The 2025 contest theme was wide open. We wanted to see the full spectrum of what makes our municipality special. Any photo that captured people, pets, places, things and experiences somewhere in Lesser Slave River was fair game.

Each contestant could enter up to five photos. However, a contestant can only win once per contest — even if several of their submissions were among the top-voted photos.

To qualify for a prize, photos needed to be high-resolution (roughly 10" x 8" at 300 DPI). A high-resolution iPhone image (3088 x 2320 landscape format) would be the absolute minimum acceptable quality. A good rule of thumb: the bigger the better.

Between November 13 and November 23, 2025, the public was invited to browse all the photo entries by visiting mdlsr.ca/moments. By clicking the heart icon next to a given photo, users enter a vote for it. Users could "heart" as many photos as they liked.

Users were able to vote for as many photos as they liked...but they could only vote for the same photo once every 24 hours (based on IP address). This restriction was in place to minimize irregularities and keep the voting process fair.

The first determinant of a winning photo is the number of votes it received between November 13 and November 23. After the cutoff date, the top 13 highest-voted photos were examined to ensure they met the minimum photo eligibility requirements. Any photo that failed to meet image quality thresholds was disallowed, and the next-most-popular photo in line was considered. This process continued until 13 verified winners were identified.

Entrants were allowed to enter up to five photos; however, each entrant is only eligible to win one prize per contest.

It is possible that some of the top-voted photos didn't make the cut due to:

1. Poor resolution - if the resolution was too low, it had to go. Some photos were technically the proper resolution but had the wrong pixel depth (meaning they were low-resolution photos that someone had enlarged).
2. Wrong orientation - a photo was discarded if it was vertical instead of horizontal. Remember, the winning photos are featured in landscape orientation in the MD's official wall calendar.
3. Doctored photo - if a photo is grayscale instead of colour, or has been filtered/manipulated beyond acceptable photo optimization, it will be disallowed.
4. Vote manipulation - we can see where the votes are coming from, and the type of computer or device that casts each vote. If we notice multiple votes from the same IP address or digital fingerprint, we will manually subtract any fraudulent votes. If it happens more than a few times, we will likely disqualify the submission.

We strive to ensure the photos most beloved by voters are the ones that make it into the MD's 2026 wall calendar. We start at the top of the heap and carefully inspect each photo. When a good photo is borderline, we will do our utmost to help it make the cut. However, we must also be fair to entrants who followed the rules to the letter.

We agree that it's a bummer to get the most votes and still be disqualified. However, we need to remain mindful of the end product: a calendar that showcases the beauty and diversity of our region through high-quality community-submitted images.

Generally speaking, we plan to use the photos to showcase the beauty and diversity of our boreal region. The winning photos will be featured in the 2026 wall calendar that the MD will produce in late 2025. The calendar will be available for public pickup at various locations across the MD (while supplies last).

It is likely that there will be many great submissions that don't make it into the top 13. The MD may still utilize these photos in its print and digital communications. The name of the game is to show off your favourite faces of the Lesser Slave River region to the world at large!