NCWW 2013 Calendar Contest

[Gotcha6]

It's time again to start the Calendar Contest for our 2013 Calendar. This year we are giving cash (actually an NCWW check) prizes to the winners instead of Gift Certificates.
Technical requirements for photos are as follows:

- Format: TIF/TIFF, PNG, JPEG/JPG, BMP
- Min. Size: 1700x1300px (pixels) [this is not a standard size, but this is a min width and height based on the printer's requirements, with a little padding]
- Artist Full Name (First & Last)
- Artist Email Address (Not for print, but in case we need to contact someone)
- Artist Location (City/State)
- Brief Description (1-3 sentences)
- Photo may be created by anyone the member chooses but member must assume copyright responsibility by using private photographers.

Contest is open to all members.
Winners will be determined by vote. Top 3 vote counts in each category and top vote count in the cover will be issued a prize. In the event of a tie, BOD will determine the winner.

We will establish a time line as the week goes on, but this should get everyone thinking about what they need to do. It is our goal to have the calendars ready for pre selling prior to the Klingspor Hickory Show at a reduced price. We're using a different printer this year so calendar costs will be less.
Remember, we have 5 categories:

Cover Photo -& a prize to the top 3 entrants in Furniture, Turnings, Small Items, and Shop Items categories.

 

[Pop Golden]

Hi Dennis,

I've never entered the contest. What are the categories? How many entries can be submitted?
Do you want a paper photo, or CD-ROM? Is there a calendar to take a look at?

Bill "Pop" Golden

 

[TracyP]

:icon_cheers:icon_cheers:icon_cheers Let the friendly competition begin. I for one am looking forward to this year's calendar.

 

[Gotcha6]

To view last year's Calendar Contest winners with a brief description of each category, visit our Photo Albums section and find the 2012 Calendar Contest Winners Album. It is sub categorized for each section.
We really need a digital file submission for this, but if you have a glossy photo I can scan or a CD you can forward me I can try & download it. Files must meet the criteria noted above in order to be of sufficient quality for an 11' x 8-1/2" enlargement to be crisp enough.

 

[ehpoole]

Hi Dennis,

I've never entered the contest. What are the categories? How many entries can be submitted?
Do you want a paper photo, or CD-ROM? Is there a calendar to take a look at?

Bill "Pop" Golden

Typically the photo will be uploaded in digital form in one of the acceptable file formats. No prints are necessary unless you are working with actual film. If you do find yourself working with actual film :icon_thum, I would be more than happy to digitize the original positive or negative of that film (not the print) up to and including medium format sizes for you (I have a Nikon LS-8000 film scanner).

For reference 1700x1300 pixels is only 2.2 Megapixels (just enough for a nice 4x6 photo)... so you need a camera that takes nice photos, but it does not have to be state-of-the art by any measure, most any decent point-and-shoot camera of 4MP or better should suffice nicely. If your camera offers a choice of quality settings, opt for high quality with minimal compression (typically denoted by "fine" or "superfine"). I would, however, avoid cellphone cameras as they generally combine all the worst qualities in a camera and require excellent lighting to perform reasonably well (YMMV).

For most shots, lighting and presentation, combined with a stable tripod, are the qualities that will most contribute to the success or failure of a shot -- often more so than the camera itself.

Dennis lists the five categories in his final paragraph: 1) Cover Photo, 2) Furniture, 3) Turnings, 4) Small Items, and 5) Shop Items.

As for how many entries, availability of past calendars, etc., I'll have to leave those for Dennis to answer since this is his field (I just happen to have a love of photography). I know that you can view some of our past Calendar entries in our Photo Gallery (click the "Galleries" tab from our top menu).

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

 

[PeteM]

>> Min. Size: 1700x1300px (pixels) [this is not a standard size, but this is a min width and height based on the printer's requirements, with a little padding]<<

That might be their MINIMUM size but for a quality print 3375 x 2625px ( 11.25" x 8.75" @ 300dpi) would be much better.
Notes: The little padding of .25" is called "bleed". Exceeding 3375 x 2625 won't help. It will just make the file bigger.
The above is referring to traditional offset printing (ink on paper) if the printer is using some newer photo process it may not apply.

pete

 

[ScottM]

:icon_cheers:icon_cheers:icon_cheers Let the friendly competition begin. I for one am looking forward to this year's calendar.

and you can enter this year. Only BoD members are excluded.

 

[ScottM]

>> Min. Size: 1700x1300px (pixels) [this is not a standard size, but this is a min width and height based on the printer's requirements, with a little padding]<<

That might be their MINIMUM size but for a quality print 3375 x 2625px ( 11.25" x 8.75" @ 300dpi) would be much better.
Notes: The little padding of .25" is called "bleed". Exceeding 3375 x 2625 won't help. It will just make the file bigger.
The above is referring to traditional offset printing (ink on paper) if the printer is using some newer photo process it may not apply.

pete

Pete you are very right. That is the minimum. It is very easy to reduce or crop a larger picture and still maintain photo quality. It is next to impossible to blow up a smaller picture and retain the quality.

 

[Willemjm]

Sounds great, do we have to do a new build, or can we enter previously built pieces?

 

[ScottM]

Willem it can be any project you made. We have had past winners where several members combined their talents.

Everyone just remember this is a combination WW and photo contest. So make sure your photos are at least as good as your projects.

 

[Conagher]

I have a couple of questions that are probably common knowledge for most members, but I haven't been around long enough to discover yet.
What is the deadline for photo submission?
where do you upload them to? I didnt see a album in the gallery for the 2013 calendar... or do we send them directly to Dennis?

Thanks for putting up with my silly questions.

 

[Gotcha6]

Your questions are quite valid. I made this announcement to get everyone thinking about the contest. We will establish a 2015 Calendar Contest Photo Entries Album with all the categories for photo entries to be submitted to. There will be a deadline, but It will probably be after Labor Day, so everyone has lots of time to get a photo submitted.
One other item concerning the rules: A member may only win in only one category, but may submit multiple entries in any or all categories.

 

[ehpoole]

Wow, 2015 ... you're really getting ahead of the game

 

[Gotcha6]

My fingers are getting ahead of my brain..........

 

[DavidF]

So the calendar competition is here again! glad to see it is still going strong. I won't be entering this year, but I sure will enjoy looking at the end results. Best of luck to everybody.

 

[Gotcha6]

The Photo Album for entries is now in the Gallery for uploads. Okay, folks. Let's see whatcha been doin' all year.....

 

[Gotcha6]

Bump.

 

[Rob]

Now if I could only get someone to come and take decent pictures. LOL

 

[Gotcha6]

I've been working on a schedule for the Calendar Contest. Here are the dates to remember:
Contest entries will be taken until Midnight, September 9, 2012 at which point entries will be closed.
Voting will commence immediately following the close of entries and continue until Midnight, September 16, 2012.
Winners will be announced within 72 hours of close of voting.
Calendars will be available for pre order sale by September 23, 2012. We plan to have calendars available for distribution prior to the Klingspor Extravaganza in Hickory. Price is still to be determined, but we hope to better our prices from previous years. Quantity discounts will be offered.

 

[Gotcha6]

Looks like there is gonna be a mad rush in the next few weeks. Just looked at the Gallery and there are NO entries in ANY category for the Calendar Contest. We only have 3 more weeks to submit.
C'mon, folks, let's see whatcha been doin' out there. :embaresse