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As you would be aware our competitions are based on the premise that entries are anonymous. Thus we have in place a rule that does not allow any photo posted to the forums in the 30 days before a competition starts (or during the competition) to be entered.
We have had numerous instances lately where the spirit of this is being pushed to the limit, where members are entering a photo to the competitions that they have also posted extremely similar photos to the forums at the same time. For example two portrait photos and the only visible difference is the head is tilted slightly differently, and the photos are probably taken within a second of each other. We have seen landscape entries that the only difference is the position of a bird flying through the scene and ever so slightly different cloud position due to the wind.
We have therefore decided that as some members cannot enter into the spirit of what anonymous competitions and the 30 day rule is about, that we are changing the rules to enforce it.
Both the Photo of the Week and the Photo of the Month now have the following clause in their rules. This is effective for every competition that starts from this time (Monday 8th April 2013 @ 7.20 pm AEST).
Any photograph entered must not have been placed on Ausphotography, or the entry must not be obviously from the same photographer, based on shoot location and subject matter, such that anonymity is effectively bypassed, in the 30 days prior to the competition opening date.
Therefore any entry that is extremely similar to a photo posted to the forums by the same photographer, will be disqualified.
We are also considering extending the 30 day limit to 90 days, but we are still discussing this at this time, and I will post again if we change the rules in that regard.