Extra competitions

Well new entrants do win the competition fairly regularly, so the competition has the potential to evolve in new directions. If it gets a bit stale, perhaps more new blood is required?

No one should be put off from entering by the fact they have to judge the following one. There are no hard and fast rules on judging so it's up to you whether you go in depth on each shot, or just write a few words. Or even - shock horror! just comment on your top 3 and highly commended shots. Yes a few people will moan because you haven't written a thesis on each shot, but stuff 'em! Pay them no heed. You're the judge and it's entirely your call.

Yes comprehensive comments are nice, but i'd far rather see more people enter who would otherwise have been intimidated.

Quite. This is why I prefer the Fortnightly, and rarely look at the Weekly - because its as much (if not more so) about the Composition & Content as the Technique - and I have a personal preference to being set a challenge, rather than browsing a back-catalogue with a crowbar (but that's just me - I can also see that having the perfect shot for something but took it at the wrong time would be frustrating!)

But in general, any competition where the winners choose the winners will naturally tend to be somewhat "samey" over time. But so would voting, as it would reflect the mainstream views of the majority (or those few who could be bothered to vote - over time this would drop away), so that system could easily exclude the brilliant-but-maverick shots, which a judge might pick out.

To encourage new people to enter, there has to be some element of chance or possibility that they can win. A newcomer to photography has virtually no chance of winning the weekly competition (the majority focus on techniques and classic genres rather than topics), but a beginner could get an amazing on-topic shot by being in the right place at the right time and win the fortnightly.

Is this the PPG?

I wonder if the rules should change a bit.

ie images for the weekly competition must be taken with in 4 months
of the date of comp then it might inspire people to enter a current image and not rely on back catalogue of images.

and if judge is putting people off why not have a voting system their people can have three votes in one competition or appoint a judging panel of three to five people.

we could also set up a prize if needed I would donate 50p to £1.00 a month and if twenty people did this we could have as much as twenty pound prize money.

James

Maybe a slight tweak on this.
#1 can say what the next comp is going to be and the top 3 each do their judging and give at least some simple comment on each shot and make each their own top 3.

So #1 gets 3 points
#2 = 2 points
#3 = 3 points

You add them up from the 3 judges and the one with the most points win.
If their is more then one winner the #1 if the previous comp has the final say.

It does get a bit complicated like this but as a judge you don't feel like you should write long and trough comments and the view off 3 judges would give someone who enters more information I think.

Many already have said that they don't want to win because they need to judge so lets do a test run with the voting system to see how that works.
I hope some will comment on someone else their photos or at least explain on why they voted for someone.

Lets pick the first weekly as the theme, that was The Number Six and lets run it from now 12 July till midnight Friday 23 July when voting will begin for the weekend till midnight Sunday 25 July.
To keep it simple for now lets do it without a date limit for the entry and you can only give comments on the entries when the comp is over to not influence anyone.

The winner only gets fame for now but if it's fun and others want to continue the comp the winner can pick the next theme, I think.

Of course any input or thoughts are appreciated I don't rule the forum after all.

So shall I put up the comp here on the forum to see how it goes?

Not a bad idea, although it took me a while to actually understand it! But I think the current format is fine. Just a little less expectation on the judge, and encouragement of recent shots (rather than more rules), is all that is required imo.

There's nothing stopping anyone creating an extra comp along those lines tho.

Will you're right.
Just lets start it and see what happened, there was already some talk about a comp like that.

I see where you are coming from, Gwyn, but think of it as a double challenge - producing a winning photo, and producing a good judgement.

The latter is a chore, admittedly, in one sense, but by God it's also quite a learning experience for those who, unlike say JR, don't regularly judge competitions, and therefore don't get to have to analyse and explain why they think one picture was better than another.

Think of it as a privilege and an education in one.

G (Who seldom enters competitions, so is conscious of risking a charge of hypocrisy)

My op was asking if there should be more comps. I dont think the existing ones need to change, they work quite well and are different to anything i`ve seen on other sites.

Looking at the vote, 60/40 is not massivley in favour and with only 16 votes I dont think it says anything really.

IMHO there is merit in several of these ideas but I think the judging thing is still too complicated. Why not have a straight voting approach but with an alternative vote system so everyone can vote for their No1 and No2 with the possibility of a comments box say limited to 25 words. It would take a bit of software tweaking.

But whatever the (simplified) format the main thing is to Promote the Comp more so more people are aware of it.

Stefan has set up a very simple voting competition - add your shot in week 1, vote on week 2.

Better to try a new comp and 'suck it and see' than endlessly debate 'the perfect format' (there isn't one!)

Gwyn and ISO - who do you suggest provides the critique if not the previous winner? The issue seems to be that you want feedback on your entries, but aren't willing to provide any to others - or have I got it all wrong?

To be quite honest I don't think any think would work right just look at the stats for this poll thread

588 views
42 replies

and ONLY 16 have bothered to vote

I rest my case

James

Tim - I am getting tired of this - nothing personal at all - I was just trying to add to the debate on getting a simpler Comp and one which more entrants would be attracted to.