How to: Run a photography competition on n0tice.com

The Northerner blog has today concluded a photography competition which saw hundreds of stunning images submitted from across the north of England in a challenge which inspired readers to get involved over several weeks.

Using n0tice.com as the technology to run this meant it was a simple process for those taking part as well as providing organisers with data in a format which can be displayed on a map or other geo-tagged formats such as augmented reality.

I thought it would be interesting to detail how this was carried out in case other blogs, websites, news organisations etc. would find this useful – n0tice.com is a free and open journalism toolkit for all and not just for Guardian projects.

1. First, create a project noticeboard.
   The person running the project will need to be a registered user of n0tice.com and then follow through these simple steps to set up a noticeboard. The name is important here as it will become the domain name and can be used to promote your competition online, in prints, leaflets etc. In this case the noticeboard was called northernlandscapes.n0tice.com and the background and font were deliberately chosen as very plain in order not to detract from the images being submitted.
   
2. Publicise the challenge with easy to follow instructions.

This challenge had a very clear aim – to find a stunning image of The North. That in itself prompted quite a bit of debate on the blog and on twitter. Users had some clear instructions on how to take part which can be adapted for other challenges:

To take part in the challenge, you’ll need to have the basic details of where in the north the image is located, a suitable headline/title, and a brief description of what the picture is about. Submit it to us using the instructions below. Please note that by entering into this, you are agreeing to have your picture shown on this blog and on the noticeboard but the copyright for the image remains with you. Maximum size of 2MB. JPG, GIF, PNG. Entries close Friday 27 July.

To submit your picture:

- if this is your first visit you’ll need to sign-up to n0tice.com. You can do this via your existing Facebook or Twitter accounts or by creating a user name and entering your email address.
- once logged in, go to http://northernlandscapes.n0tice.com and click on ‘post a new report’
- you will be presented with a simple form asking for the information mentioned above

3. Decide the voting mechanic.
For the landscapes pictures, two professional photographers were used to make a shortlist before the vote was handed over to the public vote on the blog. Additionally, n0tice users are able to mark images as ‘interesting’ via the website or via the iphone app. Involving the n0tice users in the process in this way increases the interactivity. If your blog or site doesn’t have the ability to set up votes, the free service at surveymonkey.com or similar could be used.

4. Map the results of the challenge

All the noticeboards on n0tice.com can be displayed in a map format because every piece of content is geo-tagged by the platform with no additional tagging or tweaking required. The map is created by generating a KML file - full instructions on that here.

View Larger Map

* Anyone interested in running a project using n0tice.com or needing help to get it started can contact the n0tice team – @n0tice on twitter or SarahATn0tice.com.