What does it cost to enter the contest?
Most ARC Contests are completely 100% free to enter.
Who is eligible to enter the contests?
Contests will occasionally be open to everybody. However, ARC Supporting members are ALWAYS automatically eligible for all ARC Contests.
If you're not an ARC supporting member yet, please consider joining, it's well worth it. Every month, we have free prizes, frag-swaps and meetings, discounts at many Atlanta area LFS... plus several members that will give you free coral frags if you tell them you're a new member. All of this is included free just for being a Supporting Member. Don't take my word for it, ask other members what makes it worth it for them.
Do I need the best/rare coral to win photo contests?
Absolutely not. We want anybody to be able to win. The committee is looking for attributes of a nice photo, not necessarily the best or rarest coral. Even brown or tan soft corals and blue-leg hermits have won over brightly colored acropora and anemones.
Then do I need the best camera equipment to win photo contests?
Still no. Cellphone cameras have produced many winning photographs, and nearly always at least 1 honorable mention. That said, a good camera is beneficial. If you're stuck with a crappy cellphone camera (like me), there are many ways to increase the quality of your photo. Even just doing 1 or 2 of the following can help significantly.
Usually yes (unless otherwise specified), multiple submissions are allowed. We would rather encourage people to make submissions than to hold out thinking that they can make a better submission later. That said, please don’t try to take advantage of this allowance, 2 or 3 submissions is totally fine, 10 submissions is overdoing it, the grey area in between is situation-dependent. Also, please make each of your submissions in a separate post, even if they are back-to-back.
While multiple submissions are allowed, stage 2 in the selection procedures will be to choose the best submission from each user to advance to the following stages. This will, by default, be determined by the photo with the most emoji's/like's/love's. If a user wishes for a different photo to be considered in place of this, they may state these wishes, on the contest submission page, by the deadline of the contest. In the event of ties, the contest committee will decide which submission advances. By including multiple submissions, users inherently agree to be satisfied with the selection (i.e. they view all their posts as sufficiently equal).
In contests where only 1 submission is allowed, we allow people to make a replacement submission for earlier posts. So there really is no pressure. If you have a good post, you can post it now, and do take-backs later if you have something better.
How is the winner determined?
The contest committee will aim to be as objective as possible, and not show any favoritism towards any particular favorite coral nor members.
To give an official vote, you ought to be part of the Contest Committee. Anybody and Everybody is welcomed. Just PM me and you're in. See below, for details.
Still, everyone can give a 'like' or 'love' on the post. For some contests, the number of likes/loves/etc will determine the winner.
So please vote on others' posts, even if just to show appreciation. In ALL contests, those with the highest votes will have the highest chances of winning.
How are tiebreakers handled?
This section is TBD... based on the new final poll procedures.
Ties may be handled with a combination of a number of options:
Contact the contest committee if we haven't PM'd you already.
I will connect you with the treasurer, board member, or coral-donor, to receive your prize
Who is on the contest committee?
Andrew @ActiveAngel
@Doberman13
Hunter @Hunna
John @Jikkermanccini
...and anyone else that wants to help think of fun ideas, and/or facilitate in selecting contest winners.
How can I join the contest committee, and what would be required of me?
To join, all you have to do is ask. Do that, and you're in!
The primary obligation will just be to help us make selections on winners. But you will also be involved in conversations and idea sharing.
How is User-Conduct regulated amongst Contests?
All posts under a specified contest thread must be either:
If you wish to express a concern or issue, please either create a separate post/thread to discuss the conversation, or feel free to DM the Contest Committee.
Cheating (e.g., creating multiple accounts to get more votes) may be found to be in violation of ARC's code of conduct, and may result in bans from ARC.
Most ARC Contests are completely 100% free to enter.
Who is eligible to enter the contests?
Contests will occasionally be open to everybody. However, ARC Supporting members are ALWAYS automatically eligible for all ARC Contests.
If you're not an ARC supporting member yet, please consider joining, it's well worth it. Every month, we have free prizes, frag-swaps and meetings, discounts at many Atlanta area LFS... plus several members that will give you free coral frags if you tell them you're a new member. All of this is included free just for being a Supporting Member. Don't take my word for it, ask other members what makes it worth it for them.
Do I need the best/rare coral to win photo contests?
Absolutely not. We want anybody to be able to win. The committee is looking for attributes of a nice photo, not necessarily the best or rarest coral. Even brown or tan soft corals and blue-leg hermits have won over brightly colored acropora and anemones.
Then do I need the best camera equipment to win photo contests?
Still no. Cellphone cameras have produced many winning photographs, and nearly always at least 1 honorable mention. That said, a good camera is beneficial. If you're stuck with a crappy cellphone camera (like me), there are many ways to increase the quality of your photo. Even just doing 1 or 2 of the following can help significantly.
- Use a tripod, or try to stabilize your camera on the aquarium glass, on a book, or using the back of a chair.
- Use one of the many brands of yellow/orange gel filters. Many kits can be purchased for $10-30, and also come with lenses.
- Aim the camera straight at the glass/acrylic instead of an angle. This will produce less distortion, and allow your camera to focus better on the subject.
- Clean your glass immediately before taking a photo.
