The reason we asked about duplication of subjects was because this year is seemed rather more prevalent than in previous years and we wondered if the first person to post a subject that then was also posted at later dates by other competitors might feel that their work in researching and planning had somehow been “stolen”.
It appears that we might be worrying too much
On a tangent, there is no stipulation that a subject should not be in an FRZ.
The one subject that demanded that it be photographed within a restricted zone was there to give people the experience of applying for permissions and, it was hoped, make them realise that the majority of ATCs, both civilian and military, are normally very helpful in granting your requests
Like some I wasn’t a fan of the cryptic clues and I think that took away that level playing field feel away from the competition.
I did however like the concept of not knowing if you had got bonus points until the end of the competition.
So I’d like to offer a suggestion to be put into the hat for next year’s competition that will still allow the bonus point idea whilst keeping it fair.
Firstly before I write this I hold my hands up now and admit I know absolutely nothing about the logistics of how this will work but I know there are clever people in the @Challenges_Committee that will know immediately if it’s possible.
Ok enough babbling, here we go.
5 subjects are chosen to have a ‘challengers vote’ where those who enter the competition get to choose which is their favourite entry in that subject.
‘Secret’ bonus points will be added at the end (like this year) to those who receive the most votes.
I’ve kept the idea, simple, hoping that the experts may be able to elaborate on this following any discussion on the thread.
I like the idea of bonus for popular pics. It’d bring an element of RTF in. Perhaps limit the number of bonus points available this way or it’ll be like Eurovision.
Also consider awarding gold, silver, bronze or such like (being an olympic year) for say 75%, 50% and 25% topics bagged. No cash alternative.
The idea of the Challenge - full title Birthday Challenge and Treasure Hunt- is present a level playing field for those who aren’t necessarily good photographers or videographers
We run the RTF for the rest of the year and this year we also have the calendar competition both of which rely on artistic merit to win.
You can enter the Challenge with an FPV aircraft and submit screenshots from the controller or phone complete with OSD. Challenge is about finding things andcreating clear images - which means, to us, subject and bonus items showing bice and big in the picture to save us having to fanny aboutwith magnifying glasses.
We would far rather see a picture of say A Sailing Dinghy bonus for two or more crew, bonus for all wearing lifejackets, bonus if all lifejackets are red (not orange) which shows it clearly rather than a beautiful seascape with a moody sky and scudding clouds with the dinghy a speck in the distance where we have to decide on the basis of a couple of pixels whether it is one person or two in the boat.
It’s content, not composition we are looking for.
We were lucky that the cryptic clue bonuses didn’t impact on the final positions - especially amongst the top runners. But we did have control of the bonuses, they weren’t random. But allowing GADC members to vote for pictures based on how pretty they are, or on the popularity of the member who took them or any other factor, which works for RTF,Cal Comp and FAFEC, doesn’t gel with a competition that is serious - cash is involved and that makes it serious indeed.
The idea of the Joker bears thinking about and we will try and think of a fair and transparent way of introducing so fun element of “hidden” bonuses.
The idea of the badges for completing a certain percentage of the subjects has also been discussed between the judges previously along with a completist badge - that will give an incentive for those who aren’t too worried about dropping points to try as many subjects as possible. Not everyone is out for the cash prizes - and those who do win them have probably spent rather more in fuel and other expenses to achieve their top placings!
Don’t worry, I’m sure the government have plans as far as fuel for getting to some place to take a photo of a hillfort or shipping containers, is concerned
We don’t get expenses for tissue to dry our eyes from tears when we laugh at competitors attempts to bend the rules.
We even have to fart on the calculator at the start of each year to blow the dust off.
