Another voting suggestion

[saykimchi]

I don't enjoy the ranking labels. I would consider the majority (if not all) of us to be aspiring photographers, and acknowledge that we're still learning and developing our skills. As such, I don't think it's fair to be able to rank pictures as being "terrible", "bad", "average", "good", and "excellent". What I consider to be good, someone else could consider bad (and vice versa) as that type of ranking is very subjective. I understand where it's coming from, and I appreciate the need for the rankings, but I feel that they are too harsh.

I would suggest that the ranking system be modified (if possible) to be of a encouraging nature. Maybe something like:
1 - Beginning
2 - Emerging
3 - Aspiring
4 - Achieving
5 - Exceeding

[saykimchi]

Additionally, I find that these labels only reflect the photo in general, but not how it satisfies/fits into the Photo Competition category. I don't think there would be an easy way to approach this as it is time consuming at the moment to vote for one photo as Joseph has pointed out here (http://www.proudphotography.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2617), but perhaps in the future a rubric of sorts could be set up to help vote for pictures objectively. Maybe something along the lines of:
1 - Photo somewhat meets category title (as all photos that do not are removed anyway); photo displays little creativity
2 - Photo meets category title; photo displays some effort; improvements would help to create a better photograph
3 - Photo is good, and displays photographer's skill, but significant weaknesses hinder the photo
4 - Photo is interesting/captivating/engaging, but still has some weaknesses
5 - Photo displays exemplary skill and ability; Photographer is able to convey a purpose through their photo

I found a lot of that info from a Google search for "photography rubric". Potentially these rubrics could be used to help the photographers identify where they could improve, as average results could be given during/after the competition as well.

I know that this would be a *lot* of work, but from a feedback point of view I feel that it would be very helpful.

Just my two cents ... :D