Every month, PentaxForums.com hosts an official photo contest for its members. All members are invited to participate! The contest procedure and rules are outlined in this post.

How to Submit

To submit a photo, it is enough to start a thread in the submission forum containing your photo. Note: others won't be able to view your submission until voting time.

Official Rules for PentaxForums.com Monthly Photo Contests

Please follow these guidelines when submitting entries for our monthly photo contests. Your photo may be disqualified or you may be asked to re-upload it upon any violations.

• Submit only one photo per contest
  
• Your submission must have been taken with a Pentax or Ricoh camera and match the contest theme
• Post your submission in a separate thread within the contest submission forum
• The photo dimensions must be between 300x300 and 1400x1200 pixels (WxH)
  Recommended dimensions: 1200x800 for horizontals, 800x533 for verticals
• To ensure smooth loading, photos must be no larger than 1.5MB in filesize
• We recommend that you use our attachment system to ensure you are within limits
• You may receive an e-mail or PM prior to voting time if we detect any issues with your submission
• To verify that your submission was successful, navigate to the contest submission forum and make sure you see your submission thread as well as a photo within it. Only the last photo in your first submission thread will be considered. If you did not use our attachment system, make sure that your photo can be accessed by the public (i.e. isn't behind some sort of permission-based system).
  

Fine print:

• Photos that have won a previous contest (1st, 2nd, or 3rd place) cannot be re-submitted to future contests
• Your submission must be taken by you and may not be a derivative work. Composites are allowed provided you advise in your submission that it is a composite and provided that you took all the photos that form part of the composite image.
• Photos that are Not Safe for Work/Not Work Safe (NSFW/NWS) (i.e. any form of nudity) are no longer allowed in our monthly photo contests. You may still share these photos in our Post Your Photos forum.
  
• Post-processing that enhances your submission is allowed
• Image borders are allowed, but should be used in moderation
• Submissions do not have to be taken in the same month as the contest unless otherwise specified
  
• To avoid voting bias, please do not watermark your photos with your username (but rather with your real name or website if needed)
• Do not specifically list which photo(s) you voted for or comment on others when commenting on the voting thread
• Only the first post of your first submission thread will be checked for a photo. Thus, to change your submission prior to the closing of the contest, simply edit your post. Do not reply with additional submissions.
  
• If your photo doesn't contain EXIF information, please specify the camera and lens in your thread, using the appropriate fields
• Contest start/end dates subject to change based on staff availability
  
• If your photo wins, it will be showcased in our Premier Gallery along with all previous winners. We reserve the right to permanently leave a copy of your photo in that gallery.
  We also reserve the right to publish your photo on our homepage and via social media channels. Proper attribution is guaranteed. You may request that the published photo be altered to include a copyright notice.
  
• Regarding prize substitutions: we do not guarantee substitutions if you are unable to claim your prize. International shipping is offered.
• Prior to receiving your prize, we reserve to right to ask you for a brief blog post describing the technique you used to shoot and process your photo, as well as what equipment you used.
  

Note that we use an automated system to process voting threads. Therefore, if your photo does not meet any of the submission requirements, it WILL NOT BE INCLUDED, and you may or may not be notified of disqualification beforehand.

General Procedure for PentaxForums.com Monthly Photo Contests

Note that our contest procedure has been changed as of July, 2014.

Around the first day of each month, we:

• Announce a new contest theme in a sticky thread in the main contest forum
  • As soon as the theme is announced within the users may start submitting their contest photos
• Close the previous month's contest and make those submissions visible to the public in a special gallery
• Start accepting user nominations for finalist photos from the previous month
  • Comment on others' submissions via the gallery linked above to nominate them to become finalists
  • Include the text "not a nomination" to ask a question without nominating

Following the end of the 2nd week of each month, we:

• Announce 15 finalists from the previous month's contest based on highest number of nominations
• Create a public poll to determine the winners
  • Every forum member gets one vote

At the end of the 3rd week of each month, we:

• Close the voting thread
• Announce a winner of the previous month's contest and send out prizes
  

Proper Conduct

We ask that you do not comment on which photos you voted for within our voting threads.

When submitting photos, your submission thread must have the photo embedded (i.e. IMG and not URL tags), and it must conform to the size guidelines above. You may only submit one photo per contest: if you submit more than one, then only the FIRST photo within your thread will be included.

