How are the final 12 pictures selected?

Well, the painstaking process of compiling each year’s calendar begins a full 15 months prior to its live date. For example, work on the 2009 calendar began in September 2007, when photographers were first asked to submit images. By October 2007, 5,000 submissions had been received, and the intense administrative task of cataloguing each entry and keeping abreast of its progress began. The picture editors of The Scotsman whittled those initial 5,000 down to 1,000 on the basis of technical merit alone. The second and third rounds of selection reduced these down to 50 by rejecting images that repeated themes from previous years.

In December 2007, the hard nitty-gritty process for the 2009 calendar began in earnest. First, the choice of 50 images was reduced yet further to 30, resulting in a selection which aimed to represent a fair choice of pictures covering the various seasons, and which would also ensure an even geographic spread. The final 30 also had to include a choice of the essential elements that always feature in the calendar, namely a castle, a garden, a loch, a beach, a city, mountains and an animal. The landscapes may remain the same but what changes is the ways in which they are interpreted, and the award-winning photographers whose images appear in our calendars are always looking for ways to see even the most familiar view anew.

These 30 photographs were then pored over by a focus group of over 50 people. The group consisted of 30 members of the public - loyal, local customers, who are regular buyers of the calendar, sometimes over decades; ten retailers whose commercial knowledge of what sells is always invaluable; and ten members of Scotsman staff who have usually been involved in the process over many years. Each member of the focus group was asked to comment in depth on each photograph and decide whether it had the defining qualities that ensure it is good enough to be in the final selection of just 12 images. The results of this process were then painstakingly represented on a graph, which highlighted the preferred images, and which were presented in month order and placed on a map.

By January 2008, the final selection for the 2009 calendar was complete, the front cover had been selected and an envelope designed around the chosen photograph. It was also, coincidentally, when customers started ringing The Scotsman’s Enterprise department to enquire when the 2009 calendar would be available, so just as well the process had reached its final stages. The appointment and desktop calendars were designed, the artwork proofed and the calendars were printed in February so that by Easter they would be available for sale in shops and online.

The balance between objectivity and subjectivity is knife-edge thin, and, as those involved in the process will tell you, if any one person comes away from a selection loving all 12 shots, then they have failed in their task of successfully representing a wider appeal than one single person’s judgement can fulfil. As well as aiming to represent the wide diversity of Scottish landscapes, the calendar aims to appeal to a wide range of clients, both young and old. As Sarah Carter, Calendar Manager, who is intimately involved in the process from start to finish says: “I can never like all the pictures. We have to throw a wide net, to cater for all tastes.” Certainly, after 77 years, the tried and tested formula appears to keep winning.