For July’s “after hours” photo contest, we’re eagerly anticipating your best nighttime photographs that depict a good time. With summer come impromptu outdoor picnics and late nights at sidewalk cafes, so show us how you blow off steam after a tough work week. Craft cocktails at the Gibson? Friday jazz in the National Gallery Sculpture Garden? Dance parties at the Finnish Embassy? Whatever your take on a Washington night out is, we want to see it.
If you’re new to the game, here’s how our contest works: Submissions are accepted until noon on Monday, July 19. Our judges select the finalists, and then we open the voting up to readers to select a winner. The photo that garners the highest percentage of votes will be published in the September issue of The Washingtonian.
Photos—one per e-mail, please—should be sent to photocontest@washingtonian.com. Be sure to include the photographer’s name, phone number, e-mail address, and place of residence, along with a sentence or two about the photo—where it was taken and an explanation of why it fits the theme are both important details. You can submit as many photos as you’d like, but just make sure each is 300 dpi and at least four by six inches. And remember, the photographer and the subject must be from the Washington area, which includes the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
Snap away, late-night shutterbugs! As Friday night steadily approaches, we’re dreaming of exactly two things: an ice-cold mojito and your shots of Washington after the sun goes down.
>> Check out previous reader favorites in our winners’ gallery.
For a town stereotyped with gray suits and conservative necklines, Washington turned out some characters for June’s people-watching photo contest. A wide variety of ages, races, and species (there may or may not have an orangutan somewhere in the mix) were represented in the entries. Bravo, contestants—way to celebrate the diversity of our beloved city.
Don’t listen to the haters, Washington—we know you know how to have a good time. That’s why this month’s photo contest is about all-things celebration. Whether it’s marking milestones or commemorating jobs well done, we want to see how you rise to the occasion.
That being said, we know there’s a million and five ways, places, and reasons to get down in our area, so don’t limit yourself to standard party pics. Birthday fetes, victory dances, or even a quiet toast between friends—if there’s a reason to be happy behind the photo, then we’re looking forward to seeing it.
Here’s how the contest works: Submissions will be accepted until noon on Monday, May 17. Our judges will select the finalists, then we’ll open it up to you, dear readers, to select a favorite. The winner will be published in the July issue of The Washingtonian.
Last month, Washingtonian.com launched Great Getaways, our new travel blog, to give Washington jet-setters a one-click resource for the latest travel news, tips, getaway deals, and more. In the spirit of vacations—we’re already pining for the summer sun—this month’s photo contest is all about travel.
The sky’s the limit in terms of subjects—a Hawaiian sunset, Mexican ruins, Tibetan mountains. Just make sure you send your most creative images. While snapshots of your smiling kids at the beach are fine, what we really want to see are artfully composed photographs that capture the spirit of a far-off place. Get creative—surprise us.
Here’s how the contest works: Send submissions by noon on Friday, March 19, and our judges will pick the best to advance to the reader-voting round. Then we’ll open it up to you to select a favorite. The winner will be published in the May issue of The Washingtonian.
Photos—one per e-mail—should be sent to photocontest@washingtonian.com. Be sure to include the photographer’s name, phone number, e-mail address, and place of residence, along with a sentence or two about the photo and where it was taken and explaining why it fits the theme. Photos should be 300 dpi and at least four by six inches. And remember, the photographer must be from the Washington area, which includes the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
Happy trails, and good luck!
Need inspiration? Check out our gallery of past winners here.
Where do Washingtonian.com readers see stripes? Lots of places, apparently. This month’s stripes-themed photo contest fielded entries ranging from the obvious—American flags, zebras—to the downright bizarre. Our favorites? Check them out here.
Now it’s your turn to decide a winner. Once you've perused our finalists’ gallery (open it in a new window here), scroll to the bottom of this page to cast a vote. The photograph with the most votes at noon on Friday, February 26, (just eight days away!) will be declared the winner. It’ll run in the April issue of The Washingtonian.
Of course, with all the good entries this month, we had to run a runners-up gallery. See if your photo caught our eye here.
