The Salty Southeast Cruisers' Net is pleased to announce a new, and, we hope, super FUN, feature to our web site. Effective immediately, we will begin accepting e-mailed photo entries for a weekly, monthly and annual photo contest.

Weekly winners will have their photos posted on a new, "Photo of the Week" page. A navigational button leading to this new section of the Cruisers' Net has already been established near the top, left corner of all Cruisers' Net pages, just above the link to our new "Weather and Tides" section.

And, THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO GOOD REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD ENTER YOUR PHOTOS IN OUR CONTEST!!!! Weekly winners are automatically entered into the running for our "Photo of the Month." Monthly winners will receive, absolutely free of charge, their choice of TWO cruising guides from our current inventory. How's that for a deal??!!! But wait, there's more.

Monthly winners will automatically be entered into our "Photo of the Year" contest. Annual winners will receive a 100% free COLOR GARMIN GPS CHARTPLOTTER! Does that not inspire you to send your very best pics our way???!!!

As the contest moves through its first week and month, the "Photo of the Week" page will eventually display, "This Week's Winner," "Last Week's Winner," and "Last Month's Winner." Of course we have to get through a month before all these image categories can be displayed. And, beginning in January, this page will also feature the "Photo of the Year."

All photo entries should be e-mailed to CruisingWriter@CruisersNet.net, or you can click the "Contribute Cruising News" link found at the top of all Cruisers' Net pages. Attach your photo to the resulting e-mail, and PLEASE BE SURE TO INCLUDE a title for your picture, where and when it was taken, your name and e-mail address, and, if possible, technical info such as what camera, settings and lens were used. These latter stats are not mandatory, but it would be nice if you could send them along! jpg files are the preferred format, though we can also accept TIF files, if they are not too large.

Photo entries MUST illustrate an on-the-water scene, or a port of call along the Southeastern USA coastal region, stretching from North Carolina to New Orleans, OR the Bahamas. Photos whose subject lie outside these two geographic boundaries will NOT be considered!

All entries for a particular week MUST be received by the preceding Thursday afternoon, at 3:00 pm. Entries received after Thursday at 3:00 pm, will be entered in the following week's contest.

Weekly winners will normally be posted on the "Photo of the Week" page by 12 noon on Mondays, and the lucky photographer will be notified by e-mail of their selection. Monthly winning photos will be posted within the first two days of any given month, and our annual winner will be chosen and posted between January 1-10.. As you might have already guessed, monthly and annual winners will be notified by e-mail as well.

Yours truly is the soul judge for weekly, monthly and annual winners. My decisions are final, and there is NO appeal process. Also, note that we CANNOT return image files to you, so be sure you keep copies of all submitted photos.

If you have any questions, or there is some part of the new Photo Contest that I have not made clear, please feel encouraged to e-mail me at CruisingWriter@CruisersNet.net, or give me a toll free call at 1-800-803-0809.

OK, break out those digi-cams and START SNAPPING! PLEASE start submitting photos at your earliest opportunity. We can't wait to see your /images.