Gearing up for June's photo contest

[GOPFighter]

We're getting close to announcing the June photo contest. I'm planning to post the submission request Wednesday evening, soon after 6:30 pm ET.

This month the submission post will include legal language developed by F. Gordon and a Copyright Attorney. I want to post it here, along with the rest of the contest rules for comment before I post it live Wednesday. I plan to run the contest the same way ConsAreLiars ran last month's contest. Here is what the submission post will look like:

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June Contest Theme: FLOWERS -- Submit your entries here.

RULES:
1. This thread is only to be used to post entries. I will start a separate thread for comments.
2. The photo's name should be put in the "Subject" of the post.
3. The winner of the contest agrees to host next month's contest (or recruit someone else to host the contest), and pick the next month's theme. Winners have traditionally sat out the next month's contest.
4. You must read the following before submitting an entry:
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Contest License: An entrant to this contest, by submitting a photograph, is giving permission for that photograph to be copied to Demopedia and/or to a linked Gallery that will display the photographs entered for this contest for the purpose of publicizing future contests and/or commemorating current and past contests. The entrant retains all other rights to the photograph being submitted. Neither Demopedia and/or a linked Gallery may use any photograph submitted for any purpose other than to display the photograph being submitted by the entrant, and neither gains any real or implied ownership rights to the photograph.

An entrant can disclaim this Contest License and retain all rights to the photograph. If an entrant wishes to disclaim the Contest License they must include the following statement in the post containing their photograph; “I disclaim the Contest License, and reserve all rights to my photograph”. Any photograph submitted by an entrant with this disclaimer statement will not be copied and displayed in Demopedia and/or any linked Gallery.
==============================================================


FLOWERS:

This month's theme is intentionally broad - the photo can be a single flower, a bunch of flowers, parts of a flower, a silhouette of a flower, a mosaic of a flower, or...well, you get the idea.

IMAGE SIZE

Ideally photos should be 700- 900 pixels in the longest dimension and under 200KB in size. Files bigger than that are hard to view and appreciate on a typical monitor, and keeping the file size down makes it easier for dial-up users to view the photos. In my experience this is do-able, but there may be images where the photographer thinks a greater width is needed to fairly display the image, or that file compression to that size loses too much of the image.

Since some who have photos to share may not be familiar with image processing tools, when large files appear in the submissions thread, it would be helpful if people participating in this forum who have the needed skills and tools would volunteer to reduce the file size as needed (and image dimensions also only if agreed to by the photographer). A good and free image viewing program with basic editing functions is Irfanview http://www.irfanview.com/


DISCUSSION OF ENTRIES:

From the group description: "The purpose of the Photography Group is to discuss photography as an art, skill, and means of communication, as well as share photographs."

Feel free to comment on the photos that have been submitted (in the COMMENTS thread). If you see a photo you really like, post a comment, and explain why you like it. Let's face it, everyone likes to get compliments - especially so because only one photo out of the thirty gets designated as the "winner," but the other 29 are usually superb photos deserving of recognition.


SCHEDULE:

1. This thread will be open until 30 entries have been received. If 30 entries have not been received by Monday, June 20 at noon ET, the contest will be closed to new entries.

2. If there are over 30 entries, only the first 30 will qualify, and if the contest yields less than 30 they will be divided into approximately equal groups for the next stage.

3. Once the contest closes, I will look at my schedule and let everyone know when the three contest polls will be posted in the Lounge. The voting will be open for about 4-5 days as it has in the past. I will use the same format that ConsAreLiars used last month.

4. Assuming close to 30 entries and 3 Stage I contests, the Final poll will consist of the top two in each contest and then the four others which got the highest vote totals, regardless of the particular Stage I contest they appeared in.


THE WINNER:

The photograph that gets the most votes in the Final poll will be designated the winner. In case of a tie, there will be co-winners, and they can decide among themselves who will host next month's contest. The winning photo will be posted in the Demopedia, unless the winner requests otherwise. All entries may be posted in a proposed archive gallery of past entries (unless the entrant opts out). The gallery is currently under construction.

Please remember this is a contest in name only. The main objective is to have some fun and provide a diversion from the often depressing political wars that are being waged daily around the country.

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Comments?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. BZ! I like it. Very professionally done, and it should be adopted

for each month's contest, IMHO.

[F.Gordon]

2. This looks FANTASTIC GOPFighter

Just wanted to clear one little thing up, so there are no misconceptions here. The language of the Contest License was drawn from yours and ConsAreLiars copy in ConsAreLiars thread. The two of you are responsible for brainstorming this. All I did was refine it and run it by someone who has experience in Copyright Law. A very kind and helpful DUer.

I don't want anyone to think that I hired an Attorney. It's been a group endeavor with several DUers that just want to return things to normal and get the Contest Galleries back online again, which I will do once the Contest ends.

Excellent job GOPFighter!!! Think we may have a permanent Contest Rules thing going here.
:thumbsup:

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Febulous...I think that covers it...

I can't wait to post my picture.

[ConsAreLiars]

4. Looks great.

Ties are still a potential problem. The best I could think of was in case of multiple claims for the last spot in the finals (e.g., if the 9th, 10th, 11th all tied) the last bunch all get tossed. Doesn't seem fair, but extending the poll to more than 10 isn't possible. Maybe someone(s) might volunteer to drop out, and let the other(s) go to the finals, but the short time frame might not allow this option.

[GOPFighter]

7. I hadn't thought of that

It could really get sticky if say the 7th - 11th are tied. I sure hope it doesn't happen this month!

[intheflow]

5. Two thumbs up, GOPFighter!

The contest has gotten so much more complicated since I hosted it. This set of rules have arisen as an organic group effort. Kudos and hugs all around! :grouphug:

[GOPFighter]

6. Everyone who has hosted the contest...

...has introduced improvements. This truly has been a group effort.

Based on my experience in last month's contest, I wanted to announce early what next month's theme would be, and also specify when (day and time) the submission request would be posted. I almost missed last month's contest because I was on a business trip and just happened to check DU from the hotel room before crawling into bed. Instead I saw the contest had started and there were well over 20 submissions already. Yikes!