After reviewing and participating in this contest a few times now, and observing the voting patterns here this month, I wanted to share a few observations I have made over the last 6 months.
I think a lot of the success or failure in this particular contest comes down to the quality of the lighting and overall sharpness of the photos you submit. The growth stage of your entry also plays a big role in getting noticed in the pack. Since your fellow 420 members voting for POTM have nothing but your submitted photos to judge and compare with other entries, the general trend is that the best photographed entires tend to be the highest ranked and more often that not include the ultimate winning entry.
Also, flowering plants appear to win 99% of the time. While you may think your vegging or two weeks into flower "Insert Strain Here" looks awesome, its just a vegging or early flowering plant to everyone else. We all have them, and there is nothing really special about them at that stage of growth as compared to something in the eigth or ninth week of full flower. Bide your time until you have a real monster full of colas and bursting with resin! That is the kind of plant that wins POTM. Always include a close-up MACRO shot of the trichome covered main cola! Everyone LOVES to see those kinds of shots!
Good photos are not that hard to obtain... Buy yourself a good quality camera, and if you already have such a camera, learn how to use it to its full potential. That is the single most important tool needed to capture your plant's impressive qualities for all the rest of us to see and to judge on. And wait for it to reach its peak of production where it can show all of what it is capable of, and take A LOT of photos from different angles and pick the best two of the bunch.
Lastly... Photographing your plant under "Natural" lighting goes a long way. Photos under LED and other artificial lighting, or poorly focused or under exposed rarely win or even place in this contest. Its really hard to judge the overall quality of a plant under a single light spectrum that offers no color contrast or definition. Low quality, out of focus cell phone images are never going to win you the prize in today's POTM environment.
BayArea Stoner did all of the above steps right, and she is reaping the much deserved rewards for presenting her well grown, impressive entry in the best possible light possible.
So... take your plant outside or to an area of your house filled natural sunlight. Take your photographs there. It is really the only way for anyone to accurately judge your plant's health and unique qualities. If you really want to win, all of the above is more than worth the extra effort, and the patience required to wait for the best possible month to enter your prized plant.