Ok! I'm officially launching the GREAT WIX PHOTO CONTEST of 2009. This photo contest is open to any photos taken by WIX members (who must have at least 5 posts before the end of the year) in the following categories:
1. Best warbird pictureThis is the biggest anticipated category and must contain a warbird.
Subcategories:
·Best vintage style warbird picture
·Best reenactment picture (must include a warbird)
·Best Air-to-Air photo
A photo submitted in this category must be your own or by proxy with permission.2. Best photo related to a 2009 WIX thread(ie. could be a shot taken of the Hellcat raised from Lake Michigan that you took a week or two later)
A photo submitted in this category must be your own or by proxy with permission.Prize will be Jack Cook's offer of 50 photos from his collection.
3. Best WIX photograph of the year. In this category,
you may nominate someone else's previously posted pictures (including judges' pictures if nominated by
someone else) that were taken and posted this year (2009).
You must include the picture and a link to the thread.
Prize for this category will likely be the 1 year Classic Wings subscription offered by DaveM2.
4. Best warbird with veteran photo.Preferably with a veteran who flew in the type of aircraft (points given) but also with any veterans - your caption will probably do a lot for the judging...
A photo submitted in this category must be your own or by proxy with permission.Prize for this category is one of my copies of
DeShazer.
5. Special category: best Liaison Aircraft picture of 2009In order to participate in this special category you'll need to submit the picture both here on WIX AND on my L-birds forum at:
http://lbirds.forumotion.com/ in order to enter that part of the contest.
A photo submitted in this category must be your own or by proxy with permission. Prize for this category is a copy of
Box Seat Over Hel| published by the Alamo Liaison Squadron.
Grand Prize: B-29CrewChief has offered us an original cylinder (I think that's what it is, maybe he'll fill us in on the details) from Kee Bird.
I may or may not have prizes for each category, but there will be an overall winner that will be chosen, and regardless of prize, a first place, second place, etc... will be chosen and you'll at least get a pony (ask Jack Cook what that means

).
For sure we have five known prizes, but this is subject to change, in case anyone would like to put up some more prizes or sponsor and additional category before then.
IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, MAKE SURE YOU READ THE RULES!!!1. The picture MUST contain a generally accepted "warbird" or parts thereof and MUST be accompanied by a caption.
(ie. don't send me a picture of a stock Cessna 172, please. Also, let's not get into originality of parts issues)
2. Because I'm running the contest - no intentional vulgarity, nudity, or really skimpy clothing (ie. bikini style stuff) should be showing. If there's nose art on the aircraft in that category, it will be accepted if it's tastefully hidden - like by an engine or such. This contest is about the warbirds, not the girl in front of the warbird.
3. Image editing issues. No CGI or 3d modelling images should be used. Composite photos are allowed (ie. clever Photoshop jobs from images), but must be labeled as such with a copy of the original shown. I don't mind if colors are tweaked or scratches, dust, etc... are cleaned up.
4. Vintage style photographs should be posted in color and in black and white. This is NOT hard to do. You can do this very simply by using Google's Picasa software. Extra points will be given for taking a real vintage photo and duplicating it in a modern day photo!
5. Image must have been taken ON or AFTER Jan. 1, 2009.6. No more than 2 (two) submissions, per category, per person.7. Contest ending: All submissions must be entered by midnight Dec. 31, 2009 CST. I intend to have our team finish the judging during or before the second week of Jan. 2010, depending on the work schedules of the various judges and how many pictures we have to go through. Winners and prizes will be announced when all of the judging has been completed.
Judging: All photos will be judged by a panel that will be announced tomorrow. If you don't like the decisions, I've been asking for a while and finally got enough to have a panel... that's that.
The judges will consider the following in choosing the winning pictures in the following order:
·Compliance with stated contest rules
·Relevance of the picture to the category
·Artistic nature of the photo
·The human element
·Appropriateness of captioning
The judges will also not play personal favorites with friends or foes on the message board and will consider all photos regardless of their source.
Entering the contest:There are two ways to enter this contest: First, you may post your pictures here on WIX to this thread. That way everyone can enjoy them right away - be aware that that also opens you up to being "topped" quickly, so I am offering another method. Pick your favorite picture(s) and sent them to
WIXPhotoContest@gmail.com and we'll host the resultant pictures that meet the guidelines to an online photo album, and organize them, then post the album links here and the winning pictures directly.
CopyrightAll copyrights of the participants will be respected, but your participation in the contest gives us the right to use and host the photos for the purpose of the contest, and the picture may receive publicity as a result.
WIXers' choiceWe will also do a people's choice vote at the end - but there's no prize for that currently, but the fame of your fellow WIXers.
Let the contest begin!
Ryan