[Pixalo]

We are pleased to announce the Pixalo Photo Competition – Season One.

Themes, Rules and How to enter

Entries must be shot by you and be entirely your own work

Photo Submissions – what size and where to send?

All entries need to be submitted to competition@pixalo.com Please clearly state your forum username along with your submission. Members are allowed to submit one shot only per round and it should meet our current file size rules (max 1000 pixels along its longest side and no larger than 300KB). It should be in the form of a jpg. Once a picture is submitted it will not be allowed to be changed so think carefully before sending in your submission.

PLEASE NOTE: All photographs must be submitted anonymously. Please ensure that your entries do not include Exif data, copyright markings or any other information that would identify you as the photographer.


When will my photo appear, what do I do if it doesn’t?

The entries will be displayed as they are submitted but they will remain anonymous until the final results are known. We will not confirm receipt of any shots but all photos that meet the required guidelines will usually appear in the gallery within 24 hours of their submission. If they do not appear there after 24 hours, we have either not received them or they are not valid for some reason. In these cases, check your submission to ensure it is within the rules and if you still believe this to be the case, contact us using the competition@pixalo.com email address only. All correspondence to other email addresses or through the Private Message system will be ignored. If you find the reason that your entry has not been allowed you can resubmit the corrected entry providing it is submitted before the closing date.

The Pixalo Crew can also submit their interpretations of each theme as they wish, but before voting begins any Crew photos will be identified and no votes for those shots will be accepted. We like to be involved but wish to keep everything impartial and above board.

Due to the competition being run with pictures being displayed anonymously all submissions should be something that we have not seen before (either at this site or any others) and preferably shot for the competition itself. You are not going to improve by submitting old photos. If we discover an entry to be an old shot or one that it has been displayed elsewhere, it will be disqualified and any points it may have been awarded will be removed from your ‘seasons’ total.


How long do I have to submit my Photo – When does this round close?

Each round will close 7 days before the end of the month. That allows five days to vote after the closing date and then two days to sort out and post the results before the next round opens at the beginning of the next calendar month. We will remind you of the closing date in the competition thread several times before the end and will also notify you of when the voting will begin. Please check into the thread regularly.



Votes and Points – Do I have to vote, can I vote for my own and where do I send my votes?

Voting is open to EVERY registered member irrespective of if that person has entered a photo or not. If you have entered a photo then you have to vote, failure to do so will result in your entry being disqualified. Votes for your own entry will be ignored and your entry will be disqualified.

Votes are to be submitted by the community forum private message system and should include your top three pictures. We will not accept votes by email or the ‘contact us’ form, anything received by these methods will be ignored and could result in your entry being disqualified.

The recipient of the votes will vary depending on which member of the crew is running the competition for that round. When voting is opened we will notify you of the Crew member to whom you should send the votes. Only votes received in the allocated time will be counted. The day before the voting closes, the Crew member in charge of that round will send out a confirmation Private Message to every member that votes have been received from. At the same time he will also post into the competition thread that he has done so. If you have voted and do not receive the confirmation Private Message at this time, then you should PM the Crew member directly to sort out the issue, please don’t PM them previous to this apart from in unusual circumstances.

When considering your votes, please take account of the theme relevance, the camera skill the member has used, their composition skills, the photos impact etc. Some members will work very hard to get good entries into each round, these shots should be given respect and due recognition.

Once the voting is closed, all the results will be collated and converted into a top 10. Points will then be awarded as follows…

1st – 100 points
2nd – 80 points
3rd – 60 points
4th – 40 points
5th – 20 points
6th – 10 points
7th – 8 points
8th – 6 points
9th - 4 points
10th – 2 points

Any points members score in any round are added to that members total for the season. This will then give us points for both the monthly theme and a running total for the season. The point spread has been set at these levels to make it possible for virtually anyone to catch up and have a chance at the season’s prize (even if they only join the site half way through). Of course it also makes it easier for a competent photographer to get quite a high score as well…


Subjects/themes

We have chosen the subjects and allocated them to the months so that everyone should be able to get a photo for every round. We have also spread the subjects around to make some easy, some hard, some are more dependant on camera skills, some are more dependant on excellent composition skills and finally, some will take some members out of their comfort zones. All of them should help you improve your photography over the coming 12 months.

Season One

November 2006 - Close Up – Round One - Closed
December 2006 – Wet– Round Two - Closed
January 2007 - Silhouette - Closed
February 2007 - Black and white - Closed
March 2007 - Movement - Closed
April 2007 - Bokeh - Closed
May 2007 - Landscape - Closed
June 2007 - Animals and Plants - Closed
July 2007 - Street life - Closed
August 2007 - Perspective - Closed
September 2007 - Abstract - Closed
October 2007 - Portrait - Closed

Season Two

November 2007– Communication
December 2007 - Laughter
January 2008 – Food
February 2008 – Contrast
March 2008 - Water
April 2008 – Spirals
May 2008 – Sport
June 2008 - The natural world
July 2008 - Urban
August 2008 - In Motion
September 2008 - Reflections
October 2008 - Hands and Feet


We start the first round in November and keep all of each round (voting included) within a calendar month. The round will be closed at -7 days from the end of the month, voting will be closed at -2 days from the end of the month which will give us one day to collect and work out the results before posting them on the final day. The next round will then begin on the 1st of the next round and so on…

We will make it very clear when each round starts, when each round closes, when voting has been opened and when it closes on a monthly basis…please keep checking the competition thread for that months round as that is where details and updates will be posted. I doubt that we will need to publicise the results too much though as I am sure you will all be looking for those

Prizes

Pixalo is owned by 2 individuals who run the site with the help of 5 moderators. Pixalo is a free resource and offers free site wide access for its members, with all site development & running costs being absorbed by its owners. As such the owners are also paying for the prizes out of their own pockets. On this basis the prizes will start very modest, until we invite a sponsor on board to help fund more substantial prizes. Members can help us by spreading the word about Pixalo and increasing our membership...the more members that visit and use the site, the more we can expect a sponsor to offer in terms of prizes.

The monthly prizes will be announced at the start of each round and no alternatives or cash equivalents will be offered. On occasions (if the winner is from a country where the cost of delivering the prize would become restrictive) the admin will discuss and arrange a suitable alternative with the winning member.

The season’s prize will be of a higher value as recognition of the winning member’s achievement. It will not be announced at this time as circumstances are likely to change in the next 12 months which could mean that we are better positioned to give away a much bigger prize.

Last but not least - in the unlikely event of a dispute the Admin's decision is final.


These rules have been amended on 11th January 2008