Calendar Contest Reminder & Request for Feedback

[Malte]

There are already many good ideas here. I want to double down on the two entries per person:

One themed or only one knife allowed picture with different themes each year, like maritime or hiking.

The other one anything goes, any Photoshop whatever.
This way the entry hurdles remain low and the Longtime Spyderco Fans can go all-out.

[Cletus]

Two of my favorite Kapara's. CPM S90V and Micarta.

[Cletus]

Ooooops! Wrong thread! er, test run? Yep, that's the ticket. (cough cough)

[mikey177]

I joined the Forum in 2019 to join the calendar contest.

I participated for a few years, but have not entered recently either because I already had the model that was being offered as a prize or I wasn't interested in it. I didn't want to join just for the free calendar.

I've also felt intimidated by the excellent quality of entries.

Maybe I'll try again next year.

[ChrisinHove]

I think the calendar competition is great! Thank you for running it!

Every year I’m staggered by the quality of most of the entries, and if some people have joined the forum & bought a Spydie just to photograph and enter the competition in the 1st instance, then isn’t that still a good thing?

[nathanours]

I’m a longtime fan and Spyderco user, but only occasionally am active on the forum.

I also wait till later in the competition to enter, as I want to make sure I use the best picture I get before the deadline.

I like the current format of one picture per person - it’s interesting to see what folks consider to be their best instead of entering multiples.

[Ramonade]

I personally like the fact that this is a little contest in between members of the forum. I've talked about it to non forum members before and some have participated.

I understand that you still need to have enough participants for it to even be a contest though ! I usually am very late on this and everytime I post there's at least 4 people posting the same day, we might have to make an effort and decide what shot to use a bit longer before the deadline

[andlours]

I’m a pretty infrequent poster, but I love the contest also. Like others have said, I wait until the last minute to upload something. It’s always tough for me to decide what shot I think is best. Honestly, I see no issues with the current format.

[Nestor]

Just thought I'd add this after reading this topic:
I am against any minimum forum participation requirements connected with the privilege of submitting the pictures for the calendar competition. Not everyone is posting. There are many members (including myself) who are participating in the forum without posting frequently. Contrary to some ideas presented here, I would like to point out that each member is different and that fact is going to be reflected on the forum with different activity profile for each of us. Calendar competition is a great idea to activate the members to participate in this forum, but expecting everyone to regularly post is just unrealistic. Thanks again and good luck to those who submitted their entries.

[duppermad@gmail.com]

Concur with others on expanding submission range of dates (and not just because today is 9 August...
Also agree that focus on forum submissions gives a certain amount of cachet to, well, being on the forum...
Next year give us an additional month or two, and
Excelsior,
mad

[Mully]

Open it up for any photo. I don’t know anything or really care about photo file size or pixels or whatever. Go old school and pick photos of what you think your customers are using their knives for or ones that just call to you. This approach is probably not realistic to have a quality end product, but it would be a lot of fun for the forum members.

[TkoK83Spy]

Open it up for any photo. I don’t know anything or really care about photo file size or pixels or whatever. Go old school and pick photos of what you think your customers are using their knives for or ones that just call to you. This approach is probably not realistic to have a quality end product, but it would be a lot of fun for the forum members.

I admittedly have NO CLUE about file size and pixels myself, I just pick a photo I like and hope it works...probably why I've never been selected. Besides one year I was...but my photo didn't fit haha!

[VandymanG]

Open it up for any photo. I don’t know anything or really care about photo file size or pixels or whatever. Go old school and pick photos of what you think your customers are using their knives for or ones that just call to you. This approach is probably not realistic to have a quality end product, but it would be a lot of fun for the forum members.

I had to get my wife to help me to check for correct size. It’s hard to do on a phone so I asked her to do it on her Mac

[Mushroom]

Please do not open it up to other social media. Keep it forum only, please! Keep it open to any and all forum members, new and old, first post or next post, but forum only is the most important part!

I’m not opposed to seeing more than one entry per person allowed but in that situation I think it's still important to represent as many members of the forum in the calendar as possible (12). If two entries per person is allowed, I think there should be some limits put in place such as only one winning photo per person, one prize per person, or only those who submit a single photo can be eligible for the grand prize. It’s key to avoid creating incentives that unfairly favor anyone over others.

I also believe the deadline needs to be moved back to late August/Early September. In the past 5 linked years, the contests with later deadlines (Late August) seem to have more entries. The earlier the deadline, the less entries there are.

I love that a free copy of the calendar is offered for every entry but, at the risk of sounding greedy, maybe adding a random drawing for all non-winning entries might help encourage more participation. The prize could be a Spyderco swag bag filled with cool Spyderco merch like a Baliyo, T-shirt, bandana, mug, and stickers.