- Experiment with the both aquarium and room lighting.
- Experiment with the focus/light adjustments with your camera.
- Take 10+ photos. Then you can look through them, and select the one that looks the best.
Usually yes (unless otherwise specified), multiple submissions are allowed. We would rather encourage people to make submissions than to hold out thinking that they can make a better submission later. That said, please don’t try to take advantage of this allowance, 2 or 3 submissions is totally fine, 10 submissions is overdoing it, the grey area in between is situation-dependent. Also, please make each of your submissions in a separate post, even if they are back-to-back.
While multiple submissions are allowed, stage 2 in the selection procedures will be to choose the best submission from each user to advance to the following stages. This will, by default, be determined by the photo with the most emoji's/like's/love's. If a user wishes for a different photo to be considered in place of this, they may state these wishes, on the contest submission page, by the deadline of the contest. In the event of ties, the contest committee will decide which submission advances. By including multiple submissions, users inherently agree to be satisfied with the selection (i.e. they view all their posts as sufficiently equal).
In contests where only 1 submission is allowed, we allow people to make a replacement submission for earlier posts. So there really is no pressure. If you have a good post, you can post it now, and do take-backs later if you have something better.
How is the winner determined?
The contest committee will aim to be as objective as possible, and not show any favoritism towards any particular favorite coral nor members.
- Photo entries are screened for eligibility.
- (e.g., checking for "Supporting Membership" and qualification with contest guidelines)
- There are usually about 20-30 initial entries. All (or almost all) entries are usually eligible.
- Multiple-Entries are narrowed to the best entry per member
- First, photo is chosen if user indicates their preferred submission BEFORE the contest deadline
- If no guidance given, then chosen via largest number of emoji's/like's/love's
- If a tie exists, the contest committee will do their best to choose the top photo
- Then, they are downloaded and assigned a number, so details (i.e., the photographer) are not readily visible during voting decisions.
- Entries are screened through several passes based on contest criteria, photo quality, composition, creativity, etc... until there are a clear best 5-ish photos
- This may be accomplished by any/all members of the contest committee, independently.
- This "5-ish" encompasses a range because it is flexible based on the submissions. By example; Sometimes, there are lots of excellent photos... while other times, there are a lot of great ones but only a few that stand out above the rest.
- "Coral awesomeness" is never a consideration (unless stipulated in the post). We are looking to judge the photos, not corals.
- As long as the committee has 3+ members, committee members will remain eligible to win contests. However, their inclusion into the final poll must be agreed on by the majority of remaining contest committee members (after making it through the normal selection procedures).
- Top choices are shared amongst committee members, and discussed for shared final selection.
- Contest Committee member will post a Poll for users to vote on the top photo
- We ask users to judge photos based on the merits of the contest. Not on the brightest, flashiest, rarest, or most expensive.
- Poll will be open for 14 days
- Users eligible to vote: Supporting Members, Market Members
- Photos will be downloaded in full image quality in which they were uploaded, and re-uploaded in that same quality, and displayed with a undistorted maximum dimensions of (720 x 1080)... keep this in mind if using portrait aspect ratios. Users will still be able to see your photo in all it's glory if they click on it, but it may appear smaller when side-by-side with traditional landscape formats.
- Winner is selected and announced.
To give an official vote, you ought to be part of the Contest Committee. Anybody and Everybody is welcomed. Just PM me and you're in. See below, for details.
Still, everyone can give a 'like' or 'love' on the post. For some contests, the number of likes/loves/etc will determine the winner.
So please vote on others' posts, even if just to show appreciation. In ALL contests, those with the highest votes will have the highest chances of winning.
How are tiebreakers handled?
This section is TBD... based on the new final poll procedures.
Ties may be handled with a combination of a number of options:
- Using the number of 'likes' or 'loves' on a post, with 'loves' being weighted slightly more than 'likes'.
- Seeking third party judgement between contest finalists.
- ...if one contestant had recently been the winner within the past 1-2 months, the committee may choose to 'spread the well' by acknowledging the individual that hasn't won recently. At the time of writing this, this has never occurred. But we do wish to share the gifts to all the wonderful people of the ARC rather than repeatedly rewarding only a single subset of individuals.
Contact the contest committee if we haven't PM'd you already.
I will connect you with the treasurer, board member, or coral-donor, to receive your prize
Who is on the contest committee?
Andrew @ActiveAngel
@Doberman13
Hunter @Hunna
John @Jikkermanccini
...and anyone else that wants to help think of fun ideas, and/or facilitate in selecting contest winners.
How can I join the contest committee, and what would be required of me?
To join, all you have to do is ask. Do that, and you're in!
The primary obligation will just be to help us make selections on winners. But you will also be involved in conversations and idea sharing.
How is User-Conduct regulated amongst Contests?
All posts under a specified contest thread must be either:
- Contest Submission
- Support or kind words towards a submission
- Friendly Conversation
If you wish to express a concern or issue, please either create a separate post/thread to discuss the conversation, or feel free to DM the Contest Committee.
Cheating (e.g., creating multiple accounts to get more votes) may be found to be in violation of ARC's code of conduct, and may result in bans from ARC.
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