I believe Sister Crayon has worded the categories better. Here are her suggestions. With some minor modifications and additions
Landscapes ( Out door scenery, in which natural formations is the dominant feature)
Urban (this would be city shots/buildings/etc.)
Architecture (Individual buildings, bridges, roads, towers etc are the dominant feature)
Water (could be sea, ocean, lake, or even simply "water")
Nature (plants and flowers come under this)
A concept (hope/joy/peace/etc.)
Unclassified (anything that does not seem to fit any of the above)
For Rules:
1. You may enter as few as one picture or as many as you desire. But only a maximum of one picture in each category. Each picture may be entered only once. (The same picture can not be entered in over one category)
2. The contestant decides what category their picture should be entered under
3. Each entry must be titled
4. The entry must be the contestant's original work
5. No pictures of living beings (This needs to be clarified further)
6. No photo enhancement allowed except for cropping and minor color correction
7. The judges will remain anonymous except to myself and one judge.
8. Judges will not be permitted to enter
The judging will be as follows:
Each judge will give a score of 1 to 5 points for each picture. The scores will be added and the picture with the highest score will win for that category.
There will be a "Best in Category" for each category.
From the winning picture in each category, The one with the highest overall score will win "Best in Show"
After the judges reach a decision but before the results are made public, all members will be able to vote on an open thread, but that score will not be used unless the Judges are stuck in a tie. There will be a separate winner of "The Member's Choice", which may or may not agree with the judges choice of "Best in Show"
Scoring will be based upon the criteria mentioned in an earlier post.