I've been doing a monthly masthead (header image) for confoozled.com for two years, and I'm starting to run out of ideas for them. I always choose a background photo that is somehow related to the month in question. For the first year I focused on the obvious major holidays when there was one, but now I'm trying to avoid repeating that. The exception of course is Christmas - I love Christmas, thus the December masthead will always be a Christmas image.
Sometimes I go with a lesser known holiday; for example, my very first masthead, for September of 2007, was in honor of International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Unfortunately, it seems I did not save a copy of that masthead before replacing it for October. I may also honor a cause that is meaningful to me, either with the background photo, or with an awareness graphic, such as the pink breast cancer ribbon I added to the October 2007 masthead.
Other times the theme of the masthead may be something that is happening in my life that particular month, and its meaning may not be immediately apparent unless you are reading carefully and paying attention. One example is this past June. Since I would be spending the first week of June visiting my family in Oregon, I chose an Oregon image: the bridge at Multnomah Falls.
Brooskey turned one year old last August, so for that masthead I made a timeline of photos showing his growth in his first year.
And then I did the same thing for Vixen when she turned one in October.
Anyway, it's time to start working on this September's masthead, and I'm stuck. I did the pirate theme in 2007, and back-to-school last year.
![[September 2008 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2008/09/640.gif)
So I thought I would have a little contest in honor of two years of these monthly headers. Use the contact form to send me your idea for a masthead theme for September. It should have some demonstrable significance to the month; if, for example, it's some obscure holiday, include a link to information on that holiday. I don't need a photo, but if you have one you'd like me to use, and you have the right to give me permission to use it, send it along. (If the photo is online somewhere, give me a link, otherwise just let me know you want to send one and I will reply with my e-mail address to send it to.) Any photo submitted needs to be at least 1250 pixels wide, and keep in mind the extremely wide panorama that the subject needs to fit into. Submit your idea and optional photo by 11:59pm EDT on August 24, and within the next couple of days I will select my favorite idea and do my magic. The winner will be publicly announced on September 1 when the masthead goes live.
The prize will be a one-month ad run for your web site, blog or business in the confoozled.com sidebar. I will contact the winner as soon as he or she is chosen to obtain the ad image and target URL. The ad will run from September 1 through September 30.
![[October 2007 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2007/10/640.gif)
![[June 2009 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2009/06/640.gif)
![[August 2008 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2008/08/640.gif)
![[October 2008 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2008/10/640.gif)
![[photo of me]](/glasses144.jpg)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/oregon2009/thumbnails/albumthumb.jpg)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/halloween2008/thumbnails/albumthumb.jpg)
