We do have some specific guidelines that we ask our participants to follow…
#1 – Enter the permalink to your blog post (not to the home page of your blog)
This is an absolute “must do” for us. If you enter the link to the home page of your blog (instead of your permalink), ten months from now when someone is looking for inspiration for a “Wonder” photo will never be able to find your original entry. This is why it is absolutely imperative for you to remember to enter your permalink.
#2 – Our Blog Button must be in your I Heart Faces post
Our blog button is an immediate sign to anyone who comes to your blog that you have made an entry into our judged photo challenge. This makes it a lot easier for Angie, Amy and the guest judge to know that your entry was a real one (we get a lot of spam and commercial entries that are automatically deleted.)
#3 – We ask that you link back to our website
We have found that a lot of bloggers and flickr users have no idea that our button is clickable (ie. if they click on it, it would take them right to our website.) Due to this, we ask that you also provide a link back to our website in your post (for an example – “Be sure to head on over to www.iheartfaces.com to check out all of the beautiful face entries this week!”) or you need to indicate that if they click on the button it will take them to our website. We want everyone to be able to find us and join in on the fun for each of our photo challenges.
#4 – Only one photo can be in your post!
One of the main purposes of our blog is that we can be inspired by one another. We want everyone to be able to visit each blog, focus on that one photo and to be able to remember it for future inspiration. If you have a bunch of other photos in your post, it really takes away from this purpose and makes it difficult to even remember what your original photo entry looked like.
If you have other photos that will explain “the story behind your photo” they cannot be in your post. They can be in a second post that you link to, but they can’t be in your entry post if you want to be considered for the contest.
This goes for any other photos as well (ie. collages, cupcakes, landscape, food products, historical figures, etc.) If there are any other photos in your post, you will not be considered as a winner for our contest!
#5 – You must link to a blog post, Flickr entry or IHF Community blog post where other participants can leave you comments.
If you link to a blog or to a website that doesn’t allow for comments, your entry will not qualify to be a winner. One of the most enjoyable parts of our website is that we can all encourage and congratulate one another on a job well-done. If your post doesn’t allow for comments, it makes it impossible for other members of our community to interact with you.
*If you link to a private blog (one where only invited guests can see your posts)…we cannot see your entry! Your entry will be automatically deleted.**
#6 – Your photo can only be entered one time on our website.
After you enter a photo on our website, it can never be entered again into a judged photo challenge (not even if you convert it to B&W, Sepia, or alter the photo somehow.) We want to continue to be inspired by new photos…not to see the same set of photos over and over again.
#7 – You have to have taken your photo entry yourself.
We think this is fairly obvious…if you want to win the judged photo contest, the photo has to have been taken by you! If your husband or wife took the photo, please indicate that and enter their name into the linky system so that they will be considered for being a winner. You absolutely cannot enter any photos that were taken by a friend, any other loved one or a different professional photographer other than yourself.
#8 – Your photo has to have a human (and preferably a FACE) showing in it.
Our website is all about faces and most our themes revolve around that. Due to that (unless we state otherwise) a person has to be in your photo entry and we’d really love to see their face. :)
