The PentaxForums "2 million post" Giveaway

In celebration of the forum's 2 million post milestone, we are very happy to announce the first part of our "2 million post" giveaway, in which you will be able to win a Pentax K-30 DSLR kit or an Optio WG-2, as well as other great prizes. Our friends at B&H Photo, the largest authorized Pentax retailer in the US, have offered the K-30 as a prize to celebrate this great milestone.   And even if you don't win the grand prize, there are lots of prizes for the runner-ups, so be sure see the full rules for more details!

The K-30 is the latest mid-range DSLR from Pentax, featuring a weather-sealed body, enhanced external controls, and cutting-edge performance.  Read more about the camera in our in-depth Pentax K-30 review! All of the K-30 giveaway details are available below, so look no further than this news post!

Our K-30 giveaway will be a blog post competition that will remain open for 3 months, through the end of the day on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, EST.  During the event period (8/13/2012 - 11/14/2012), you will be able to make two types of submissions to the competition.  You can choose to submit one or both types, though submitting both essentially doubles your chances of winning.  You will be able to make your submissions as private posts on the forum, which will later be published on the home page by our staff.

Submission #1

The first of two blog posts you will be able to submit is a short piece about what piece of photographic equipment has made the biggest positive impact on your photography or workflow.  Each blog post should be about 1 page long (as long as this announcement) in order to be approved for the competition.  The piece of equipment you choose to blog about can be a camera, lens, accessory, bag, computer program, or even something you built yourself!  Your blog post should include the following:

• An introductory paragraph
• A photo & description of the item that has been the most influential on your photography
• A paragraph describing why this item has made such a big impact
• Sample photos taken with the item you're blogging about, if applicable (otherwise, examples of the item in use)
• A brief conclusion
• Clean formatting & grammar

As long as all of these requirements are met, you're free to use your imagination and make your post look as appealing as possible!  Please note: formatting will be limited to what's allowed by forum BBcode (bold, italics, underlines, inline images, links, bullet lists, paragraphs, and tables).  Photos may be uploaded using the forum attachment system (preferred), or linked to from an external host.

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT Submission #1

Submission #2

The second type of contest submission will be a blog post describing the "making of" one of your favorite photos (example post 1, example post 2).  We encourage you to take a look at the two linked example posts to get an idea of what the layout of your post should be like.  Your post should include the following, and be about as long as example post #1:

• An introductory paragraph stating why you picked this photo
• The photo being discussed, embedded
• The equipment (camera, lens, tripod, flash, post processing software etc.) used
• Technical information about the photo (shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, white balance, etc.)
• A paragraph describing, in detail, your post-processing technique (if applicable), or explaining how you managed to accomplish an effect without processing
• (Optional, but encouraged) The photo before processing, embedded
• Brief closing remarks
• Clean formatting & grammar

We recommend that your posts emphasize the technique used to capture and process the image. Please note that all photos must have thumbnails that are no wider than 600 pixels and no taller than 700 pixels.  You may, however, link these thumbnails to full-size images.  As with submission #1, formatting will be limited to what's permitted by the forum post editor. Photos may be uploaded using the forum attachment system (preferred), or linked to from an external host.

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT Submission #2

Judging

Once the contest closes to submissions, and once all blog posts have been published, your fellow forum members will vote for their favorite blog posts.  Voting will be held exclusively on the PentaxForums.com forum.  The number of votes you received for your first submission will be combined with the number of votes received for your second submission in order to determine your overall score, and the participant with the highest overall score will be the winner.  The nine runners-up will also receive prizes (see full terms for details).

Note that in order to start the voting period as early as possible, your blog posts may be published on our homepage before the contest closes.  Read on for the fine print related to this contest- we've tried to keep it as simple as possible.  We wish you the best of luck in this competition!

Fine Print

By entering this competition, you agree to abide by the following terms and conditions.

• This contest is open to anyone with a valid (i.e. not banned) forum account on PentaxForums.com.  No purchase is necessary to create an account or to enter the competition.
• Contest submission period: August 13, 2012 at the time of this post, through November 14, 2012 at 11:59pm EST.
• Grand prize: Pentax K-30 18-55mm kit, $900 value.  May be upgraded to a Pentax K-30 18-135mm kit if the winner covers the difference in price.  May be substituted for any K-30 of a different color, if available and in-stock.  No other substitutions.  Winner responsible for international shipping & customs fees (domestic US shipping via UPS ground is included).
• Second place prize: Pentax Optio WG-2, sponsored by PENTAX Ricoh Imaging USA.  A color preference may be indicated but is not guaranteed.
• Third place price: two-year "loyal site supporter" forum account upgrade
• Fourth place (5 winners): one year "site supporter" forum account upgrade
• Contest voting period: begins after the contest submission period, duration and start date to be determined by PentaxForums.com.
• Contest submissions will be made in the two designated forums on PentaxForums.com.  A separate forum will be used for each type of submission, and members will not be able to see others' submissions until they are made public on the PentaxForums.com homepage.
• Terms and conditions of this competition are subject to change through the end of the contest submission period with no prior notice.  Any updated terms will be added to this list and clearly marked.
• PentaxForums.com reserves the right to disqualify any individual who does not follow the contest rules or harasses site staff.
• Limit one "Submission 1" per member and one "Submission 2" per member for a total of two submissions.  Creating duplicate accounts to enter this competition will result in disqualification.
• The text content you submit for this giveaway becomes the property of PentaxForums.com.  The photos your submit remain your property, but by including them in your blog post, you give PentaxForums.com the right to display the photos on its site indefinitely, and to store the photos on their servers.  Watermarks and copyright notices are acceptable and may be included in your photos.
• The content you submit for this giveaway may be edited by the PentaxForums.com staff in order to correct its presentation, or to include additional content as requested by our sponsor.
• By entering this competition, you give B&H Photo Video the right to re-publish or share your content via their social media channels.
• PentaxForums.com will determine the voting procedure through which the winners will be selected, and reserves the right to modify the voting procedure at any time.
• Unless otherwise prohibited by your local laws, you must be at least 13 years old in order to enter this competition.
• This competition is open to users located in any country (though non-US residents may be required to pay additional shipping & customs fees in order to receive their prize).
• PentaxForums.com administrators and moderators are not eligible to enter this competition.