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MASNA Aquarist of the Year Award is Officially Up for Voting

by | Jun 20, 2013 | Contest, MACNA

The aquarium conference season, like this summer weather, is starting to heat up for 2013. MACNA is just around the corner, and with it comes the vote for the Aquarist of the Year presented by the Marine Aquarium Societies of North America. The peer nominated candidates are each considered write-ins on the ballot, and after all the votes have been tallied, the winner will be selected and later announced at MACNA 2013. Only MASNA members get the opportunity to vote, and the voting process will be open until July 6th. A complete list of past Aquarist of the Year winners can be found in the MASNA site as well.

101 Nanos Wants Your Photos!

by | Jun 5, 2013 | Contest, Photography

Calling all Freshwater & Reef Aquarists – We Want Your Photos!This is a very rare OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS! Could this be your big break? Two forthcoming books from Microcosm / TFH – The 101 Best Freshwater Nano Species and The 101 Best Nano-Reef Species Microcosm Publishing is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of two new books for the aquarist with limited space, and those of us who know that small things are often the most beautiful. A twin pairing of new books, The 101 Best Freshwater Nano Species, by Mary E. Sweeney, and The 101 Best Nano Reef Species, by Scott W. Michael, offer expert advice on how to choose & keep hardy, brilliant, fascinating livestock, perfect for small aquariums and nano reefs. For new aquarists diving into a small tank or nano aquarium for the first time, these books deliver recipes for success. Before these two new books go to print, we’re offering you, our fellow aquarists, the opportunity to potentially contribute to these publications and see your work in print. This isn’t a contest, but an open call for submissions from photographers and aquarists we haven’t worked with before. BACKGROUND A sneak peek inside Scott W. Michael’s forthcoming book, “The 101 Best Nano-Reef Species” Microcosm Publishing is seeking photographic submissions to be considered for inclusion in either of these forthcoming titles.  We are seeking and will consider overall / full tank shots (full view of the aquascape) of aquariums up to 30 gallons (114 L), as well as detail / macro photographs of nano fish, inverts and plants.  We may be including individual photographs, or possibly even considering featuring your aquarium in the appropriate book. But there’s more opportunity for you than consideration for these books.  Reef To Rainforest LLC will also be reviewing all submitted full tank shots looking for possible aquariums to feature in our appropriate print publications, AMAZONAS or CORAL Magazine, and/or the appropriate online departments at Reef2Rainforest.com. This could be your foot in the door…exceptional photographers, whether chosen for our immediate needs or not, may well find themselves joining the ranks of people we reach out to anytime we’re in need of images for our publications. Impress us with your writing, and you may find yourself with an invitation to contribute to one or more of our content offerings. Before you submit your works, please review the terms of submission. COPYRIGHT A sneak peek inside Mary Bailey’s forthcoming book, “The 101 Best Nano Freshwater Species” You (submitter / you) certify that you are the photographer and sole copyright owner of the photo and text (submissions), or have the owner’s permission to submit this, and you have obtained the consent of all identifiable persons shown in it for these uses. USAGE RIGHTS In consideration of acceptance of your submitted photo as part a Reef To Rainforest LLC (R2R) / Microcosm Ltd. (R2R/MCL) publication, you hereby grant R2R/R2R/MCL (we) and others parties with our consent, the right to copy, distribute, publish, display and otherwise use the photo and text for purposes of R2R/R2R/MCL all around the world or for any advertising or publicity. You agree that the photo and text may be cropped, edited, electronically manipulated or otherwise altered, and that whether the photograph is used is entirely for R2R/MCL to decide. It is important to understand that per these usage rights, upon submitting your works for consideration you are granting non-exclusive usage rights without any requirement for compensation.  That said, we are not looking to use your works without offering fair compensation; we always endeavor to arrange fair and proper compensation and/or credit for all our contributors / photographers / authors, as individual agreements and situations warrant. POTENTIAL COMPENSATION FOR SUBMISSIONS R2R/MCL will compensate submitter with a photo use fee of $50 (US fifty dollars) for each image we select and publish in either The 101 Best Nano Freshwater Species or The 101 Best Nano-Reef Species (hereafter “101 Best”). From all submissions gathered, R2R/MCL may, at our sole discretion, select one or more aquariums for print (in CORAL or AMAZONAS Magazines) and/or online feature article (at Reef2Rainforest.com), and offer additional compensation for the text and images used in this article in the form of either a 29-gallon Oceanic HQI Biocube ($973 retail value) or an EcoTech VorTech MP 10 (approximately $230 retail value), to be selected and awarded solely by the staff of R2R. Your submission constitutes your agreement to these rates as set forth. Should R2R/MCL seek other uses for your submissions, use-appropriate compensation will be offered prior to any use. All image selections for publication, and offers of compensation, are at the sole discretion of the editors and publishers at Reef To Rainforest LLC.  Again, we remind submitters that this is not a contest, but an “open audition” seeking contributions from new collaborators. All submitters who are selected to receive offers of compensation must furnish appropriate tax ID information in order to receive compensation. All submitters are fully responsible for any and all tax liability incurred as a result of compensation from R2R/MCL. SPECIFICATIONS FOR SUBMISSIONS Submission content should be topical and appropriate for the 101 Best Nano subject matter. Submitted photographs should be of reasonably high pixel resolution (eg. generally no less than 2,000 x 1,312, which is roughly 6.7 x 4.4 inches at 300 dpi); please note if you have higher resolutions available than what you send. Acceptable file formats include CMYK Tiff or RGB JPEG images (at full quality, 100/100, no compression). Photo content / subject must be clearly in focus, requiring minimal if any retouch or alternations for final publication.  Colors must be true-to-life (eg. no “blue glowing photos”) and not otherwise excessively altered (eg. over-use of sharpening filters to compensate for poor focus of original photograph).] With each submitted work, please include the relevant filename plus a text description (eg. proposed caption) for the image. We are choosing to not place a firm limit on the number of photographs you can submit, but we reserve the right to ask submitters to refrain from future submissions if they become excessive.  Less is more. Therefore, please limit submissions to only the “best of the best”, keeping in mind that we may request additional / supplemental images if what you provide is “close”, but “not quite right”.  If you have additional variations of a composition, please simply note so along with your submission. SUBMISSION DEADLINE We are hoping to make final image selections in the first week of June; submissions are open-ended but we encourage submitters to provide all relevant files before June 17th, 2013. HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PHOTOS Your submission constitutes your agreement to the above terms. With your submitted text and photographs, please include your full name, business name (if appropriate), full mailing address, phone number and email address. Submissions should be emailed to [email protected].  Maximum attachment size per email is limited to 25 MB.  Most image files should be between 2 and 8 mb per image.  We also welcome the use of intermediary providers such as YouSendIt, but we encourage again to limit your submissions to the “best of the best”. All submissions will be personally acknowledge by a Reef2Rainforest staff member through the submission deadline date.  If you do not receive a response within 72 hours, please check your spam / junk email first, and if not, consider emailing a follow up (just in case your submission wound up identified as junk / spam)! Again, your submission constitutes your agreement to the terms set forth above.  If you object to any part of these terms, please do not submit your works.

Win a Vortech Pump – heck, win TWO!

by | Jul 29, 2012 | Contest, Equipment

If you are attending MACNA, a new Referral Contest starts now and runs through August 21, 2012. The idea is to get your friends and club members to attend MACNA this fall with you. For every person you refer that buys a pass, you get one point.