There has been a bit of confusion about how to collect competition points, so here is the deal:

1) Make sure you're a member of the Visual petition site - you need your membership username to collect competition points.

2) Upload a petition photo.

3) When the photo has been successfully uploaded, you will see a box where you can enter your username. You will see verification that you have claimed your point after submitting your username.

Also, a request from Andy, our cherished petition administrator.. if you are able to, can you rotate the photos to be the right way up before uploading? Thanks!

Here's the competition rundown... Liz1982 has streamed to the front in Australia with 180 points, with nattydread75 very close behind with 166 points. quezarah has come from nowhere to top North America with 71 points, and newcomer kokizrole is way in front in Europe with 100 points. South America and Africa & Asia are still low in numbers, so if you know anyone in those zones, let them know there is a free trip to Chile up for grabs!

The top ten rankings for each surf zone are on the Competition Rankings Page. Remember, you need at least 100 points to be eligible to win the competition.. but is that really very hard? Don't forget, the competition closes in May 2008, so for all of you that "haven't got around to it yet"... better got moving!!

For more information, go to the Competition Page

You may not know a lot of the artwork on the Download a Cetacean Image page is by Howie Cooke, a co-founder of Surfers for Cetaceans and Minds in the Water. Howie has been fighting for the protection of our ocean cetaceans for decades, and has erected his Whale Tipi at countless environmental meetings and protests over the years.

A lot of you will now have copies of his artwork, so please respect his selfless contribution and don't use his artwork for commercial purposes. If you want to let Howie know what you think of his amazing images, his email address is howie@surfersforcetaceans.com

Steve Drews from the USA has sent us this amazing piece of work... what a statement! The future of whales and dolphins are literally in our hands, so it's great that all of you are putting your names and faces to this petition.

We'll be posting a "Photo of the Month" on each newsletter... So all you creative types out there, see how many ways you can get a person's face and a cetacean image onto a photo!

There has been a bit of confusion about what to upload as a petition photo. Photos must include the person's face, and either a cetacean image or a message. This way, the petition photos are undeniably in support of the cetaceans.. not just any images.

Please take photos with just one person in each photo, so that all the people on the petition are counted. Also, people can appear in the petition only once, so please don't upload lots of photos of the same person - we just have to delete them!

We've been amazed at how creative and moving your photos are.. if you haven't had a look at the petition for a while, check back.. it's great to see it's already growing all over the world!

We loved this one of Saori from Japan.... happy dolphins and happy people is what we're all about!

We'll be posting a "photo of the week" on each newsletter.. which may not be every week, but hopefully pretty regularly! So all you creative types out there, see how many ways you can get a person's face and a cetacean image onto a photo!