The British Caving Association

[David Gibson]

For the BCRA Photo Salon at Hidden Earth 2009, we shall be will be offering online entry this year. This is expected to save some time at the check-in desk, and it means we do not have to decipher your handwriting. We will also be able to print display labels in advance.

This facility will open three weeks before the conference on Sat 5 September and it will be available right up until the last moment before the conference. That date looks like a good prediction, at the moment, but check http://hidden-earth.org.uk/competitions or the forums at http://ukcaving.com/board and http://british-caving.org.uk/phpBB2 for announcements.

In fact, most people tend to enter on the day, at the check-in desk, so Im not sure how much of an impact online entry will have. But, if you ARE one of these last-minute people, we would like to try to persuade you to enter at least the day before, online!

I'll post another announcement about this when the software's ready.

[David Gibson]

The Photo Salon online entry form is now available for use at http://hidden-earth/competitions/online-entry.

I know most of you are in the habit of entering on the day, at the last moment, but online entry will save everyone some time at the check-in desk, and it means we do not have to decipher your handwriting. We will also be able to print display labels in advance.

You can store a partially-completed entry form, and you can re-submit an entry form if you change your mind. But please do read the instructions. This form covers all the photo salon entries including the Moore Books prize and the Fun Shot.

The entry form might not be totally bug-free, but you can find the remaining bugs yourselves.

[David Gibson]

[David Gibson]

Thanks to all of you who entered the Photo Salon using the on-line entry form. This was a real help and the process worked very well, especially for the printing of the labels to go on the display boards.

U N F O R T U N A T E L Y ...... there was a huge cock up, which had knock-on effects throughout the weekend. Due to family illness, I was unable to travel on the Friday, so I parcelled up all the photo salon stuff - entry forms, pre-printed labels, Velcro dots and everything, and sent it by Special Delivery to the school, where it arrived at midday on Friday. The school didnt understand the words "Hidden" and "Earth" and sent it straight back. Footleg chased it all the way to the sorting office, but arrived slightly too late, and off it went, back to Leeds, where it arrived 40 minutes after I had set out on Saturday morning.

The photo salon team managed to recreate everything from scratch, but there wasnt time to do the judging on Saturday, so that stretched into Sunday, and was one reason why the closing ceremony was running 30 minutes late.

Clearly steps will be taken to avoid this particular problem happening again.

For next year, please continue to enter online - it really would have been very helpful!