I've been attending a number Continuing Education Photography classes at Humber College in Toronto. Recently, they announced a photo contest and invited participants to enter images in different categories. An evening session was offered where they would discuss how to submit images for a photo contest - what the heck - why not.
I expected a one hour session covering the rules of the contest but was pleasantly surprised with a very detailed three hour lecture covering everything from how to determine which contests are legit to removing dust particles from your images in Lightroom.
The one point that really stuck with me from that lecture was that winning images are usually dramatic. I immediately tossed my images that I thought were strong candidates to submit and started combing my database of images. I found a few that were still high quality but seemed much more dramatic. One of the images I entered showed an eagle, talons extended, coming in for a landing. I received an email yesterday letting me know that the eagle won runner up in the Wildlife Category. OK, it's not first place but it sure beats a kick in the pants....