Gardeners, grab your cameras. It’s time to show us the beautiful results of your planting, edging, tilling, weeding. With another growing season under way, we invite you to send us photographs of your garden and enter our 11th annual Glorious Gardens Contest.
This year, all judging will be done by a panel of four judges looking at digital images of gardens you send to us via e-mail.
And each week — from June 4 to Aug. 13 — we will pick a Garden of the Week. Each weekly winner will be showcased in the Home&Garden section.
And at the end of the summer, each weekly winner will be considered as we look for the Best Overall Garden of 2007. That winner will be announced in the Sept. 16 issue of Home&Garden.
You can enter every week if you like. So, when the sun is low in the sky, start taking those pictures.
A few words to the wise:
* Read the rules carefully.
* Give us only your best photographs as high-resolution JPEG files (250 to 300 dots per inch). Limit 5 images per e-mail entry, one e-mail entry per week.
* Provide an overview shot of your garden so judges can get a complete picture of your garden and a sense of how the pieces fit together to make a whole. Consider taking that overview from on high, such as a ladder, porch or window. Avoid extreme close-ups of a single plant.
* Tidy up before photographing. Remove hoses; mow the lawn; sweep the sidewalk; water — and shoot in the early morning or late afternoon to avoid the harsh light of the midday sun.
home&garden@tribune.com
What you need to do
1. Send 5 photos of your garden, including one overview shot, to gloriousgardens@tribune.com . Photos must be high-resolution JPEG files of at least 4 inches in width. Entries for each week’s contest must be received by 5 p.m. Mondays (from June 4 to Aug 13); late entries will not be accepted.
2. Include the following information in your e-mail:
Name of gardener(s) who designed, planted and maintains the garden
Mailing address
Daytime telephone
* Number each photo and provide a corresponding caption, including plant names and a brief description of the area shown.
* Explain how the space shown relates to the rest of your garden and house.
* Tell us the size of your garden space.
* Tell us how you use your garden.
RULES
1. Only amateur gardeners are qualified to enter. Professionals (defined as those receiving payment for garden expertise or any form of landscaping) are ineligible. Gardens that have been professionally designed, installed or maintained are ineligible. Exceptions: installation of trees and/or hardscapes (such as fencing, raised beds, paving). You must be a resident of Illinois.
2. Submit no more than 5 photographs as high-resolution JPEG files of 250 to 300 dpi (at least 4 inches wide). Photographs of existing gardens must be taken in 2007.
3. Others who are not eligible: Previous Best Overall Garden winners of the Glorious Gardens Contest and employees (or their immediate families) of the Chicago Tribune and/or direct subsidiaries and any other persons who participated in the administration of this contest. If you are chosen as a weekly winner, you are not eligible to be chosen again as a weekly winner.
4. Deadline: Entries must be received by 5 p.m. Mondays, from June 4 to Aug. 13.
5. The Chicago Tribune will send an e-mail acknowledging receipt of your entry. Chicago Tribune is not responsible for errors in online/Internet transmission, server problems or other technical difficulties.
6. By entering, you grant Chicago Tribune the right to use the images in its products without compensation. If the photos you submit were professionally taken, you are responsible for obtaining consent from the photographer.
PRIZES
We will pick a winner each week until Aug. 13 based upon aesthetic appeal of garden (50 percent), and creativity and presentation (50 percent). Each Garden of the Week winner will receive a Glorious Gardens Contest coffee mug and will be featured in the Home&Garden section of the Chicago Tribune. The Best Overall Garden winner, who will be chosen from among all weekly winners and notified by Sept. 10, will receive a $250 gift certificate to the garden center of his or her choice, a Glorious Gardens Contest 2007 trophy and a Glorious Gardens Contest coffee mug, and will be featured in the Home&Garden section of the Chicago Tribune.
Prize restrictions:
1. Prizes are non-transferable and are not redeemable for cash.
2. Winners must sign a confirmation statement that the design and maintenance of their garden was done by them, not by a professional, and that they have otherwise complied with the rules and terms outlined.
3. Chicago Tribune may publish the name, photograph and any information provided with entries, in print and on the Internet, including in advertising and promotion.
4. Contest is sponsored by Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. For a list of winners, see the Sept. 16 issue of the Home&Garden section of the Chicago Tribune newspaper or visit our Web site at chicagotribune.com after Sept. 16.
5. Taxes, if any, are the responsibility of the winner.
6. Chicago Tribune reserves the right to disqualify any entrant or to terminate, modify, cancel or suspend the contest for any reason.
7. Chicago Tribune reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value.
