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]

Still why confuse people when they've read the rules?

What do you mean? Your file must have exceeded the attachment limits so it was resized to fit.

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:

[FurryMoses]

What do you mean? Your file must have exceeded the attachment limits so it was resized to fit.

Sorry I didn't state the size in Kb.
My file is 1280x853 and 328.1Kb
The size limits are 1MB and 1280x1024.
I can't see anything being exceeded and yet the file was resize to less than half it's original (128Kb).

[FurryMoses]

Sorry I didn't state the size in Kb.
My file is 1280x853 and 328.1Kb
The size limits are 1MB and 1280x1024.
I can't see anything being exceeded and yet the file was resize to less than half it's original (128Kb).

Sorry to keep on adding, but I should have added, this is my first ever attachment upload - I have no other files attached. The limit is said to be 4MB.
I'm uploading one file, that is 328.1Kb.
So the mystery of what's being exceeded remains ;-)

[Adam]

Sorry I didn't state the size in Kb.
My file is 1280x853 and 328.1Kb
The size limits are 1MB and 1280x1024.
I can't see anything being exceeded and yet the file was resize to less than half it's original (128Kb).

Right, the contest limit is 1280x1024 (for linked images, etc.) but our attachment system limit is 1280x800. So if you attach something to a post it will be scaled if it's over 1280x700, but if you embed it from the album system, gallery, or an external site, then it'll be fine as long as it's 1280x1024 or smaller.

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:

[MRRiley]

Clarification added to rules regarding Not Safe for Work or Not Work Safe entries. While these are permitted, they will be displayed as clickable thumbnails rather than full sized images in the voting queue. Hopefully this will protect members using the site at work.

Mike
PF Moderation Team

[pentaxk10duser]

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. These rules will be effective starting April, 2007.

• Submit only one photo per contest
  
• Your submission must have been taken with a Pentax camera and match the contest theme
  • We must be able to verify the camera either via EXIF, or via the "Camera" field in your submission. Be sure to include the full camera name.
    
• Post your submission in a separate thread within the contest submission forum
• The photo dimensions must be between 300x300 and 1280x1024 pixels (WxH)
• For thread attachments, the thread attachment dimension limits apply (currently 1280x800 pixels)
  
• To ensure smooth loading, photo must be no larger than 1Mb in filesize
• Your photo MUST be in JPG format (so that it can be displayed inline)
• We recommend that you use our attachment system to ensure you are within limits
• You may receive an e-mail 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:

• Your submission must be taken by you and may not be a derivative work
• Photos that are Not Safe for Work/Not Work Safe (NSFW/NWS) but that do conform with our nudity policy will be linked to rather than embedded in full size voting thread
  
• 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
• 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 latest post of your first submission thread will be checked for a photo. Thus, to change your submission, simply post it as a reply or edit the first post. Do not reply with comments, etc.
  
• Voting polls for each contest are posted the day after the contest closes to submissions (i.e. September 1st for an August contest)
• 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 on our homepage (update: as of 2010, instead 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 price, 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

On 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
• Post the voting thread for the previous month's contest

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

• Close the voting thread
• Announce a winner 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 LAST photo within your FIRST 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.

This makes no since to me , this is what I see on the same page on this forum .It has that January, 2013 photo contest , # 77 , is Bokeh but in another Line on the same page Theme contest # 78 - February, 2013 is Bokeh. below is what I copyed and paste from this site.
PentaxForums.com → Photo Sharing and Galleries → Monthly Photo Contests →
Theme Contest #78 - February, 2013 (Bokeh)
Dear pentaxk10duser: The theme for our official January, 2013 photo contest, #77, is "Bokeh." Click here to submit | Vote for last month's Winners

[Adam]

This makes no since to me , this is what I see on the same page on this forum .It has that January, 2013 photo contest , # 77 , is Bokeh but in another Line on the same page Theme contest # 78 - February, 2013 is Bokeh. below is what I copyed and paste from this site.
PentaxForums.com → Photo Sharing and Galleries → Monthly Photo Contests →
Theme Contest #78 - February, 2013 (Bokeh)
Dear pentaxk10duser: The theme for our official January, 2013 photo contest, #77, is "Bokeh." Click here to submit | Vote for last month's Winners

That's just a typo, I will fix it in a moment.

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:

[elmo wartz]

what does photo must not be a derivative mean?

[Adam]

what does photo must not be a derivative mean?

Means you can't just alter somebody else's work and call it your own.

[elmo wartz]

Thanx, mr. Adam. Now i'm a little bit smarter then i was yesterday..

[quintinir]

Sorry if I ask something already asked... there are 11 pages of post here and could not find this.
I have posted photos for some old context, for example "snow" end of 2012. I can see who the winners are, but how can I go back and see the full list of photos and scores for that particular context? Would like to see if I got zero votes or 10 or what... I can do this for the latest context but don't know how to check the past one. Thanks
Riccardo

[Adam]

Sorry if I ask something already asked... there are 11 pages of post here and could not find this.
I have posted photos for some old context, for example "snow" end of 2012. I can see who the winners are, but how can I go back and see the full list of photos and scores for that particular context? Would like to see if I got zero votes or 10 or what... I can do this for the latest context but don't know how to check the past one. Thanks
Riccardo

All the old polls are found in this section of the forum. Just exit out of the thread, then click on "thread filtering options" and select the "expired contest poll" prefix.

[quintinir]

Ok, found it, thanks. (10 votes, sigh. Very strong competition...)

[barkii]

A simple question from a very sporadic user of the Forum.. Is there a place where I can check the reults of the contents in rank order
(with, if possible, a mention of the number of votes each entry has obtained) ?

[Adam]

A simple question from a very sporadic user of the Forum.. Is there a place where I can check the reults of the contents in rank order
(with, if possible, a mention of the number of votes each entry has obtained) ?

See post #177.