And remember, it’s only one vote per person, and we monitor the polls closely, so play fair. If we notice voting irregularities for a particular photograph, we’ll disqualify it.
Good luck to the finalists, and happy voting, readers!
Happy February, readers! This month’s photo contest celebrates stripes in every size and color. Any photo showing stripes—from zebra stripes to candy stripers—is fair game. Of course, technical skill and composition are important, but so is creativity. So go find some stripes and get snapping!
For newcomers, here’s how the contest works: Send submissions by noon on Wednesday, February 17, and our judges will pick the best shots to advance to the reader-voting round. Then we’ll open it up to you to select a favorite. The winner will be published in the April issue of The Washingtonian.
Photos—one per e-mail—should be sent to photocontest@washingtonian.com. Be sure to include the photographer’s name, phone number, e-mail address, and place of residence, along with a sentence or two describing the photo and explaining why it fits the theme. Photos should be 300 dpi and at least four by six inches. And remember, both the photographer and the photo’s subject need to be from the Washington area, which includes the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
Good luck!
We asked for photos of your simple pleasures and, boy, did you deliver. We got all kinds of shots—from kids and pets to coffee and lots of food. Our judges gathered this morning to narrow the pool to our top five. Now we need you to select a winner.
Check out the finalists’ gallery (click here to see it in a new window), then vote for your favorite at the bottom of the page. The photo with the most votes at noon on Friday, January 29, will be the winner. It’ll appear in the March issue of The Washingtonian.
Remember, it’s only one vote per person, so play fair. If we notice voting irregularities for any photo, we reserve the right to disqualify it from the contest.
Good luck to this month’s finalists, and happy voting!
>> Want to see this month's runners-up? Click here.
Happy New Year, Washingtonian.com shutterbugs! To kick off 2010, we’re collecting photos of life’s simple pleasures. Maybe it’s that first cup of coffee in the morning or a pet sleeping on the couch—we want photos of whatever puts a smile on your face.
For newcomers to our monthly contest, here’s how it works: Send submissions by noon on Tuesday, January 19, and our judges will pick the best shots to advance to the reader-voting round. Then we’ll open it up to you to select a favorite. The winner will be published in the March issue of The Washingtonian.
Photos—one per e-mail—should be sent to photocontest@washingtonian.com. Be sure to include the photographer’s name, phone number, e-mail address, and place of residence, along with a sentence or two describing the photo and explaining why it fits the theme. Photos should be 300 dpi and at least four by six inches. And remember, both the photographer and the photo’s subject need to be from the Washington area, which includes the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
Good luck!
(Left to right): Design students Caryn Cramer, Breeze Giannasio, Louise Havndrup, Brittany Watson, and Tiersdag Kjøller at the unveiling of their Cool Creative Christmas decorations. Photograph by Chris Svetlik.
>> Click here for photos of the decorations
To call the paper flowers and cutout snowflakes currently adorning the walls of the Danish ambassador’s home “arts and crafts kicked up a notch” would be a gross injustice. Yes, they’re all handmade, and yes, some of them include coffee filters, Balducci’s napkins, and hundreds of old issues of Financial Times. But we guarantee you won’t be able to tell.
Tai Shan, the giant panda cub at Smithsonian's National Zoo. Photograph by Meghan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National Zoo
>> Click here for the Tai Shan slide show
Qiang Qiang, Hua Sheng, Butterstick—Tai Shan by any other name is still the adorable giant panda that Washington has grown to love. But now it seems our time with the furball is finally coming to an end: The zoo announced this morning that Tai Shan will soon return to China.
To be fair, it’s not like we didn’t see this coming. Per previous agreements with the Chinese government, Tai Shan was supposed to return after his second birthday, but the zoo secured a few extensions to keep him here longer. The latest extension expires next month, and the zoo announced this morning that the four-year-old panda will go home.
We know, you’re disappointed—so are we. That’s why we’ve put together a timeline to relive our favorite panda’s most memorable moments in Washington. And just for kicks, we’ve created a slide show of the rolly-polliest panda ever caught on film.
