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I liked themed better but I'd not include the 30 day requirement. I'd make it a year. It's hard, for example, to compare a waterfall to a city scene or wildlife to an abandoned building in order to say which is better and with "a year" instead of 30 days more people might have photos to fit the theme.
I'm in 2 camera clubs. Both have themed categories for the annual salon judged by 3 judges. You may wonder why landscape and scenic are 2 different categories. It's only because of too many entries if it was one category. We get the most entries in Landscape and Wildlife. We tried an Urban Landscape category but didn't get enough entries to take it out of Scenic. I would imagine a club in a large city would get a lot of entries for Urban Landscape.
I think we have a five year limit on when the photo was taken.
I'm only showing this because I think if the themed categories were broader (like Wildlife instead of Insects, for example) you would get more entries.
General Club (note HDR is not considered to be Creative Development and may be in any category)
Wildlife: No farm or domestic animals/pets but photo of wildlife may be taken at a zoo, wildlife refuge, etc.. Includes insects, non-domesticated birds, lizards, amphibians, etc. Architecture: Any structure or structural detail inside or outside (buildings, bridges, lighthouses, etc.). It must be the subject of the photo. Botanical: flowers, trees Landscape: The natural scene. People or structures or inanimate objects may be in the photo but they must be a tiny part of the image, not the subject. They can't dominate. Scenic: People or structures or inanimate objects must dominate the scene. Creative Development: Rewarded for how you creatively alter the photo on the computer or in the camera. The subject before manipulation/filters must fit in one of the other categories. Creative Vision: Patterns, abstracts, textures - no computer manipulation beyond basic editing. People: posed, not posed, action, groups, single Inanimate Objects: Any inanimate/non-living thing that doesn't fit in architecture. A dead tree goes here as well as your vehicle shots.
Personally, I'd like to see a domesticated and farm animal category.
I see some cities that post a photo contest for that city but then the rules page says the contest would have long since ended based on the dates. Are the rules out of date or should the contest link be removed? What's the norm here?
Yeah...most cities have "Official picture thread" (usually a sticky). People post there pictures of that city or surroundings.
E.g. Official picture thread.
Those threads are not participating in any contests. They are just ... a collection of pictures, taken at any time, by members who live there or visitors who want to share. Some pictures are about new developments, or hidden gems worth seeing.
More examples: California Pictures Colorado Photo Thread Pictures of Salt Lake City and area Albuquerque Area Photo Threads
etc... etc...
Back on topic: I agree with LauraC post, and would love to see the Photo Contest coming back. I think 30 days should be sufficient, as I understand that people coming from photo tour or vacation need some extra time to sort out and process their pictures. The idea is to get people to take new photographs. (pknopp) Make it more interesting and something to strive for. (jim9251)
The rest of the rules are fine - one picture per person, only photos taken in person, no pics from brand new members, and no voting for yourself. (or asking friends to vote for you )
I would stick to one vote per voter, because we saw some people voting for every picture - they didn't want to offend anyone. Such voting didn't make any sense. That way, let's hope, the voters will make more careful choices.
Not sure if professional photographers should participate, though. There is no way to compete with their knowledge, experiences, specialty software and expensive equipment.
It would be nice to see a contest each month for a given subject that a broad participant base would have access to. Say flowers, birds, bugs, trees, buildings, etc. Make it apples to apples and see what happens. Just a thought.
Sure, but who is going to make it happen every month? Any volunteers?
Does it require being a Mod?
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) 
That way, let's hope, the voters will make more careful choices. 
