About

PhotoVote is a photo contest platform where results depend on the photos themselves — not on the author's recognizability, external traffic, or manipulation — so that anyone can easily become a contest organizer.

The Idea

We build contests around a simple model:

• an author uploads photos to their personal gallery;
• an organizer opens a contest in a specific nomination;
• during the voting phase, viewers compare photos in pairs;
• until results are published, author names and rating positions are hidden;
• the contest outcome is made up of the viewer rating and the jury's final choice.

This approach reduces the influence of "insiders," random noise, and external calls to vote for a familiar author.

Why Voting Is Anonymous Here

During viewer voting, only a pair of photos is shown. The author, the photo's current rating, and its position in the contest are not visible. A score is not given in points: you simply choose the stronger work of the two.

This matters for three reasons:

• less author-recognition effect;
• harder to push results through external traffic;
• the outcome is formed from many comparisons, not a single subjective judgment.

What Protects the Contest from Manipulation

PhotoVote doesn't promise "magical invulnerability," but the platform has built-in mechanisms that make manipulation harder and more visible:

• you cannot vote for your own work;
• the same pair is not given to the same viewer twice;
• voting happens via anonymous pairs, not a public "like your friend" feed;
• the weight of a viewer's choice is tied to their voter rating;
• suspicious photos can be reported;
• once enough reports accumulate, a work may be automatically removed from voting;
• accounts with violations may receive restrictions or be deleted.

The idea is simple: make honest participation more beneficial and easier than attempts at manipulation.

How a Contest Works

Every contest goes through several phases:

1. Draft — the contest is not yet visible to participants.
2. Scheduled — the contest is published, but submissions have not opened yet.
3. Submission — participants submit photos.
4. Awaiting voting — submission is closed. If not enough works were submitted (below the minimum threshold), the contest is automatically cancelled and reverted to draft.
5. Voting — viewers compare photos in pairs.
6. Jury voting — the jury rates the top works on a scale of 1 to 5.
7. Results announced — winners are published and ratings revealed.

Until results are published, works in the contest are shown without authorship and without positions. After the contest ends, both authors and final standings become visible.

What Awards a Work Can Receive

In every completed contest there can be two awards:

• 🏆 Contest winner — the work that received the best result in jury voting;
• ❤️ Viewers' choice award — the work with the highest viewer voting rating.

Sometimes one and the same photo receives both awards at once.

What Ratings Are For

The platform has three ratings:

• Author rating shows how successfully your works perform in contests;
• Organizer rating shows how popular your contests are relative to the platform average;
• Voter rating reflects the quality of your viewer choices.

The author rating affects the number of submission slots. The organizer rating affects your position in the top organizers list, how the system evaluates your contests, and the coefficient of author rating change for participants in your contests: the higher your organizer rating, the more authors gain (or lose) after winners are announced. The voter rating affects the weight of a viewer's vote and the chance of being invited to a jury.

If an author hasn't participated in contests for a long time, their author rating may gradually decrease toward 1000.

For running successful contests, the organizer receives a bonus to their rating, and each jury member receives an additional bonus for participation. If a contest is cancelled due to insufficient submissions, the organizer receives a penalty. Organizers have a dedicated public page — Top 10 Organizers — which only includes users who have successfully completed at least 1 contest and are not under restrictions.

Votes and Premium

For each choice made in viewer voting, the user receives 1 vote. These votes are not about "likes" — they represent internal activity on the platform.

Once you've accumulated the required number of votes, you can activate premium status for 1 month. The base price in votes is set by the administrator, but active and conscientious participants receive discounts: the higher your voter rating and the better your voting quality, the cheaper premium becomes. Premium gives:

• increased gallery limit;
• an extra submission slot;
• access to premium contests;
• access to people search.

All registered users can create contests. Organizers of personal nominations can run more active contests in their nomination.

Premium and 18+ Contests

Some contests may be marked as premium — only users with an active premium status can submit to them.

The platform also supports 18+ contests. They are hidden from unregistered users and from those who have not confirmed their age in profile settings. To submit, view, vote, and serve on the jury in such contests, the 18+ setting must be enabled.

Profile and Communication

In their profile, a user can:

• edit personal information;
• upload an avatar;
• specify a website;
• manage access to personal messages;
• enable or disable 18+ content display.

The website field goes through pre-moderation. This is done specifically to prevent the platform from becoming a spam showcase.

People Search

Users with premium status can search for other participants for joint shoots through the "Search" section in the menu.

To appear in search results, open the "Search Profile" tab in the "Edit Profile" section and:

• enable visibility in search;
• specify your roles (photographer, model, makeup artist, etc.);
• add who you're looking for in joint shoots;
• select the types of shoots you're interested in;
• specify your city, gender, experience level, and TFP readiness.

Filling out the profile is voluntary. Only users with an active premium can view search results.

If the required city isn't in the list, any registered user can request it be added — the request will be reviewed by a moderator.

Photosets

Photosets are private photo collections for joint viewing and rating. The creator invites participants by invite link, after which they gain access to the files.

• Participants can rate, like and dislike, leave comments, and download originals.
• The creator manages participants, hides files, and synchronizes the list with cloud storage.
• Filters by ratings are supported: "liked by all," "disliked by everyone," and others.
• Access to photoset creation is configured by the administrator: for everyone or only for premium users.

Co-authorship

If a team worked on a photo, the author can invite co-authors. Once they accept the invitation, the co-author is displayed in the photo card alongside the author. Participant roles (photographer, model, makeup artist, and others) are configured by the administrator in the reference directory.

Duplicate Protection

The platform can find similar images using a perceptual hash (dHash). When the setting is enabled, uploading a duplicate is blocked with an indication of which user has already uploaded such a photo. Administrators can view the list of suspicious pairs in the control panel.

When Someone Violates the Rules

The platform has complaints about photos during voting and complaints about users on their public pages. These are not for "revenge in a dispute" but for working moderation. If there are too many violations, a photo may be removed from voting, and an account may receive restrictions: no submissions, no voting, and no public profile until the situation is reviewed by a moderator.

In Summary

PhotoVote is an attempt to create a platform where anyone can organize their own contest. If you believe in the idea of anonymous voting, clear rules, and a competitive environment without manipulation, you're in the right place.