Photo of The Month format suggestions

Continuing the discussion from Encouraging more Photography competition entries:

To make this as straightforward as possible and hopefully keep us on topic, please leave a short comment with your suggestions on changes you would like to see to the contests.

The more :heart:s a suggestion gets, the higher the chance of that suggestion being implemented.

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1, The last months winner can not enter just the next month competition. (but they can for the following 11 months)
In addition: They get a prize, maybe a special title for that month or/and a graphic by their name recognising their achievement. That way they are not penalised for winning but instead recognised and encouraged.
(there are plenty of other places to post for fun. it does not stop people posting pictures and getting recognition during their month of pride for winning a competition)

I retract my second suggestion based on comments in the previous thread.
(2, Divide the competitions into previous winners and the rest.)
Although there are amiter leages in many sports and arts, I think it would be unworkable i this environment.

Just a suggestion

There must be better ones you guys have.

Edit: my first suggestion, does nor punish winners, it rewards, recognizes and highlights their achievement, and encourages others to have a go.

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I agree with @ascended. And many of us do.

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It might be fun to have themes for the different months, for example for October have the ball python/reptile/other pictures be “Halloween” themed. Or in July maybe a beach theme? It would add a fun little twist and challenge to the pictures. My Facebook reptile group does this to pick banner photos and it works well because people can participate whether they have 1 or 10,000 animals, take pictures on their kitchen counter or in a professional setup. It keeps it creative and inclusive. Although I do enjoy seeing the pictures of the animals as they are as well!

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I feel this encourages more people to participate. It brings a challenge yet still keeps it light hearted. It’s definitely my vote :heart:

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I like the idea of having a themed contest each month, along with a standard photography contest thread. Years ago when I ran a couple sites, we’d have contests like 4th of July photoshopped/edited and 4th of July non edited. Halloween photoshopped/edited and non edited etc. Along with the standard photo contests. I don’t think hamstringing someone that regularly wins from being able to compete is a good idea, as some of the best photographers I’ve seen were novices that took pride in composing a shot they were proud of.

Other photo contest ideas to increase everyones odds for victory could be, best macro shot, best eye shot, best naturalistic shot. So many possible ways to increase anyones potential for winning a contest while not punishing anyone with success.

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I think having different types of contest without barring any previous winners from entering would be good, and would give more people chances to win.

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Are you saying to have more contests? Like adding regular photography competitions? I would think that would make it even more unfair because the professional photographers are going to take much better pictures which would give them an advantage (unlike the current contests).

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I was referring to the other suggestions of having different types like themed contests and whatnot. Sorry if my wording was off, I’ve contracted some sort of illness and haven’t been feeling the best lately :sweat_smile:

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Okay, would it be replacing or in addition to the current competitions? Hopefully you’re feeling better soon.

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I think the idea is to add one additional bonus themed category each month.

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The addition of a Photo of The Month contest, which will be themed.

1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners of each category.

The 1st place winner of the PoTM gets to choose the theme for the next month.

This ups the total winners from 3 a month to 12.

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I like this

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Might I suggest Amphibian of the month and Invertebrate of the Month separate catagories?

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I like the idea if there will still be enough entries. After looking through the October submissions I think a lot of people entering the contest have both inverts and amphibians. There were only 6 submissions last month (but there were only 7 for ball pythons which is unusual) but I think the submission number is slowly increasing.

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What do you guys think about and enclosure of the month competition and during months where there’s holidays like Christmas or Halloween we could do themed enclosure of the month

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I don’t feel like there will be enough uniqueness in it. I only have one enclosure that looks good and I don’t think most people have any decorative ones. If only a handful of people are competing with a handful of enclosures I think it would be limited. But if there are enough people with aesthetic enclosures and there are enough to devote a category to then I like it.

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I agree, I’m not sure there is enough to do themed enclosures while keeping it Reptile friendly and enclosures vary per reptile so it might not work, but would be good to promote better enclosures for reptiles!

I have a suggestion.
Would it be possible to have more categories? Eg. gecko of the month? Or something similar. Just I have geckos aswell as king snakes and it’s so hard to choose who I submit and I’m sure I’m not the only one with this kind of dilemma :sweat_smile:

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I have a lot of reptiles/amphibians here but I think posting 4 images up as it is, is a lot. Otherwise would be 5/6/7 images. And then others may want other snakes separate or geckos and so on. Themed photo was new which was an amazing idea.
I obviously love the gecko idea but I use geckos for reptile of the month usually anyway. Amphibian/invert too, I have both so I just pic who’s out showing off for me :joy:
And with new additions joining us here on the forum too I think there’s going to be more people submitting! There’s already a limit and then only most liked photos get chosen if gone over for that reason I think.

It’s going to be hard to go through so many extra images when a lot get put up every month. Big thanks to @lumpy for doing these for us too, and whoever else helps :wink:

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If a gecko of the month was done there would also have to be a boa of the month, colubrid of the month, python (non ball) of the month, etc. And then the people with large collections will be winning most of them since a lot of people can’t compete in them all. It seems quite overwhelming to keep track of all of that. Seeing how many months there are I think it would be easier just to submit different pictures each time.

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