ALCOAST 076/18 - FEB 2018 2018 SHUTTER SHOWDOWN PHOTO COMPETITION

R 271322 FEB 18
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-092//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS//N05720//
ALCOAST 076/18
COMDTNOTE 5720
SUBJ:  2018 SHUTTER SHOWDOWN PHOTO COMPETITION
A. Coast Guard External Affairs Manual, COMDTINST M5700.13 (series)
1. Starting 13MAR2018, the Office of Public Affairs Social Media Team will be
featuring the Shutter Showdown photo contest on Facebook, Twitter and the
Compass blog. The photo competition coincides with the NCAA March Madness College
Basketball Tournament that takes place this year 13MAR2018 – 02APR2018.
After gathering photos from around the Coast Guard and placing them into brackets,
followers of the  Enterprise social media sites will be invited to vote for their
favorite photo, round-by-round (e.g. Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4 etc.), until there
is a winner.
2. Teams have been randomly divided into the following four bracket divisions:
   a. Bracket: A (Academy, D11, D5)
   b. Bracket: B (D14, D8, FORCECOM)
   c. Bracket: C (D13, D7, D17)
   d. Bracket: D (D1, D9, HQ)
3. Photos submitted will be grouped according to the photographer's permanent
assignment, not where the photo was taken.
4. Each team will coordinate with their respective district or Academy public
affairs officer to submit six high quality, compelling images.
   a. Team Headquarters will encompass members assigned to the Headquarters building,
to include individuals assigned in the Reserve, Recruiting, or Public Affairs
program staffs (i.e.: S1, CCG, and MCPOCG). The “Team Headquarters” POC is:
CWO Chad Saylor, (202) 372-4634.
   b. FORCECOM will encompass all TRACENs. FORCECOM POC is: LTJG Abby King,
(757) 628-4791.
5. SUBMISSION CRITERIA:
   a. Units without full time public affairs staff can submit photos to their
servicing public affairs office; PAOs will submit photos on the units’ behalf.
   b. All photographs submitted must be uploaded to DVIDS and contain caption
information.
   c. Photos must be taken by a Coast Guard active duty, Reserve, Auxiliary, or
civilian member.
   d. Photos will be tagged in DVIDS with “Shutter Showdown 2018.”
   e. Provide a short title for each photo that will be used on the brackets.
   f. Photos must have been taken between March 2017 and March 2018 to qualify.
   g. Photos that are not aligned IAW REF (A), such as ones with filters or
enhanced/manipulated, will not be accepted.
   h. Each team is responsible for ranking their photo submissions from one to six,
with #1 being the best.
6. Team PAOs are responsible for emailing DVIDS links of their top six photo
submissions ranked (#1-6), NLT 05MAR2018 to the Social Media Team at:
socialmedia@uscg.mil. Due to an odd number of participating units, Headquarters
Social Media staff will select the final 16 photos in each bracket from the original
18 submitted.
7. Key dates: Brackets will be posted for voting on the official Coast Guard Facebook
and Twitter accounts.
   a. 13MAR2018 - Round 1 "A"
   b. 14MAR2018 - Round 1 "B"
   c. 15MAR2018 - Round 1 "C"
   d. 16MAR2018 - Round 1 "D"
   e. 17MAR2018 - Round 2 "A"/"B"
   f. 18MAR2018 - Round 2 "C"/"D"
   g. 22MAR2018 - Sweet 16
   h. 24MAR2018 - Elite 8
   i. 31MAR2018 - Final 4
   j. 02APR2018 - National Championships
   k. 03APR2018 - Winner announced via social media.
8. For complete Shutter Showdown instructions, visit the COMDT (CG-09221) CGPortal
page at http://cglink.uscg.mil/25af2b0.
9. RADM Peter W. Gautier, Director of Governmental and Public Affairs, sends.
10. Internet release authorized.