Maybe creating a special thanks section that lists the forum names of all those who entered the contest to show appreciation for their participation?

None the less, Forum only, please!

[Mrj]

I agree at least keep it forum only.

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

•Keep it within the forum
•Extend the deadline
•New or old members
•Two photos/person (judges choice)
•Calendar to all who participate
•Drawing for non-winning entries as Nick suggested

[TkoK83Spy]

After seeing this years winners, I have to say I like a bit of the change from the "norm" standard.

I feel like in years past, customized knives or knives with wear/patina tended to be overlooked for the calendar for more OEM or pristine knives photos. Now this year we have Ladybug93's custom Manix, as well as my Caly Jr with the patina representing a couple months. (I'm honestly not saying that just because I happened to win a spot, I even commented on it with my post/photo entering the contest)

I'm thinking Spyderco has realized how much the custom market has played into the knife game in recent years, and appreciate them expanding how they look at it for calendar submissions. Considering many members here tend to customize their knives, I think it will draw even more entries. (I could be 100% wrong here, just basing that on how I've personally seen selections in the past)

These few examples, as well as Kristi creating this thread for future suggestions, really has me feeling good about the direction of the yearly calendar! Not that I have any complaints as is, but expanding the horizon a bit is great move for the future and really opens things up in my opinion.

[Manixguy@1994]

After seeing this years winners, I have to say I like a bit of the change from the "norm" standard.

I feel like in years past, customized knives or knives with wear/patina tended to be overlooked for the calendar for more OEM or pristine knives photos. Now this year we have Ladybug93's custom Manix, as well as my Caly Jr with the patina representing a couple months. (I'm honestly not saying that just because I happened to win a spot, I even commented on it with my post/photo entering the contest)

I'm thinking Spyderco has realized how much the custom market has played into the knife game in recent years, and appreciate them expanding how they look at it for calendar submissions. Considering many members here tend to customize their knives, I think it will draw even more entries. (I could be 100% wrong here, just basing that on how I've personally seen selections in the past)

These few examples, as well as Kristi creating this thread for future suggestions, really has me feeling good about the direction of the yearly calendar! Not that I have any complaints as is, but expanding the horizon a bit is great move for the future and really opens things up in my opinion.

I agree , personalized Spyderco knives is very common now days and brings to light what an individual can do to give it its own personality . Dan

[ladybug93]

After seeing this years winners, I have to say I like a bit of the change from the "norm" standard.

I feel like in years past, customized knives or knives with wear/patina tended to be overlooked for the calendar for more OEM or pristine knives photos. Now this year we have Ladybug93's custom Manix, as well as my Caly Jr with the patina representing a couple months. (I'm honestly not saying that just because I happened to win a spot, I even commented on it with my post/photo entering the contest)

I'm thinking Spyderco has realized how much the custom market has played into the knife game in recent years, and appreciate them expanding how they look at it for calendar submissions. Considering many members here tend to customize their knives, I think it will draw even more entries. (I could be 100% wrong here, just basing that on how I've personally seen selections in the past)

These few examples, as well as Kristi creating this thread for future suggestions, really has me feeling good about the direction of the yearly calendar! Not that I have any complaints as is, but expanding the horizon a bit is great move for the future and really opens things up in my opinion.

my custom manix is largely inspired by seeing yours so often on the forum. such a great looking knife. i have to admit that i submitted not expecting spyderco to choose a customized knife. what you're saying didn't even occur to me until i saw your post, but i agree that it's cool to see.

[TkoK83Spy]

After seeing this years winners, I have to say I like a bit of the change from the "norm" standard.

I feel like in years past, customized knives or knives with wear/patina tended to be overlooked for the calendar for more OEM or pristine knives photos. Now this year we have Ladybug93's custom Manix, as well as my Caly Jr with the patina representing a couple months. (I'm honestly not saying that just because I happened to win a spot, I even commented on it with my post/photo entering the contest)

I'm thinking Spyderco has realized how much the custom market has played into the knife game in recent years, and appreciate them expanding how they look at it for calendar submissions. Considering many members here tend to customize their knives, I think it will draw even more entries. (I could be 100% wrong here, just basing that on how I've personally seen selections in the past)

These few examples, as well as Kristi creating this thread for future suggestions, really has me feeling good about the direction of the yearly calendar! Not that I have any complaints as is, but expanding the horizon a bit is great move for the future and really opens things up in my opinion.

my custom manix is largely inspired by seeing yours so often on the forum. such a great looking knife. i have to admit that i submitted not expecting spyderco to choose a customized knife. what you're saying didn't even occur to me until i saw your post, but i agree that it's cool to see.

Thanks bud, appreciate that!! I've got a bunch of pictures of that knife over the years obviously and never considered entering any because of what I had noticed over the years selections. Glad it worked out for you this year!