Our annual photo contest is becoming an important part of preserving and sharing our membership's fondest memories of their time spent at the lake. Participation has been very good and we hope it keeps increasing!

The GELIA photo contest is bringing the whole association closer together. From January through the end of March, I collected 60 pictures submitted by over 20 Great East Lake photographers. This year's "Special Category" is "Fall" and we have some wonderful examples in that category. After compiling and renaming the images, on May 1st I sent them to the loving embrace of our panel of four judges, who will score each one. Once I get and review those resulting scores, I will take the 13 highest scoring photos (one for each month plus the cover) and create a calendar, which will be available for sale at the Annual Meeting and online. This has the benefit of being a fund raiser for GELIA, but also creates a historical photo archive of our beloved lake and its inhabitants.

Download Calendar Order Form

Download the Contest Entry Form

There are three main reasons for holding this contest:
1: To provide a means for people who love Great East Lake to share their best pictures of the lake and show why they love it.
2: To provide a fund raising opportunity for GELIA. This would be via sales of calendars containing the best 12 to 18 pictures submitted to this contest. The calendar would be sold at the annual meeting.
3. To build a historical archive of pictures of Great East Lake.

Categories
Photos submitted should fit one of the following categories:
Aerial
People
Animals (all non-human types)
Plants
Sun or Moon rise and set
Underwater
Historical (more than 25 years ago)
Event (annual meeting, sailboat race, swimming race etc)
Four seasons [Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter (including skating, snowmobiling and ice fishing etc)]
Water Sports (boating, fishing, waterskiing, wakeboarding, swimming)
Land/water-scapes
The SPECIAL category (announced at each annual meeting)

Rules:
1) You must be the photographer who actually took the submitted pictures
2) 5 submissions per person (no more than two pictures in any category)
3) Photo must not have been submitted previously
4) Must be photographed at GEL (within 100 yards) or show a part of the lake.
5) Sizes: Digital, 8”x10” print, 35mm slide (only slides will be returned )
6) No digitally altered reality (cropping,  and contrast/brightness adjustments are OK)

Deadline:
Submissions must be made between January 1st and March 31st using the official form.

Judging:
Judging will be done by a panel of 3-5 judges selected by the GELIA board, and will be done without photographer names associated with the picture to avoid any favoritism. Judges and their families will not be allowed to submit pictures.

Pictures will be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 for each criterion (Composition, Lighting, Sharpness, Creativity) for a score of 5 to 20 points. Pictures will be selected based on which have the highest score. Ties will be broken by a second round of voting.

Prizes:
Plaque and free calendar for the top 3 pictures, Certificates for honorable mentions.

Rights:
You must grant GELIA the right to reproduce your submitted pictures, by signing the release on the entry form. Also, if the photo contains pictures of people, any recognizable person in the picture (or their parent/guardian if under 18) must also sign the release.
Photographer credit will be given in a caption/title below the picture on the finished calendar.

Questions
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Download the Calendar Order Form

Well, the results of the 2009 GELIA Photo Contest are finally in. There were 59 photos submitted by 19 photographers.Our judges deliberated over these and:
1st   Place: Elaine Meagher - Sailboat and Rainbow
2nd Place: Lennie McKinley - GEL Dam in Fall
3rd: Place: Bill Carroll: Ice Storm Dec 08
Best in Special category (Winter): Jennifer Craig - Sunrise on the New Year

The following also had their picture included in this year's calendar, and will therefore receive a free copy: Elizabeth Flemings, Gary Field, Eric Magnuson, Linda Schier, Dave Sells, Julie Sayles, Ann Travers, Cathy Wall

The 2010 Great East Lake Calendar: "A Measure of Time at Great East Lake", has been ordered, and will be available for a cost of $15 each.

In addition to a free calendar, the top three prize winners, and the best of special category winner,  receive a framed print of their picture with an attached name plate.

Our thanks go out to our judges:
Ernie Alvino
Sue Duran
MaryLou Monnatt
Dave Needham
Lance Ten Eyck
Jody Wood

Thanks and Congratulations to all!