VIRTUAL MUSEUM - COMPETITION NO. 2

Dear Butterfly Net:
 
SABCA is pleased to announce the start of the second competition for the SABCA Virtual Museum. All photos submitted from 6 December 2008 until 31 March 2010 will be considered for the prizes. Only photos of butterflies from the atlas region (South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland) are eligible.
 
There are three prize categories:
 
1) Person who submits the most geographically diverse number of butterfly records (as determined by the number of quarter degree grid squares covered - please click here to find out what is a quarter degree grid square).
2) Person who submits the most species rich number of butterfly records from within one quarter degree grid square.
3) Person who submits the most biologically interesting/unusual butterfly record.
 
There will be a first, second and third prize per category. Prizes include:

Africa Geographic
A one year's subscription to Africa Geographic,
kindly sponsored by Africa Geographic.
Lepidopterists' Society of Africa

One year membership to LepSoc,
kindly sponsored by LepSoc.
 

Various butterfly books, including Steve Woodhall's "Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa" and "What's that butterfly?" as well as LepSoc posters, provided by SABCA.

Please click on the Public participation link to obtain instructions on how photos should be submitted. Some points to remember, please, when submitting photos, which will help us to process your submissions a little faster:
 
1) **Please take care when giving coordinate values. There are two different formats, the one format includes spaces (i.e. degrees, minutes and seconds format) and the second format includes points (i.e. decimal degrees or decimal minutes). If your gps is set on the decimal format, DO NOT replace the point with a space. It is very important that you give the coordinates as given on your gps, as this helps us to know when and how to convert them. If spaces are placed instead of points then our conversions will be completely wrong. Please click here to learn more about coordinates and their various formats.
 
2) Do not submit more than three photos per submission. Choose the photo(s) which best display the upper and/or under sides of the wings. Do not submit two or more similar looking photos.
 
3) Do not submit photos of different butterfly species as one submission, rather these should be submitted separately.
 
4) Please enter your info into the template as per the format below, thus: (a) surname first followed by your initials, (b) do not place the word "province" in the province field (e.g. Limpopo, not Limpopo Province), (c) depict dates by numbers only, (d) do not remove or alter what is given within the square brackets. Copy and paste the entire template from [begin] to [end] into the body of your email and only replace the info outside of the square brackets.
 
Template example:
 
[begin]
[SABCA]
[observer name] Botha W.
[coordinates latitude] 24 34 13 S
[coordinates longitude] 27 23 42 E
[locality] farm Doornhoek; Thabazimbi district.
[closest town] Thabazimbi
[province] Limpopo
[country] South Africa
[year] 2005
[month] 08
[day] 27
[number of photos] 2
[notes] There were many butterflies of this type flying about, and they were feeding on honeysuckle. It was overcast.
[end]
 
We look forward to receiving your photos. Please spread the word.
 
If you have any further queries, please contact the Project Coordinator:
Silvia Mecenero
Email: