Cellphone Camera Category 2018

We have been running these photo competitions now since 2010. In 2016 the competition was given the title Essence of the Dragon , with the mission statement:

Essence Of The Dragon is a photo competition hosted by Vertical Endeavour featuring images of the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains - showcasing their splendour & unique character, towards better recognition of their worth & enhanced enjoyment of those who explore them.

I think by the quality of all of the entries and the enthusiasm behind them, that we are capturing the essence of this Dragon that so enchants us, and fulfilling that mission statement! Through the years we have tried to come up with different themes, some of them quite challenging, which focused on a particular characteristic of this Dragon. The rounds were quarterly up until 2018 which was the first time we ran the rounds on an annual basis with much simpler categories, giving the older format a break.

What do people think of the current annual format? Do you want to shorten the duration of the rounds to say, bi-annual, or should we keep it to annual for another year?

What themes do you want? A "Pools and Peaks" theme has been suggested to me. Anything else?

Any other suggestions or ideas?

Thanks for the responses so far.

When we made a change to a simple, annual format in 2018, we were measuring the level of interest by the number of entries and the number of votes per image, which were on the slow side towards the end of 2017. To a degree the level of interest was also gauged by subjective impressions. We thought it good to make a change to try and keep it fresh. Understandably, when you run something over a number of years, interest and enthusiasm fluctuates.  My own impression is that the number of entries and participation in voting does show some improvement in this simpler format. On the other hand I also feel that the annual basis is a rather long period of time, so I'd say at the very least that we can do bi-annual rounds. I am also happy to do the quarterly rounds again, though I'd prefer that to be driven by demand, so for those that want that frequency, please let us hear your thoughts!

As for themes, I also thought that very specific ones were interesting and challenging and that it made you look at the Berg from new perspectives. However I think it makes it a lot harder for a lot of members and this in turn lessens the entries. Yes, I hear the weakness of the open category that you pointed out, Macc, but on the other hand, look at how much participation it gets. I think here we could win by simply doing both, having at least 2 categories, one wide open, the other being specific.

The bottom line for me is that as long as we keep achieving the mission statement posted earlier, and keep it interesting and fresh at the same time, then the format is totally open to being shaped by the members. I'm always open to ideas, so keep them coming please. Ideas for prizes are also welcomed, though interestingly enough, during the time that we did have sponsored prizes, it didn't really change the level of participation.

Thats a fantastic offer, thank you Richard!

How about 2 annual rounds again like we had in 2018, one with an open category and the second with some sort of theme or requirement - the book prizes can go towards these? In addition we can run one bi-annual round with a more challenging theme?

I propose two annual categories: one being an open category, the other being views from the escarpment, which I think is a relatively easy theme and almost everyone will have shots of that already. These categories will each awar the book prize to the winner.

For the more challenging themes, running on a bi-annual basis, I propose "Proteas" for the first round, and "Peaks and Pools" for the second round (meaning shots that include both).

or ?