FishProfiles.com Message Forums

[font color="#800080"]These are The Old Rules. People Are Welcome to Comment
I will be posting a new set of rules as well as the deadline soon.

~YFB

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[font color="#C00000"]NOTE NEW IMAGE SUBMITTING METHOD and UPDATED RULES. PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE AND READ ALL THE INFORMATION PROVIDED.[/font]

FishProfiles Aquascaping Contest Rules and Regulations:

The contest is open to all FishProfiles Members.
Submission time for photos begins the 1st of the month and ends the 15th. Winners will be announced on the 25th of each month. There will then be a poll for Peoples Choice out of the four winners in which all members can vote in.
Second and third place in each category will be acknowledged.

There are four categories: Freshwater/Brackish Planted, Freshwater/Brackish Non-Planted and Fake Plants, Marine/Reef and a new category Betta Bowls. This new category is on trial for the month of February to see if there is enough support to keep it (Please see rules for this section at the very end of this post). The four categories may be changed in the future. Please note that tanks planted with fake plants fall under the non-planted category.

The winner of each category becomes one of the judges for the next contest, unless he/she chooses not to be. The winners will be notified promptly by private message on what they need to do as judges. Becoming a judge is part of the responsibility that comes with winning and thus should be taken seriously.

The winners will also be asked to provide a short description of the tank and its inhabitants (fish, plants, corals, invertebrates, etc). Suggestions for extra information to include are: tank volume, tank dimensions, filtration, lighting, substrate, fertilization methods, pH.
It is up to the individual how much he wants to describe but the idea is to give a broader sense on how members can arrange their tanks to accomplish a certain desired look.

Rules:

1. Only one entry per category per month, but you may enter into as many categories as you wish if you have the tanks to fit the bill. (eg. 1 person can submit up to 4 tanks, one in each category).
2. The judging will be based on one photo only. Please do not send more than one.
3. If you did not win, you may submit the same tank in as many subsequent contests as desired so long as rule #4 is followed.
4. The same photo may only be used for one contest. If you are entering your tank for a second time in a subsequent month, the photo of the tank must be current so as to depict your tank accurately.
5. You may not submit a photo of a tank that is not yours.
6. The photo of the tank may not be digitally enhanced or edited besides resizing and cropping. However, when resizing, remember that the judges need to be able to clearly see all the details of the tank. Blurry photos or photos in which the tank cannot be seen very well will be disqualified (Clear tank photos with blurry fish or creatures are fine). Cropping is allowed but only to get rid of extra material in the photo (eg. The stand, the equipment underneath, etc.)
7. Do not, in any way, try to influence a judges decision.
8. Any negative comments made on the winning tanks or the judges decisions will immediately be deleted. Comments are not to be added to the thread that includes the entries.
9. [font color="#800080"]You may only win once per four months with the same tank in the same category.[/font]

The tanks are judged on a 1-10 scale point system for three different aspects: Style, Creativity/Uniqueness, and Overall Appearance. A 30 is a perfect score.

Any category that doesnt receive at least 2 entries will be extended for another month.

NEW IMAGE SUBMITTING METHOD:

This is a trial method in which the photos from members are emailed to myself and then displayed in a common announcement in the Aquascaping Forum. One of the reasons we are trying this method is to have as much anonymity in the entries as possible so as not to create a popularity contest. Another is so that the photos of the tanks may be more accessible and easily found by newer members (as opposed to what seemed at times. a hard to find gallery). This should also eliminate any disqualifications by misunderstanding as I can correspond to the entrants personally.

Email photos to: AquascapingContest@hotmail.com

*** Very Important Note: Make sure that photos sent to me via email are 100kb or smaller in size and are at reasonable dimensions so as to fit properly on the webpage. This is the same size as was required to enter the pictures into the gallery, so it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish.

I will not be doing any resizing or cropping of pictures sent to me, instead I will simply email the member back asking for the proper changes and delete the email. I check my email daily, so even with hotmail space should not be an issue. As long as I dont get 20 or more photos in one day, this should work.

Please put your FP user name and the category your tank fits to in the Subject of your email under the format Screen name, Category.

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"Betta Bowl Category:

This category is especially for small tanks. The inhabitants need not be strictly bettas, any small aquascaped tank that has suitable inhabitants (shrimp, snails, etc) is included into this category.
Since this is a trial category we will not be having any sub-categories (natural betta tanks versus creative colourful betta tanks, for example). This being said, we need to find out if there is any support for this category, so please dont hesitate to submit your small tanks even if they are really abstract looking .

1. Tanks must be 6 gallons or smaller (can include hex). Anything bigger can be classified in one of the other three categories.
2. The contest is focusing on the aquascaping of the tank, not the betta itself. (ie. It is not a betta show contest)
3. The tanks do not need to include bettas to be entered (the name of the category is given because they are the most likely inhabitant for small tanks).

Good luck!



[span class="edited"][Edited by BluePhoenix 2004-01-27 16:11][/span]


[span class="edited"][Edited by Babelfish 2004-07-11 04:38][/span]

One thing that will change is the catagories. I'm still deciding how it will be divided. I will be expanding on the "betta bowls" catagory to include all themed tanks. These will include both FW and SW that have a non-traditional aquascapes.

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