2024 SOS Photo Contest

To Enter Photos:
SEND Photo Entries or inquiries to Bob Wright at: [email protected]

Deadline:  The deadline is
Mid-night on Sunday, January 5, 2025.

Contest Rules:

1. Entries must be taken at events with other SOS members in 2024 by the member of SOS submitting the photo. Note: If you are in the photo, you cannot have been the photographer and your submission will not be accepted (unless on a tripod with a timer, which is acceptable).  A photo does not necessarily have that event as a theme (a picture of Jane Doe at a raft-up or the sunset seen from a raft-up are acceptable, even though there is nothing in the picture to prove that it was taken at a raft-up or cruise.) We are on the “Honor System”. An SOS event can be cruising, day-sail, a brunch, seminar, destination cruise, shore party, etc.  Happy Hours are not included.

2. Each photo must identify at which SOS event it was taken and the name of the photographer.

3. This is an amateur photographer contest. Professional photographers - i.e. anyone who earns more than 50 percent of his or her annual income from photography – are excluded from the contest.

4. Each member may submit up to a total of eight (8) photos. The photographs should be submitted in a 5” x 7” format or the coordinator will crop it for you.

5. Photos may NOT be edited to achieve color balance that reflects the scene as you observed it. Heavily manipulated photos are not eligible. Cropping is the only acceptable edit.  We ask the photographer to ‘Suggest’ a category, but the Judge has the discretion to change the category.

Categories: People, Bay scenes (including sunsets), Sailboats (sailboats under sail, raft-ups), and Destination Cruises category includes photos taken during the actual SOS Bareboat destination cruises and photos taken on days when traveling prior to or after a destination cruise, provided the photos are from the same area.  (A destination cruise of the Mediterranean may not include photos from a layover in Amsterdam.)

Other Useful information: Submit your photos in digital format. Send photos attached to emails, Drop Box or contact Bob Wright for instructions to upload the Photo Editor’s Google drive.  Submit photos in high resolution. The photos will be enlarged to 5” x 7” (and larger to project to a screen).  If the photo is fuzzy, it reduces your chance of winning. Photos not submitted in the 5” x 7” format will be cropped to that format. Smart phone photos may be submitted. Please select high resolution for photos in your smart phone setup.

Judging:  The Photo Contest Manager and Judge may put your photos in the best applicable category.  There will be First, Second and Third Place Awards for each of the four categories and also a Grand Prize Award. The photos will be judged by a greater Annapolis area professional photographer from outside the club. The judging will be blind, so the Judge will not know which photographer took which photograph.  The Judge may add a fourth-place award in any category, if deemed necessary due to the quantity and quality of entries in a category (not to exceed a total of 13 awards including the Grand Prize Photograph).