Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

I agree with Jim. Most of us enjoy UHH - but just don't have time or energy to look at 200+ photos in a contest. I think a panel of say 10 members some newbies, some pros, and some in-betweens should cull the initial entries down to say 20 - 30 for the final viewing. The panel might be selected from volunteer UHH members offered a panel position based on their lenght of time with UHH, the number of posts they have entered, and private messaging between them and Admin to determine their professional level regards photography. There may even be some incentive offered by Admin for participation on the panel - mere trinkets - such as MT-Shooters' 800mm Sigma :-) They can use the same process as below to cull the initial entries - with the final group for the public section determined by the highest total of the panel scores.
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Then - for the public selection - give each member as many points as there are photos in the final selection - so if there are 30 photos, each member gets 30 points to distribute - AND they must distribute all 30 points, NO MORE than 5 points for any one photo. If a voter fails to distribute all 30 points - NONE of their votes will count. Photos must ALL be viewed AND no points can be allocated until the voter HAS viewed all of the photos. After viewing all 30 photos - then the voter can go back to the thumbnail page and review selections at their leisure until they decide to allocate their points.
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No scores will be posted until the contest ends.

ccmc1448

Just a simple "one vote" and NO running tally of votes - only the final tally. This way no one is influenced by other votes or voters.

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

I like the idea of a gallery of photos .. several per page .. so they can be viewed without scrolling sideways ... If you have 50 thumbnails per page and 200 entries .. you only have 4 pages to look at .. and don't change the location of the photos.. let them stay in the order they were posted... would make voting much easier in my opinion

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Sounds very much like the college football polls! :mrgreen:

Ricontech Loc: Colorado

I believe you had the answer in your first post, You just didn't go far enough with the data you had. Using your example of 10 votes for 4 ea for an average of 4 vs 1 vote of 5 for an average of 5 as the data. Now you multiply the AVERAGE times the number of votes and you get a score of 40 to 5. No question in my mind who the winner is. And, as suggested earlier by several who obviously know more about numbers than I do: keep the numbers from the voters until the voting time has expired and then announce the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place winners. In the second example the second picture (score of 10) vs the first (with a score of 12). The 10 is only 2 people saying it is good where the opposition has 3 people saying it is good so it gets a 12 and wins! You may have to locate the statistical wizard here at UHH in order to get something that will please all the various opinions that exist in this forum.

Ricontech Loc: Colorado

by the way, if, as Merlin1300 suggested, MT SHOOTER's 800mm Sigma is a 'Thank You' from the UHH for serving on the contest team, please include my name as a responsible volunteer!!

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

I'd enter contests more often if I thought I had an even chance to win, but I'm wondering if it's the same people who win all the contests or of it's evenly distributed between amateurs and professionals. I like the idea of panels of totally different levels of photographers being used to vote on a certain # photos and have the rest of us choose the ultimate winner (or the top 3 or 5). Of course, the photos would have to be anonymous.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Good point. Maybe it should be like the radio contests in that if you've won within the past xxx number of days, you're not eligible to enter/win again. The radio stations here use 30, 60, and 90 days.

ggttc Loc: TN

sounds good

texaseve Loc: TX, NC and NH

Me,too!

texaseve Loc: TX, NC and NH

Someday I will get the hang of the threads. I am saying me to for a 800mm prize for being on the contest judging panel :-D

cameranut Loc: North Carolina

A couple of people here mentioned something similar to this: A panel of judges (such as American Idol) minus the Simon Cowells of the world, would do the voting. There would be rules to follow about the subject to photo. There would be a limit to the # of photos entered. Photos over the # would be be disqualified. Photos that don't adhere to the subject would be dqd.(disqualified) If UHH members were allowed to vote, not only would it be unethical but it could turn into something like Dpreview was doing. If someone felt like a certain photo had a better chance of winning than thier own they would vote that pic a 1/2 star. That was done to lower the threatening photo in order to give thier photo a better chance of winning.There was a name for it; sandbagging or something like that. Sounds dirty but it was done all the time. It would be ideal if the entries could not be identified by avatar/username untill the votes are all in. Just my 2 cents.

Dback4430 Loc: Lockport Il

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this . ( 500 miles worth ) every theory on here has its flaws . The Judges for example , A pro might be looking for exposure , white balance , skin tones , then composition . The list could be endless . Especially the ones that have been at this for 50 odd years .
The Newbie , may just look at the wow factor . Or maybe he will just pixel peep , then the intermediate will look at content and composition and overlook a few things if its an interesting photo .
I propose the following

In the contest rules , say what the theme is . Let us know what the limits are for post processing .( suggested would be exposure and crop and wb correction . Most basic functions ) . Have a whole other contest for the photoshop experts. Unlimited contestants , and only the contestants can vote . No identifying who shot what until the end .
Now the hard part comes in . If the entries were on a page with just a large thumbnail and a lot per page so it wont take all day to get a glimpse . Let them have an option to click on it for the large version. The thumbnails can be eliminated right off by a check box , ( like the " unwatch this topic " feature . )
Now they get it down to a manageable size . The ones they like they can assign a " Maybe " or " keeper " they get 3 " keepers " Total . The " maybe " feature is for a second look etc . Once they narrow it down to the " keepers " they assign a numerical value 1,2,or 3 . take the Highest number of ones , and they win . The 2's are the runner up and the 3's are great attempts .
No voting for your own . No soliciting votes for your own entry . ( we have to rely on the honor system for that . ) and see what happens . Photos with one vote will be out , you have to have more than one vote to win . I think its fair , and photos will be judged on all levels . MEaning , what pros look for , what amateurs like , what the computer experts like . Just everything .
I think this is more than fair , and it involves all skill levels . THere is a learning factor when voting as you can see what others see the world like . It promotes ideas , and no one has an advantage or a bias .
People please feel free to shoot holes in this or add to it .
P.S I havent typed this much in one sitting in my life . Excuse the errors that are sure to be here .

texaseve Loc: TX, NC and NH

I like the 3 votes and assign a 1, 2 or 3 and then there will be a first, second and third place. It feels better than just one winner, period. Just another thought.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

One of the problems I noticed is that there are so many photos that the first photos get the advantage.