I have been told I should address this issue. My first thought was to just let it pass because I believe the people questioning the calendar have never seen the calendar. This will be the 5th year for the FML calendar. In my humble opinion, it is a very special calendar because it is real ferrets belonging to real people. This year, because I am in the middle of a move and my life has been quite the mess, I guess I haven't 'promoted' this contest as I have in years past. I guess I have just assumed that everyone knows about the calendar. New people come and go and they don't know me, don't know about Support Our Shelters and don't know about the calendar. I apologize for not being more clear with the details. To be honest.....I don't want the picture you have laying there that you took a couple of months ago or last year. I want you to go get your camera and you ferret and take some pictures specifically for this contest. Please....someone back me up here.....the pictures in the last 4 calendars are special! There are some extraordinary shots! Yes.... some probably were taken months ago and have just laid around....but it's been my experience that a person will not spend money to have a picture blown into a 5x7 unless it's a very good picture. And we want very good pictures! In the past, the judging was done by actual, live human beings! The 5x7's were all placed in a photo album and taken to both the Forum at the Falls and the 2003 International Ferret Symposium in Atlanta. Larger pictures display so much better than the smaller prints. The object is to make your picture the best it can be...and if your picture is really that good and worthy of one of only 12 spots in the calendar, why wouldn't you want to blow it up so it displays better? Unfortunately, there is no ferret event that I can get to this year to have live humans do the judging - but the rules will remain as always in hopes that we can again vote at a ferret function! This time, the winners will be decided by SOS members. Electronic submissions - to be honest, the real reason I don't take them is because most people don't know what they are doing. I tried electronic submission once....but since I needed the pictures to put into the photo album, that meant I had to print the pictures into 5x7's - and almost every picture I printed did not come out with the clarity and crispness needed. It added entirely too much extra work and was not worth the effort. But...there are services out there you can use - Shutterfly comes to mind! Upload your picture there...they will print it and sent it to me! If your picture is that good and worthy of a place in the calendar....is it not worth your effort? If it's not...that's fine! There is no one saying you have to enter this contest! It is purely a personal choice! If you want to go to the effort to share a special picture of your ferret - that's wonderful!! Please...send your pictures on!!! If not...that's fine too!!! Go hug that special ferret instead! Money.....100% of the profit goes to SOS. This calendar is not cheap to produce! It is not done by a professional printer. Over the years, I have talked to three different professionals and each time I am told the same thing - they cannot reproduce the look I want. And I'm sure it's just me being picky...but this is the look I want! Again, if you have never seen the calendar - you'll have no idea what I'm talking about! The entry fee helps to offset the initial start-up costs. It cost me about $9.50 per calendar...and I sell them for $16.00. I try to keep them reasonable so more people can afford them...but the cost of paper has again gone up this year! Each year for the last 4 years, the calendar has raised between $700-800 for SOS. For those who don't know, Support Our Shelters is the organization that through the tireless and never-ending effortsof their few hard-working volunteers, raise and disperse funds to needy shelters all over the country. I am very proud to be a member of this fine organization and I am equally proud that the Ferrets of the FML Calendar is one of their annual fundraisers - and I hope it will continue to be for a long time to come! If you want to show off your ferret and support SOS at the same time, please, follow the rules and enter your photo. If you just want to see some amazing ferret photos and support SOS, the calendar should be ready to purchase by mid-Sept. To everyone who has been involved in this project for the last 5 years - Thank you!! This is one of those things that would never work without wonderful people like you to support it! Judy Cooke Support Our Shelters [Posted in FML issue 4938]