How to Enter POTM - Rules

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Would you like to enter our Puffer of the Month photo competition?

Each month's winner is not only featured on our home page for the following month, but is automatically entered into our annual Puffer of the Year competition, with a grand prize of a $25 gift certificate to The Puffer Store!

Full rules and entry instructions can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3455
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How to Enter POTM - Rules

Post by Rocker »

Every month, active members of The Puffer Forum are encouraged to submit photos of their puffers into our Puffer of the Month Photo Competition. The winner of each month will be automatically entered into our Puffer of the Year Photo Contest, held annually in January. This year, we are pleased to announce the winner of the Puffer of the Year will receive a $25 gift certificate to The Puffer Store!

Winning photos will also be displayed on our home page and in the Hall of Fame!

All members are welcome to vote on their favorite entries and spread the word!


Contest Rules:

1. The contest is open to active posting members of The Puffer Forum only, all entrants must have a minimum of 25 posts in the forum, at the time of submission, to qualify for this competition.

2. Only one photo submission per forum member, per monthly contest. Non-winning photos entered in previous contests may be resubmitted in following months. Winning photos are not eligible for re-entry, as they are automatically entered in the Puffer of the Year contest.

3. The photo must contain at least one puffer (or puffer related species such as boxfish, cowfish, burrfish, etc). Multiple puffers or other fish are allowed in the photo.

4. Entrant must be the actual photographer of the pictures. Any pictures submitted found to be in violation of copyrights will be immediately disqualified and removed.

5. Graphically edited or "Photoshopped" images are acceptable, as long as all content of the photo belongs to the submitting member. In other words, editing the background of your photo to make it more asthetically pleasing or interesting is acceptable, pasting a puffer from a photo you do not have rights to over your own background is not.

6. A total of 10 entries will be accepted each month. In the case of more than 10 photos being entered into the competition, the first ten entered will be used for the current month's contest and the remainder will be automatically entered into the next month's competition. In the case of less than 10 entries, the contest will be put on hold until the following month and 10 entries are submitted.

7. The Puffer Forum reserves the right to save any or all contest submissions for on-site use in any part of The Puffer Forum (examples include illustrating library articles or species profiles). When a photo is used in such a manner, credit will be given to the appropriate party who submitted the picture if possible.



How to Enter:

Photo entries must be submitted by email to thepufferforum@hotmail.com by the 20th of the current month. Do NOT post your entries in this forum! They must be submitted via email.

Please include your forum username in the subject or body of the email! Without this identifier we have no idea who submitted the photo and it will NOT be entered into the contest.

Voting will begin on the 20st of the current month, via a Poll, and continue for 10 days, at which point the winner will be announced. If necessary, a 5 day tiebreaker vote will follow.

Entrant must try to provide as much of the following information as possible with their pictures:

A. Puffer pictures:
- Species
- Name of Puffer
- Age (if known)
- Size
- Brief description - ie location if photographed on dive or at public aquarium, tankmates, etc.

Pictures must meet the following technical specifications:
- An attachment, no links to personal websites, photo albums or sites such as Photobucket please
- File format: JPEG
- File size: 250kb or less.
- Physical size: 800 pixels or less in any direction.

Note: Any picture not meeting these requirements possibly may not be considered for the contest due to the time required to alter the pictures. (You can easily resize your image here: http://www.imageeditor.net/ )

An example of a proper entry is as follows:
Email Subject:
Joe-Bobs puffer photo entry for February

Email Body:
Here is my entry for February's contests.

My Dwarf puffer "Puffy":
- Species: Carinotetraodon travancoricus
- Age: 2 years
- Size: 1 inch

Email Attachments:
- *250kb, 800x800, Jpeg image of Puffy*

(Updated February 2009 by Myaj)
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Re: How to Enter POTM - Rules

Post by Myaj »

Hello all.

I would like to address a few changes in the way we will be running POTM, and also to remind you all of a few rules that have always been in effect, but we've kind of let slide in the past.

First of all, the biggest change.. we will now be accepting entries until the 19th of the month, and voting will begin on the 20th of each month and run for 10 days (give or take a day here or there in case your favorite techy is running herself ragged and forgets to get it online ;)). This means the contest will actually happen completely within the month, instead of spreading out over two months.

I think that change will make everyone pretty happy, and make a bit more sense, logistically.

Second, attach your files to your submission email! I am no longer accepting links to private websites, photo albums or online hosts such as Photobucket where I have to physically download the files from public sites that are a prime target of hackers. Send them as an attachment only. Some of you may have heard about Photobucket getting hit recently by a nasty trojan. Yeah. Guess who got it after saving someone's POTM entry off Photobucket that they linked me to instead of sending the file directly. Attachments only please, from now on. If you have it saved online, download it yourself and then send me the file. Thank you.

The other rules all stay the same.. first 10 eligible entries will be featured in the POTM, additional entries will be in the following months, first come, first serve. One entry per forum member, per month. Photos that have won a monthly contest may not be resubmitted but photos that did NOT win MAY be resubmitted, etc etc etc.

The following are rules that have always been in the list, but people tend to ignore.

File size. 250kb maximum, 800x800 pixels maximum. We're trying to keep this relatively streamlined for those on dialup, and keep the photos all around the same size so no one feels they can't compete with so and so's 18 megapixel Digital SLR whachamadoozit. Please resize your photos. If you don't, I will, and if I'm in a rush this makes me cranky. If I get cranky enough, I'll enforce the rule about submissions not meeting requirments may be thrown out... ;)

Username. Please, please, tell me your forum name when you submit an entry Again, if I'm in a hurry and need to get the contest posted, if I don't get an email back, I may have to eliminate entries that have no name.. I need to verify each entrant has enough posts, etc. I'm generally pretty good about matching up puffers to their owners, but if you are newer, or its a new fish, I probably won't be able to figure it out on my own.

Otherwise, just a note that I often don't reply to the emails right away.. I apologize for this past month, life has been hectic.. normally I try to check it at least once a week and get back to everyone.

Now, I'm not trying to be an old, cranky schoolmarm or anything, just asking that you guys try to remember these things to save me a little time here and there ;). I haven't refused an entry yet, for anything other than the submitter not having enough posts by contest time, and I probably won't, but each month more and more people are "forgetting" to do these small things and it really adds up sometimes. Thanks!
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