I was wondering how long between the entry deadline and the announcement of the winnner. Also, I thought it might be kinda neat if we as a forum judged the contestants. It would not be official or anything but it might be fun. I exclude myself from Zone I because I entered in the catagory. But if I were the judge I would choose grrrduhbear's entry as the winner. The reason is because I think it is the most represeitive of owhat leading lines are. I don't think the image itself is as good as some of the others, but the theme is leading lines. And I thk grrrduhbear's image is the best example of the theme. Anyway hope that helps a bit.

Hi Aster, Normally we find it's just a couple days before the results get announced, so we don't have to wait long! It used to be the case where only the forum judged the contests before it all got re-camped. Now anyone can vote whether or not they normally visit the forum, which (imo) makes it about as fair as can be. (Although I'm a bit bummed that I haven't won one since the system changed...hmmm.....lol) As to favourite images, well, that's where the fairness of it all comes in; it's a democratic vote, so we get to choose whether we go for 'purist' pictures that match the theme best, or 'interpretational' pictures which are based on the theme but in the artist's individual style. The only contest we don't vote on in this way is the Photo Of The Week which (if I'm not mistaken) is voted by the mod's and the previous weeks winner. (If I'm wrong feel free to correct me, all!) The other thing is, we can't really decide which pictures are best until they've all been posted. People like me drop in entries within the last few hours, so you never know, you might actually like mine best but not know it yet!!! LOL Mike (",) (Sorry for the length!)

Cool! I thought only Mods voted in the contests. SO how do I vote? Where? Why do so many wait until the last minute to enter?

a couple reasons: 1. so you can see what everyone else did and enter something that no one else did 2. got busy and didn't realize what date it was till the last minute

You're right there Crystal!! Aster, voting starts after the entry deadline. Just check back at the contest page & when you go to an image the vote button will be there.