In this post we'll explain the role of the "Photo Stars" in our #Photogames.

But first... WHAT ARE THE PHOTO GAMES? Please see this introduction post to familiarize yourself with the Games.

OUR OBJECTIVES

• To be a photographic game for ALL of Steemit
  Enjoyable for photographers and non-photographers alike
• To be interactive and to give everyone the chance to play and win
• To be unique and ongoing... different games and challenges each week with a consistent feel
  More like a sport than a giveaway contest
• To use games to bring people together on this growing network

ABOUT THE PHOTO STARS

Each week several Guest Photo Stars join us as we host mini-games for the public.

WE INVITE PHOTOGRAPHERS TO A MINI COMPETITION

"The benefits of running a competition without the weeks or months of work to get one going."

Our contests are unique in that they are a series of mini-games hosted by several photographers each week on their own Blogs. We call them the Photo Stars. Our regulars are @derekkind, @caseygrimley and @jarvie, but we invite guest photographers to come compete with us for a week. These Photo Stars get to host the 3-5 mini contests on their blog for their own following, while the #photogames public come over and take part as well.

NOTE: We are happy to take nominations for people you'd like to see playing as Guest Photo Stars in the future.

The @Photogames account keeps people informed about the current games and shows who is playing and where to find their posts. The account also shares the winners of the daily games along with the standings for our internal contest.

INTERNAL CONTEST
The Photo Stars (both guests and regular) who host these prize-earning mini-games, are ALSO competing against each other in a separate competition. This makes the games fun for the Photo Stars as well, and is a great way to interact with the public and with each other.

HOW WE SUPPORT THE GUEST PHOTO STARS

• We supply the written templates for your posts
• We use @photogames as a central location to mention the weekly Photo Stars and to post the rules, standings and results
• We drive comments, interaction and some votes (growing each week) to your Blog posts

EXPECTATIONS FOR PHOTO STARS

• You must be prepared to have fun
• Have a following who would enjoy playing
• Available that week to play 3-5 mini games (each ones lasts about 2 days)
• Compete in the internal competition (guessing, editing, sharing pictures, etc.)
• Can offer the small prizes for each of your mini-contests

PRIZES
At this early stage each person running the Photogames contests on their own blogs is expected to contribute their own rewards to the winners of their games. Usually it's about 1 SBD or STEEM per game. Sometimes the prize allotment is greater for certain games, but we'll make sure everyone is comfortable with the change. The long term goal is for the @photogames account to be able to have a larger impact on increasing the prize payout, and we plan to have some non-Steem sponsors participating in future months.

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GUEST STARS OF THE FIRST 3 WEEKS

★ @aweber ★
★ @vmoldo ★
★ @yumyumseth ★
★ @shadalene ★

We've talked to a few people about participating in future weeks and would love to hear your suggestions for other potential Guest Stars. We'll keep testing to see how many Photo Stars we can have in any given week. Six seems very doable, and more is possible.

Who would you like to see compete as a Photo Star?

Comment below and reshare to help spread the word!