There’s a new page for submitting your entries for digital projection competitions. The URL is http://focuscoloradodp.com/index.php. There’s also a link to the page on the Focus CC web site. However, after the first use of the site for entries, it’s clear that there’s some confusion about the proper procedures. So here’s a step-by-step guide.
1. Enter your name, capitalized properly.
2. Enter your e-mail address. It must be correct because whatever is entered will be used for an immediate confirmation of your entry or entries.
3. Select your competition class. This must be correct, although the competition committee will verify it and change it if necessary.
4. Select the competition you are entering. If you are sending images “For Critique Only”, you must indicate whether you want the critique as part of the next competition when it will be done by the judge for that competition. If you want the critique(s) at the next program meeting, select that button.
5. Enter the title for the first entry. You should use proper capitalization for the title because it will be this text that’s shown during the competition.
6. Click on the button to attach a file. The file should be named according to the posted rules. The name should begin with your initials, followed by an underscore, followed by whatever name you want to give the file. The file name will not be shown during competition.
7. If you think that you may not be able to attend the competition, enter any comments about the image that you want. These will be read if you win an award and are not present at the competition.
8. If you are entering a second image, repeat steps 5 through 7 for that entry.
9. When you are sure that your entries are correct, click on the “Submit” button. If you have entered info in the required fields, you’ll see a “Success” message. If there was something wrong that could be detected at this time, you’ll see a message telling you what needs to be corrected. Note that the form cannot detect if your entries are sized properly. You’ll get an e-mail from a member of the Competition Committee confirming that your entries are acceptable or that something needs to be changed. That message will be sent within 24 hours of the time that you completed the form successfully. Please do not inquire about your entries until 24 hours have passed, although the message from the committee will usually be sent much sooner.
10. If you do not receive an e-mail immediately after clicking on the Submit button, and seeing the Success message, it’s likely that you did not enter your e-mail address correctly or that there’s a problem with the server that handles your e-mail. If this happens, you may choose to wait to see if you get a reply from a committee member or you may use the “Request for Change” page to send a message asking if the entry was received. In the latter case, be certain that your e-mail address is entered correctly. Again, you should not expect an answer immediately, although one will be sent within 24 hours.
11. If you are entering two images, but at different times, just send the second as though it’s your first entry because those fields are required for any use of the form. We’ll sort out the entries.
To some members, this list will appear obvious and perhaps not needed. However, given the many errors, trials and tribulations for the August 2010 Open competition, we thought that this post would be helpful.
As always, in this blog, all comments are solicited, but will be moderated.
