When I Had to Judge a Baby Photo Contest

About three years ago, I was asked to serve as one of the judges at a baby photo contest put on by our local library. I had never served as a judge of anything before in my life, and that was kind of what the librarians and other staff were looking for. I was quite nervous to have to do this, because quite frankly, I had no idea what I would be looking for or how to judge the contest at all. After sifting through all of the photos, I finally ranked them in order from one to six, and developed a good explanation for why I chose as I did.

I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to judge this baby photo contest, and I have to say, I saw some things that I never thought of in a million years I would see. The contest was around Easter, and one lady actually had her baby dressed up like an Easter Bunny for the holiday. Now, don't get me wrong, it was a very cute picture, but the kid was in a fur costume in Texas in spring, when it is about 85 to 90 degrees outside, and he really didn't look that happy.

Another contestant in the baby photo contest sent in a picture of her daughter with an oversized lollipop in her hand and an outfit that looked almost identical to the treat. It was almost as if she had the bought the two as part of a set. Again, the little girl looked very cute and very happy in her little outfit with her candy, but there was something unnatural about the whole deal. I kept it in my stack of "maybes" and moved on to the next photo.

I must have gone through 200 pictures for the baby photo contest, and it took me a couple of days to make my decision. The reality is that even when you make your decision, you still have misgivings and feel like you might be letting the other kids down. You also don't want the parents to be upset with you, and even though hardly anybody knew that I was a judge, I was still worried that word would get out and I would end up hurting somebody's feelings. It was harder than I thought it would be.

I ended up choosing the photo of a little boy was on his hands and knees, looking up and smiling. I thought it was something one would see a baby do on a regular basis, and I was glad to see that my fellow judges agreed with me on this. As it turned out, we picked a winner, because we received word from many of the entries that they thought it was a very good picture. I am not sure that I would ever want to judge another baby photo contest again, but it is something I will always remember!