From: Erik Olson <erik@thekrib.com>
Reply-To: aga-contest@thekrib.com
To: <aga-contest@thekrib.com>
Subject: Contest close redux
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 02:42:14 -0700 (PDT)
Well, it's just about midnight somewhere between here and Hawaii, and I
just finished doing some primping on the entries in the contest. There
may be some stragglers, but I'm guessing all the by-mail entries are
already done...
initial tally...
Total Entries: 57 (last year was 60) OK, one or two may get knocked out
because e-mail goes unanswered, and one straggler may get knocked IN this
weekend if I can bug them to enter their paludarium)
Aquatic Garden small: 16; medium: 4; large: 22; x-large: 5
(may merit a redistribution of sizes)
Biotope: 2 (not sure if they're appropriate yet)
Artificial: 1 (will probably be knocked out)
Paludarium: 3
Pond: 2 (one may get knocked out)
Illustration: 2 (one is a photo of a flower; the other is an illustration)
So entry numbers are down again... I figured this was going to happen,
actually thought by a lot more, because of our minimal coverage, total
lack of prizes, etc. We're just going to have to expect that sort of
thing as long as this is the extent of the effort we can afford to put
out, and I'm actually OK with that. When someone wants to coordinate a
full-scale PR and prize begging campaign, I'll be here to help out on the
technical side.
Pretty sorry showing for the ponds and illustration category, as
well as artificial and biotope. As you guys know, I was never a supporter
of these categories, and kinda a little indignant about having to go
through the motions of judging & awarding ribbons to them. Especially
weird is that one of the illustrations is a photograph... I was re-reading
the entry guidelines & FAQ as I prepped the site for going online, and
noticed these words which we very carefully chose back in '2000: "This is
not a photography contest." I think these were wise decisions & I suggest
we carefully rethink these words once again in 2003. It may be time for
an AGA Photo Contest, but I don't think it shouldn't necessarily be part
of THIS contest.
Similarly, the use of ponds continues to seem out-of-place. Terminology
different, totally different feel. Reminded me of an anecdote from a
couple weeks ago. I got an angry letter from someone representing
rec.ponds, "Go home, and take your *&!@ FAQ back to rec.aquaria. We have
our own, thank you very much!" Turned out that someone from rec.aquaria
had started periodic posting on the aquaria FAQ on rec.ponds. Point
being, very different worlds. If we're going after Pond contestants, we
have to be advertising differently, thinking differently, even finding
different judges. The one pond entry we got was basically an aquarist who
happened to have a pond too. It was an afterthought.
Paludariums are bad in number, but are, like last year, useful to look at.
I think we just have to accept the fact that not a lot of people keep
paludariums. It's funny that I continue to find value in the entries in
the Paludarium category, while concluding there is little value in the 2
new categories.
The good news: general quality is up! People are really starting to use
the digital cameras to their full advantage. Not a lot of "clunker"
entries. This may actually be partly why the # of entries is down --
people are more intimidated & less likely to enter an "ordinary" tank?
Likewise, folks are really using the online entry feature. The number of
mailed-in entries was MINISCULE compared to previous years. Paypal was
used by many (and unfortunately, I'm having trouble coordinating with
David, the AGA treasurer & recipient of the PayPal payments... several
people said they have paid via PayPal, but I've not gotten confirmations
from David).
I also finally rigged up the render script to auto-recognize
and convert non-JPEG sumissions (i.e. TIFF,GIF and BMP). Made it way easy
on me. I even have all the planting plans converted to black-background
style tonight.
I would be curious if next year there would be a way to allow people to
e-mail or FAX the photo release. Several people asked me if there was a
way "around this". I let a few people get away with it (i.e. from
Singapore), but have been strict when someone in !*@&^$ Kansas whines
about it.
We also had the winner of the 2000 contest ask me if I could waive his
entry fee because he's having trouble getting a check out to us (also
noting he's still not got his prizes from 2000). I actually refused, and
pointed him to PayPal (also noting we're still trying to trace the !@*&
check with his winnings).
Finally, judges. Mike Senske from Houston (a speaker at the convention)
declined to judge, citing that he and his brother were both entering, but
lo and behold, no entries. I'm still not going to re-ask him to judge,
because he strikes me as someone who would flake out on us there too.
I will ask our German winner from last year, as he didn't enter this year.
- Erik
--
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com
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