Welcome To our 3rd International
TMINFO Calendar Competition for 2011!

Has this calendar contest prompted you to take more photos of your Tibetan Mastiff? Submitting your photos is a super endorsement for the breed, promotes a sense of community and is a wonderful way for all of us to share in our Tibetan Mastiff passion. Keep the calendar in mind whenever you are photographing your dog throughout the year. You could be one of the lucky ones enjoying bragging rights when your dog and your photography skills win the popular vote.

You can enter FIVE pictures. That's FIVE chances to win!

We know how much you love your purebred Tibetan Mastiff and here’s your chance to have a little creative fun. We’re calling on all fanciers of the breed to send us your most prized Tibetan Mastiff photographs for consideration in the 2011 TMINFO Keepsake Calendar. We like to encourage participation so feel free to send up to 5 pictures that you think best capture the spirit of your TM and we’ll post them to voting format.

For many it's a great time of year to take pictures while your Tibetan Mastiffs are still in full coat or as you are welcoming new additions to your family. We’re looking for cute and cuddly puppy pictures, noble Tibetan Mastiffs in the great outdoors (seasonal pictures are especially appreciated), photos of your beloved veteran or your superstar best friend from the past and present. Share your TM’s goofy silliness or let us sigh over your TM’s gorgeous majesty, just send us your BEST photo memories. Whether it’s a planned photo shoot or a great spur of the moment shot, we want to see it.

Take a moment to read this site's photography article. It's filled with helpful photography tips! We have also created a page to help people specifically with calendar photo submissions:

• General Photography Tips
• Specific Help with Photos for the Calendar Contest

Tip: If your camera has a date/time function, remember to turn it off. It really does distract from your photos.

We will consider all photographs for submission to the voting selection but we do have a few rules.

Entry Rules

1. Entrants restricted to five (5) photo entries per household.
2. Photo entries may be in either black/white or color. Submit photos in which your TM is in focus and the subject of the photograph - No human faces in the photographs please (hands, arms, feet are acceptable) - No choke, pinch or prong collars.
3. Photos must be your original work and or you must have full ownership rights to the photo. Photos become the property of TMINFO, which will have the right, without further consideration, to modify and/or use them in its website and in any other publication/products for promotional purposes. 
4. Only photos of purebred Tibetan Mastiffs please.  Stacked show pictures will NOT be accepted.  For proper presentation slight photo retouching will be permissible.  
5. PORTRAIT (vertical) photos are acceptable but LANDSCAPE (horizontal) are preferable due to the landscape orientation of the calendar. Photos that have not been resized or cropped are your best bet.
6. High resolution pictures (300 dpi or 2000+ pixels) to ensure printing suitability. May be sent as .jpg, .tiff, .raw or .png formatted attachments. Include pet's name, owner's name and contact information. Better to send full size image file than to resize too small. Visit this page for more help and tips.
7. CDs and DVDs accepted as are printed/developed pictures for scanning. Include name of dog and owner's name. Picture(s), CDs and DVDs should be enclosed with cardboard packaging to prevent damage during shipping. Snail mail packages will only be returned with a self-addressed stamped envelope. Mail to: Kathleen McDaniel 7024 W. Pauling Road, Monee, Illinois 60449 USA.

Photo Display

Submissions for voting consideration will be accepted beginning February 15, 2010.  Deadline for photo submissions will be April 30, 2010.  Photos will be displayed for final voting selection between May 15, 2010 and June 15, 2010. Photos will be displayed in order of submission.

Voting Procedure

All visitors to the TMINFO site will
have the chance to vote for their favorite photos.

While we want to reward the entrants and the photos with the highest popular votes, we have discovered that - according to our traffic analysis software - that voting can be greatly influenced by outside sources such as email groups, facebook groups, etc. voting en masse at the photographers request. We feel that this can bring about an unfair advantage not always necessarily based the actual merits of the photo. Ultimately we want to reward and showcase great photos of Tibetan Mastiffs. And because we feel it is important that the TMINFO Volunteers stay out of the decision-making process, we have decided to call upon the expertise of an impartial judge to be named at a later date.

We want to make it clear that the top photos will still be selected by your popular vote. You are allowed one vote per photo. Your votes will determine the top photos submitted for consideration. Dependent on the number of entries received at the deadline for photo submission, the top percentage of your highest vote-getters will be submitted to the impartial judge.

In total, thirteen photo winners will be selected, one for the cover and one for each month of the year. There will also be 12 more photos selected as accent photos for each month of the year.  However, these photos do not qualify for a free calendar.

Voting opens May 15, 2010.

Winners and Prizes

As our gift to you, the winning cover entrant will receive three (3) free TMINFO Tibetan Mastiff calendars and a specialized Tibetan Mastiff keepsake mug.

The next 12 selected photographs will represent each month of the year. Owners of the 12 winning finalists will receive a free TMINFO Tibetan Mastiff Calendar for 2011.

There will also be 12 more photos selected as accent photos for each month of the year.  However, these photos do not qualify for a free calendar. Voting opens May 15, 2010.

Price of the TMINFO Calendar for 2011 is $20.99 plus Shipping. Proceeds to go to the upkeep/maintenance of the TMINFO site and the continued maintenance of the TMINFO pedigree database.