2010 National Database Contest
In 2010 NAFHA held its first National Database Contest. NAFHA members planned the contest in order to raise awareness of the association's NAHERP.com database. Don Becker's computer skills enabled us to create two separate contests - one for all records entered in 2010 (no matter when they were seen), and a second quarterly contest specifically for herps actually seen and recorded in 2010.
Participation was fantastic. In 2010 there were 24,774 database entries made, which is over 12,000 more records than were entered in 2009. 23,749 of those records were vouchered, which is over 15,000 more vouchered records than any previous year. Participants entered data for 565 counties that had no data in them before this year, 136 species that had never been recorded in the database before, and an amazing 5,834 database county records. Two hundred and thirty-two people contributed to make those numbers happen, most of whom were particpating for the first time.
Brian Hinds of NAFHA's California Chapter won the "Found in 2010" contest with an impressive 1631 points, accumulating 1140 records from 2010 with 84 counties, 35 new counties, 148 species, 3 new species, and 221 county records. Brian Hubbs of NAFHA's Arizona Chapter won the "Historical Entries" contest with 2586 points, accumulating 1587 total historical records with 223 counties, 65 new counties, 226 species, 4 new species, and 481 county records.
Use these two links to see the final contest scoreboards:
If you would like to participate in the 2011 contest, just go to www.naherp.com and start entering records. Only records with photo or audio vouchers and the basic location, date, and species count towards the contest. Happy herping!