Poll for weekly contest?

[Kayaker72]

Hi Everyone,

I am very appreciative of all of you who help judge the weekly contest here on TDP. But, I have hit another run of having difficulty lining up judges and also, the number of weekly entries is usually less than 10.

What I am wondering is if it would be better to have a poll each week? I would only fall back on a judge if the number of entries exceeded 10. With this idea, I am thinking we should limit the number of entries per person to 2.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Brant

[Joel Eade]

There is certainly a small core of participants in both the Image of the Week and also in the voting for Image of the Month (generally less than 10 votes total) so I suspect these two groups are mostly the same folks.

I don't have any brilliant ideas on how to increase participation but one alternative might be to ask judges to cover 2 weeks or a month so less judges would be required.

[Joel Eade]

Another option would be to just have the contest every 2 weeks or once a month with entries limited to 2 per participant

[Kayaker72]

One more day to vote here (it was just 3 days).

Giving judges a larger window is another option here. As our judges are also our contributors, I wouldn't want to make it too long, but 2 weeks could work.

[Kayaker72]

Ok...it seems we will give a weekly poll a chance for a little bit. Please feel free to let me know if we end up not liking it. I am thinking 3 days to vote for weekly and then 5 days for everything else.

Thanks,
Brant

[Minerve101]

Brant, I hope this eases the workload on you. I am sure we all appreciate your efforts to maintain this forum.

Let me also express a personal opinion. I encourage anyone who looks in on the forum to submit entries for the contest.

When I started with digital photography I found the process of editing a shot to enter the contest was very helpful, and led to improvement. I recognize I will never be as accomplished as some of the contributors (Brant, Joel, and Jonathan are obvious examples). For me that is not the point; instead, trying for my personal best is rewarding.

With a poll there will not be judges' comments. I plan to sometimes invite critique of what I submit. I have found comments from the forum participants to be helpful and supportive.

Danny