Additionally, once a new theme is posted, the previous month's contest is considered closed. No late submissions are accepted. As a failsafe, try to have your submission in before before last day of each month. We typically don't announce themes until midnight U.S. time on the last day, but this may vary.

You cannot vote in contest polls if you registered after the corresponding contest closed to submissions.

[Adam]

Nope, it is not allowed.

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)



PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

[sealisthenewbeaver]

I still don't get why the threads are visible while voting. Is that something that has to be done that way to make the voting system work as it does now?

I find it confusing that we are supposed to be anonymous during the contest, but in the end when everything is on the table one gets to see who has shot what. Like, it's recommended that the shots haven't been posted on other websites and you're not allowed to put watermarks. I'm not saying it's making the voting system biased towards anyone, but it's still somehow weird.

[Robanstan_AU]

I just entered the contest for the first time, no problems with the form, all looks great & is easy, ...but... I forgot to load the image , so I tried to edit the new thread, and added an image there. Is this the right thing to do? How can I check it?

[atupdate]

I just entered the contest for the first time, no problems with the form, all looks great & is easy, ...but... I forgot to load the image , so I tried to edit the new thread, and added an image there. Is this the right thing to do? How can I check it?

Adding an image to your thread would be the best way. To check it, go to the Search Menu Toolbar and click on "My Threads". Your contest entry should be listed there. Click on your entry and you should be able to edit it with no problems if you need to.

Tim

[Robanstan_AU]

Thanks Tim, I got it now - great!

[Ira]

Am I allowed to steal a photo and claim it as my own?

Damn--I didn't think so.

But if I post anything decent, no one's going to believe it's mine anyway.

[sheela]

I had a question for Adam today it might of been a silly one: if the widthXheight conditions apply even to images hosted on an external URL and yes they do we can either link to a picture with max width of 900px either we use imgwide tags to limit the width.

Cheers

I had a question for Adam today it might of been a silly one: if the widthXheight conditions apply even to images hosted on an external URL and yes they do we can either link to a picture with max width of 900px either we use imgwide tags to limit the width.

Cheers

That's correct, if you use IMGWIDE tags, a smaller (but not too small) version will appear in the thread but clicking on it will bring up a larger version.

[Tringle WP]

How do you use IMGWIDE tags? An academic question really since I accidentally posted a link to an oversized image and now I can't edit the post. The dialogue comes up OK, but nothing happens when I click 'save'.

I'm starting to think the hassle with this isn't worth the bother.

[Adam]

Check the sticky in post your photos for syntax guidelines.

I'm starting to think the hassle with this isn't worth the bother.

Then don't.

[AOShep]

When I submitted my entry for the March contest I either didn't upload properly or it failed. Now if I try to edit the message and add the image, the editor does not work. The only button on the editor that will work is the one that allows me to post from my own album or gallery upload on this site which is not desireable because voters could see the image in this forum and know whose it is. What can I do? Or am I just forget this month? Damn Brit brought the failed upload to my attention and has given me advise on getting around this, but to no avail. BTW, I am in Taiwan so it's possible that some ISP or port is being blocked. Also, I have tried 3 different computers in 2 different locations. 3 different browsers.

[Adam]

When I submitted my entry for the March contest I either didn't upload properly or it failed. Now if I try to edit the message and add the image, the editor does not work. The only button on the editor that will work is the one that allows me to post from my own album or gallery upload on this site which is not desireable because voters could see the image in this forum and know whose it is. What can I do? Or am I just forget this month? Damn Brit brought the failed upload to my attention and has given me advise on getting around this, but to no avail. BTW, I am in Taiwan so it's possible that some ISP or port is being blocked. Also, I have tried 3 different computers in 2 different locations. 3 different browsers.

You should try simple IMG bbcode tags- see here: PentaxForums.com - BB Code List

[AOShep]

You should try simple IMG bbcode tags- see here: PentaxForums.com - BB Code List

Done that. The problem is the editor does not save. When I use FireFox the status line does say waiting for PentaxForums.com, forever. I've waited over an hour and nothing responds. I can't even save straight text. It may be possible that my particular thread is corrupted.

[Tringle WP]

That's exactly what happens to my attempts to edit from Opera. It just doesn't.