Photo Contest Entrants Whipsawed by Email Glitch at Del Mar Fair

Vikki Quick, a former Clairemont resident now living in New Hampshire, entered four photos online in the photo contest of the San Diego County Fair.

Wednesday night, she was elated to learn—via email—that three of her pictures had been accepted for display in the fair’s prestigious international Exhibition of Photography.

But hours later, she received a second set of emails labeled URGENT that told her otherwise: “Unfortunately, your entry was not accepted for further judging.”

Thursday morning, photo contest officials Georgia Ratcliffe and Ron Ham were scrambling to answer hundreds of emails and phone calls regarding the glitch, which Ham said affected an unknown number of the 4,200 images entered online—the first time judges made their first picks via online submissions.

The odds of the software glitch were depicted as 2 billion-to-1.

Thursday afternoon, fair officials sent an apology email to all photo entrants in the June 10-July 4 fair:

As you know, we implemented a new software program this year for the first round of judging. This program sent out automatic email results for every piece you entered in the photography show. Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the numbering system, causing exhibitors to receive incorrect results for the entries. We apologize profusely for this error. Be assured that the first round of judging results were backed up on hard copies and we have accurate records of all the accepted/non-accepted work.

Please disregard all previous emails about your entries. A new email will be sent to you this evening (May 5) for each piece you entered. 

Ham said two software programs from third-party vendors—FairJudge in Wisconsin and ShoWorks in Texas—were used in the notification system.

According to Spencer Schultz, CEO of FairJudge in West Bend, WI, the same 36-character hexadecimal number was assigned to two photo entries, which he called a “highly, highly, highly unlikely situation.”

In a phone interview, he said he has been in touch with the Del Mar fair entry office on the glitch, which involved ShoWorks, a longtime supplier of fair management software.

He said it was the first time a duplicate number had ever been attached to a web entry, which led to email notices going out to the wrong entrants—the next entry down the list. FairJudge is being used in the photo contest this year for the first time but was used last year for a 3D exhibition contest at Del Mar, he said.

Schultz said ShoWorks, which has a Calvert, TX, mailing address, is the largest provider in North America of fair software. Although Schultz is shown on the parent company’s website of ShoWorks, he said FairJudge and ShoWorks are separate entities, and the glitch was difficult to explain.

Assistant photo coordinator Ham said he had gotten 26 voice mails about the problem, while the fair Entry Office had been fielding calls and emails from many entrants as well.

 “I do expect people calling tomorrow [Friday] because they are still confused,” Ham said.

The flipflop-email problem was noticed after a second set went out Thursday night, saying: “URGENT: There was a system email error earlier this evening. Please ignore the previous email you received for this entry. We apoligize [sic] for the inconvenience. Your entry result after preliminary judging was incorrect in the previous email and is as follows.”

Among those getting the conflicting emails was Neill of Chula Vista, who declined to give his last name.

“I submitted one photo for the [black-and-white] people section approximately one month ago. I received an email @8pm last night stating that the judges had accepted my entry,” he wrote. “Needless to say I was elated. At about 10pm I received an email marked Urgent. Email read that there was a mistake and that my photo had not been selected. I was very disappointed.”

Also dismayed was Quick in New Hampshire:

My experience could’ve been worse. This morning, assuming three of my photos were accepted, I began to prepare the prints, which for me means outsourcing to get it done. With so little time before the ultimate deadline to submit the prints from across the country, I knew I had to hurry. I went ahead and began the necessary preparation—to the tune of $75 via Shutterfly. Then I checked my email account and saw the new set of emails reversing all of the decisions! Luckily I was in the window of 30 minutes to cancel my order.

Quick had two photos accepted last year, including one that took fourth place in the fair theme category, she said.

“My photos this year spanned different categories,” she said. “I was ultimately accepted in the family moments category. The other three photos, which were ultimately rejected, included a [black-and-white] portrait, a fair-theme submission and a color nature photo.”

Neil of Chula Vista, writing via email, said “I have no prior history with the photo contest as I just recently became interested in photography.”

The contest for years relied on judges looking at thousands of prints—and rejecting a large portion, which went into storage for the three-week run. Rejected entrants then had to pick up their submissions after the fair.

This year, for the first time, only accepted entries will be dropped off at the fairgrounds, saving much time and expense—for preparing the prints and delivering them. Each entry this year costs $18, compared with $16 last year.

On June 10, entrants will learn whether their accepted entries have won prizes, including cash awards. Results will be posted online, not emailed.

For now, fair officials are working off hard copy printouts to make sure the right entries are accepted, they said.

According to a source who didn’t want to be identified, “the chances of ShoWorks having a duplicate Web Entry Number (WEN) is 2,176,782,336-to-1. Also, ShoWorks has handled Del Mar’s entries for many years prior to the media uploading (WEN numbers have always been issued without duplication until now).”

In their email Thursday, contest coordinators closed with: “Again, we are sorry for the confusion and will have the situation rectified shortly for this year and all future exhibitions.  Please contact the entry office at (858) 792-4207 or entry@sdfair.com if you have any questions.”