Sorry, off on vacation and not checking in very often.
How about we shoot for the first round to start the 7th of September. Everyone (in the States anyway) ought to be done with summer vacations and such by then, and be back from any holiday weekend travel over Labor Day.
I'll start looking for pictures in the meantime. If there are 16 contestants, we could do:
Round 1a (Contestants 1-8, 4 sets of pictures, 8 stories) : Start 7 September, end 10 September, Judgements by 14 September
Round 1b (Contestants 9-16, 4 sets of pictures, 8 stories): Start 14 September, end 17 September, Judgements by 21 September
Round 2 (8 contestants, 4 sets of pictures, 8 stories): Start 22 September, end 25 September, Judgements by 28 September
Round 3 (4 Contestants, 2 sets of pictures, 4 stories): Start 29 September, end 2 October, judgements by 5 October
Final Round (2 contestants, 1 set of pictures, 2 stories): Start 6 October, end 9 October.
I'd prefer 3 judges plus me; if one of the judges is going to miss their deadline then I'll break any ties between the remaining two judges. We can take alternates for the 1st round if that many are interested.
How's that sound?