And this
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise/gallery?filter=search&keyword=brandon
And this
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterprise/sites/default/files/imagecache/preview/backsteptF.gif
Shame i've already made my one and only vote and thusly can't vote for any of them.
I do not care what anyone says, so no point in arguing with me...but that is *NOT* the Enterprise J. No way. just because some video game said it was, or some alternate time-line says it was, does not set that ship in stone as being Enterprise J. That ship is just puke ugly. If Gene had known people were going to pass that ship off as Enterprise, he would have rolled over in his grave. People are destroying what he has worked so hard to establish with some of these blasphemous creations and story lines.
p.s. i have no idea why my last post came up twice
Correction, Enterprise's Prime universe said that's the Enterprise J. (see: "Azati Prime") Therefore, it's canon.
Also, Roddenberry was only a consultant for Star Trek after TOS, and he had little to no involvmenet after TNG's second season. DS9, Voy, Ent....all of those were sans-Roddenberry. So don't talk to me about "what Roddenburry worked so hard to create," because the majority of what makes Star Trek great had nothing to do with Roddenberry.
But I dont wanna design I giant pizza cutter!
However it doesn't at all go for your requirement of looking more like the Enterprise J. I hate the Enterprise J.
As for some of the other entries I certainly applaud anyone uploading original works and trying. However I think for it to say "Enterprise" it needs to be circular saucer, engineering hull, and two warp nacelles that go above the engineering hull. That's just my take and certainly the angle I'm working off of for my not so artistic attempt.
As for the F needing to start towards the J, I don't think it needs to. The F is as far away from J as the original was from D. Aside from the general "lines" there really wasn't that much in the way of the original looking anything like the D. Heck for that matter there isn't a ton of similarity from original to B. Each step up there should be lines and when put together you should see the evolution but every additional step should look that much different and to an extent unrecognizable.
Like I said, it's an alternate timeline. Not set in stone, therefore it is *not* cannon. Allow me to quote directly from your own link...
"In a possible future, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-J) was a Federation starship in service during the 26th century. "
Granted, I only tolerate the Luna class because Riker commands one, but thats it. And I tolerate the current ingame STO ship designs because not one bears a prestigeous name like the "Enterprise".
Cryptic, you're not only deciding what will be the next Enterprise, you're deciding what could potentially become soft-canon to Star Trek fans. Do not dissapoint us. You've already dissapointed many more before.
I'd rather have CBS/Cryptic make a handleful of designs and over an X amount of time have the fans choose which ship they want.
I do dig that design. Thanks for pointing it out. Mine's in my sig. I don't think I copied any prior designs too much. I mean, the Enterprise is pretty iconic, Saucer, Stardrive section, 2 nacelles. Only so many variations you can do.
I like this one, best I have seen so far.
I like it ok, but it looks too much like the Enterprise E. I would like to see a whole new design that does not resemble any of the other ships, that also remains cannon to the Enterprise Style. Nacelles up, round or oval saucer.
Hmm. Nice. Also fits with the crazy amount of retro being put out by the shipyards in STO at the moment.
come to think of it.... it looks like a huge version of the nx class....