Creative interpretations: Sailboat (photo by Jim Thompson)

[lkroll]

Congratulations Swampy.

As a side note: how much must I pay your son in order to draw out my name?

[Peter S]

Nice one Swampy - Happy reading.

[Janet Petty]

Great fun all. Congrats to Swampy for the win. Bigger kudos to Danny, who shares selflessly with us all. Thanks for the contests Danny. It keeps some spice in the mix.

Janet

[Swampy]

Thanks all... And like Janet said, thank you Danny for all you do around here!

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by lkroll

As a side note: how much must I pay your son in order to draw out my name?

If it was me, I'd start by bribing his father.

= = = = = =

FYI: I got a PM asking, "Why are the contests not decided by member votes?"

Good question. Here's the main reason: There's no "pressure to perform" in the random model.

I remember when I first started this sport it felt like EVERYBODY on the planet was better at it than me. Realizing my skills were not on a par with "the pros," I would never have entered a "vote for the winner" event. Why bother?

I realize many people aren't wired the way I am and would not be intimidated by the skills/experience gap. But based on years of reading e-mails, PMs and RP forum posts, I know there are many, like I was, who are intimidated. For many years they have heard voices in their heads saying something like, "You can't draw. What makes you think you can do this?"

So, in my opinion a no pressure/you cannot fail event feels safer and has broader appeal.

For those of us who have been doing photo-art for awhile, we know you get better at it the longer we do it. Hopefully the random model will encourage more newbies to leap into the pool, where there's always room for one more.

"But doesn't pressure/competition spur one to do better?"

No doubt it can and often does.

But think about it. You start an 7-year-old by playing T-ball, not facing 98 MPH fastballs. (For our international readers: You start an 7-year-old by letting them kick a ball, not entering them into the World Cup soccer match.)

I hope this makes sense.

= = = = = =

Thanks S and JP for the kind words. It's fun watching people grow and have fun.

~Danny~

[Kraellin]

danny,

when i first saw these type contests i was also a bit curious about 'why enter a competition when it's not a competition', but it makes perfect sense to me now. what you are rewarding is PARTICIPATION. since, one tends to get what one rewards, rewarding that would tend to get more participants, which then makes perfect sense.

so, thank you

craig

[lkroll]

I actually like this form of picking the winner. All who contribute do fantastic work and it would be quite hard to pick and choose and catagorize the votes. The voting process can also get political too. I like the random draw.

[barbara]

such contest is not a race
here everybody,who learned something by the way, is the winner.
I think, random draw is the best solution.