This Week’s Contest: Guns and Blades
Deadline: Sunday, May 26 at 6PM ET.
This Week’s Prizes
1st Place
- @1776United $40 Gift Card
- @Risk_Takers Slaps
- @CCWeapon_com Glow in the Dark 2A Patch
- @Dstroyr Keychain
- Gun_Collector Safe Magnets
2nd Place
- @GunFanatics $25 Cash Money!
- @Monderno Moral Patch
- Dstroyr Lanyard
- @BitetheBull3t_Company slap pack
3rd Place
- @mygunprotectsyourfreedom bracelet
- @MakersMilitia Moral Patch
- @WePleadThe2nd Moral Patch
- CCWeapon_com slaps
All winners receive
- Dstroyr Stickers
- CCWeapon_com Tactical Jedi Sticker
- Gun_Collector Safe Magnets & Stickers
The rules
- SAFETY 1st, 2nd and 3rd! – No loaded guns unless shooting – Do not display your firearms in a reckless and dangerous manner, no pointing at people or directly at the camera
- Instagram ONLY and NO PRIVATE PHOTOS because no one can see them
- The picture must adhere to the weekly theme (replica guns are allowed, creative license is allowed, gun accessories in lieu of a gun may be allowed on a case by case basis if creative and relate to the theme)
- The picture must be original and yours (post someone else’s picture and you will be blocked)
- The picture must be new on your feed (posted within 2 weeks), no tagging 22 week old pictures (if you think an old picture is perfect repost it)
- If you are under 18 get your parent’s permission to enter and win prizes
- I @Gun_Collector reserve the right to disqualify any picture for any reason
- Photo contests are subjective and there are multiple judges involved, decisions must be made and winners chosen, there is no single criteria by which judging occurs, it is left to the tastes and preferences of all of the judges
- Prizes subject to availability. If I run out of a prize I may substitute something in its place with no advance notice
- Do be creative and have fun.
Judging Process
The Cut
Every week I go through all pictures and I select between 10-15 pictures that I believe are the best. This is really hard and takes a tremendous amount of time. I usually select about 20-25 pictures on a first pass and try hard to get it down to 10. Sometimes I just can’t so we end up with a little more. I compare like pictures and choose the better one. I give points for quality, composition, creativity, originality and humor.
The Voting
Those 10-15 pictures are sent via text message to the judges. They choose their top 5 pictures and rank them 1 to 5. Each rank is awarded points, 5 points for 1st to 1 point for 5th. My top 5 are recorded prior to the votes being sent out.
The Judges
Every Sponsor gets a vote. Week 20 will have 10 sponsors. 1 former winner who has become a friend votes every week. 1 old friend from high school. 1 of the first friends that I met from Instagram locally. 1 of my first followers. And @pirate_captain who, a.) lives here and b.) is indispensable to the production of the @Gun_Collector feed. Occasionally I will ask other people to guest vote, but not for last 3 weeks. Week 20 will have 16 judges!
The Scoring
As the votes come in they are put into an Excel spreadsheet that has formulas that auto-tabulate the scores. Top three are winners. 4-7 are honorable mentions.
The Time
I spend at least 7 hours a week on this contest. Creating announcements, voting process, assembling prize packages, getting sponsors and mailing prizes.
The Expense
I do not make any money from this contest. I spend an average of $20 a week on prizes, supplies and postage.