Promotion or lack of. Where was it announced? Half way down the forum on 23rd December, a vehicle you’ve already declared as all but dead! Some sustained advertising wouldn’t have gone amiss (blog, status, banners) along with much better timing.
Perhaps just one big competition per year to focus effort and interest, with plenty of lead time and promotion.
I don’t think the prize money is that much of an issue (zipping it) and I’d go further to say that even the nudle prizes are a bit rich. Lots of people enter a competition for the fun rather than the reward, you only have to look at TWL’s blog challenges for a good example of how people enjoy getting involved and participating.
You could spread the nudle prizes a lot wider, maybe making 1st prize the equivalent of a one year membership, 2nd six months, etc etc down to a lot of smaller nudle prizes for a lot more entrants. That way there are lots of small carrots to encourage a lot more people to have a go. Yes I realise I’m contradicting myself but this is my post and I can if I want too.
There are on the whole two types of people who come to this site, exhibitionists and voyeurs. How about some additional promotion for the winners, something like including the winning photos on the front page or a special page for competition winners. That should please the attention whores and the pervs at the same time.
The competitions are usually clogged with photos that don’t meet the criteria or that are just posted in the wrong category. Keeping the competition category clean would look a lot better and make it easier to see the wood for the trees.
What about limiting the number of entries any one person can make, so they only submit say their best three pics. Wood and trees again.
Finally, and a way of involving people who don’t want to enter but still enjoy the concept and the community, you could allow member voting on a short list of photos. Perhaps NN could short list say 10 pics and member voting could determine the finishing positions.
That’s all I’ve got ..... and my dinner is ready!