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I suggest categorizing the participants' work #124
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I suggest categorizing the participants' work—for example, portrait, landscape, horror, and animal art—and selecting a "Picture of the Day" for each category. This way, more artworks will reach an audience, and the artists will gain recognition and inspiration.
There are many interesting, high-quality pieces here, and it is a shame that, for various reasons, they might simply fade into obscurity.
I feel this could open a can of unwanted worms. This just my thoughts on it.
Too many "Pictures of the Day"
If there is a winner in every category, the distinction of being selected as Picture of the Day could become diluted. Instead of one work receiving special attention, the recognition is spread across several pieces.
Categories can be difficult to define
Many artworks don't fit neatly into a single category. A surreal image might simultaneously be a portrait, fantasy scene, landscape, and abstract work. Deciding where each piece belongs could lead to confusion.
Some categories may receive far more submissions
Portraits or landscapes, for example, might have considerably more entries than animal or horror artwork. Having one selection per category could therefore give very different odds of recognition.
Potential for perceived favouritism.
The categories and selections in the daily images could unintentionally appear to favour particular artistic styles, techniques, artists, or genres—even when the selections are made in good faith.
Competition could overshadow the Dreamer community
The original intention is to provide recognition and inspiration, but multiple daily selections could turn the activity into a competition. Artists whose work isn't selected might feel overlooked, particularly if recognition becomes highly visible.
Quality becomes harder to compare
A category-based system assumes that the strongest work in each category deserves recognition independently. But there may be a day when an exceptional landscape is submitted alongside several average portraits, while an outstanding portrait might be competing against many exceptional portraits.
Categories may become contentious.
Sylverdali, thanks for the comment! I agree with you that defining the categories will be difficult. But I suggest we give it some thought, precisely so that fewer artists feel overlooked.
Sylvia, I couldn't agree more. There has already been contention over the new challenges. Lord knows how stirred up people would get if they were never chosen in a category. And there is the problem of people with a better income being able to afford the more professional models, while others have to use the cheapest and least successful ones. It is a good attempt at trying to help low visibility images to be seen, but the can of worms is a pretty large one. I have found that the people who like a lot of other images and who "return" likes to those who liked theirs, tend not to be invisible any more. Appearing in the notifications of others is the very best way to be visible on DDG.