Contest challenged...

I agree it feels smoother- there is always something to pay attention to if you want. You are either making recipes or testing them. Maybe there could be a little sidebar module with "events" that would show the current and upcoming states. For example:

Vote Now! (with link) Ends July XXth
----
Enter your best BLAH: Ends July XXth
----
Test your best BLAH: Ends July XXth
---
Next contest announced: July XXth

OR maybe even a google calendar people could subscribe to if they were so inclined.

I'll add once again to before-stated pleas for deadlines to reflect actual dates!

Yes to all above. I am also tweet-less (untwittered?), so I depend on the goodwill of the food52 powers. I do like the 'countdown' on the contest page. I have tried to abide by the printed schedule above, but there's some confusion. So, yet, you email me with those 'not at all annoying' messages (twice a week?), so why not add contest announcements and reminders? And when a new contest is announced, why not give actual dates (next Wednesday? the following Thursday? day and date, please!)?
I do think the contest system is working more smoothly now than in the past -- make it better!
(And while you're at it, can you make this comment box better? All the other comment boxes on the site open up so longer messages can be reviewed by scrolling up and down, for editing.)

Sorry for the confusion. The candidates for CP testing are posted on the Friday after the contest closes. Here is the corrected breakdown...

1. Every other Monday, the new contest is posted and remains open until Tuesday to submit a recipe.
2. The list of candidates for community testing is posted that Friday. Testers have until Wednesday at 5pm to send testing notes.
3. We test the recipes you liked best during the week.
4. On the following Thursday we announce two finalists and all our winning Community Picks.
5. Voting for the finalists remains open from Thursday through Wednesday.
6. Once voting closes, we tally the votes and announce the winner.

I agree that it would be great to have the contest details more prominently displayed on the home page, especially for those users who may not know or remember all of the dates. But I also like the idea of doing an email broadcast about contest deadlines and voting. Whole Foods does that with their recipe contests, and I really appreciate getting their reminder emails.

I'm confused! Regarding the amount of time testers have to make and test a recipe. The last set of Road Trip Snacks CP recipe testing contenders went up on Sunday, June 21st, and the header said that testing notes needed to be in by "next Wednesday at 5pm). Does that mean that testers had 3 days to test? Or did they have till the 31st? Please explain.

That's a great suggestion, Pierino. Our contests actually follow a regular schedule, so it's not too hard to keep track.

Just a reminder of how our contests work:
1. Every other Monday, we solicit recipes for different themes and you have until the following Tuesday at 6:00 PM to submit a recipe.
2. The next day, we announce the list of candidates for Community Picks, which we turn over to the community to test. Testers have a week to send testing notes.
3. Over the next week we test the recipes you liked best, and the following Thursday we announce 2 finalists and all our winning Community Picks.
4. Then, you have a week to check out the finalists and cast your votes (good old democracy).
5. After the cutoff on the next Wednesday at noon, we tally up the votes and announce the winner!

So you can look out for a new theme every other Monday!

Thanks for the feedback! We will definitely consider displaying the contest deadlines more prominently on our front page. We also tweet about upcoming contest deadlines, so following Food52 on Twitter might be a great way to stay updated. Thank you!