Hello Shutterbuggerz!!
It's 2013 and as most of you know, we are ready for some changes to our contest format. So, starting in February 2013, our contest will be run from Facebook only. We know that some of you may not be a social media wiz or even care to be, but, we feel that this is our best option heading into the new year and beyond. With the help from Facebook, we will be posting all the photos from each month's contest in an "Album" which you can then "Comment" on the photos, "Like" the photos, or "Share" the photos with your friends. We believe that this will lead to more interaction among all the Shutterbuggerz out there and create a more unique photo contest environment.
Now.....the bad news.....we will no longer declare a "Winner" for each month in the professional category. We feel that printing the photos along with the business name is helping you promote your business already. Therefor, there will be no free ad given out each month. If your photo is printed then you have already won! Yay!!
Also, the voting format will change. We have a HUGE concern with using SmugMug as our third party photo storage and voting system. We (as well as many of you) do not like the "Thumbs Down" option that is associated with the voting process. At the same time, we do not won't the contest to be a popularity thing either. So, we have decided that the winning photos will be determined by the Sophie Woman's Magazine staff. You can still "Like" your favorite photos and that will help determine the photos that get printed in the magazine but the ultimate decision will fall on our staff.
Furthermore, many of you have requested THEMES for each month. We agree that themes will be helpful in limiting the same "types" of photos month after month. So we have decided that running a themed contest each month will be more fun and creative. We will post the themes on our Facebook page as well as our website so you will know what themes are coming up.
Since we are going through these changes, and to give everyone time to adjust, we will not be running a contest for January 2013. In it's place we will post some of the best photos that have been submitted to Shutterbuggerz since we started. We will also print some of these photos in the magazine and post them on Facebook...sort of like a trial run. This will give us time to get everything organized to run smoothly.
We want to thank everyone for sending us your photos over the past several years and we hope that you will accept these changes as a way for us to keep moving forward. We would like to wish you a very happy 2013!!
PS ~ Our Facebook page and website will be updated by the first of next week (Jan 7).