RI Media Group Stoninton Magazine Photo Contest: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the Stoninton Magazine Photo Contest and who runs it?

RI Media Group runs the Stoninton Magazine Photo Contest, a public-vote photography competition tied to the company's magazine titles in the Westerly, Rhode Island market. On its own marketing site the company frames this work plainly: "We can connect you to local customers through contests, event marketing, social media targeting, community partnerships and more."

The newspaper link is direct. The Westerly Sun, a seven-day daily newspaper published in Westerly, Rhode Island, sits inside the same group, and the ballot's web address carries the paper's name in its domain, westerlysun.secondstreetapp.com, because the Second Street account belongs to that publishing operation.

The contest's own on-page heading reads "Stonington Magazine Contest", a spelling differing by a letter from the programme name in the platform's listing, so searches under either spelling land on the same ballot.

In shape the contest follows the best-of tradition of local publisher ballots, with a photographic twist: rather than asking readers to rank favourite businesses from a compiled list, it invites original pictures. The nominees are individual works, and each entry travels with the photographer who made it, which changes how support gathers around a contender.

When did the Stoninton Magazine Photo Contest run, and what happens next?

The programme shows a confirmed run in 2025, and that is its only confirmed edition. Voting opened on March 26, 2025 and closed on April 21, 2025, so the whole contest lived inside a spring stretch of that year, and the ballot now displays a closed state.

This is the first confirmed edition; whether it returns next year is not yet published; confirm on the live ballot each cycle.

The ballot address carries the programme name rather than a year, so any future round would most naturally appear at the same place; the organiser has committed to no such return in anything published so far.

Fine print around the ballot is thin. The page publishes no category list for the photographs, which matters because a category structure tells an entrant where an image competes, and RI Media Group has printed no voting-frequency rule and no eligibility terms alongside the contest. Any prize tied to a winning image is likewise absent from the published text. In the platform's own classification the promotion sits under a photo voting format, consistent with the entry-plus-vote layout visible on the page.

How does a supporter cast a vote in this photo contest?

Casting a vote on the Second Street ballot

A supporter reaching the ballot during an open window sees the entered photographs laid out for public choice. Voting means selecting the image you are backing and confirming that pick on the same Second Street form; the contest describes no separate nomination round anywhere.

The entry side is visible on the ballot too, which opens with the invitation "Enter your photo today!". Photographers put forward their own images, and the page pairs submission with voting instead of splitting the two into distinct rounds.

Practical questions stay open in the published text. The contest names no account requirement for voters, sets down no rule on how frequently a person may vote, and does not say whether a visitor may back several photographs at once or only a favourite.

Because the 2025 window has passed, somebody arriving now meets the closed state of the ballot; whenever a new window goes up, the same steps apply against whatever entries the fresh round carries.

How does this ballot sit beside other Rhode Island public votes?

The Stoninton contest occupies a corner of a crowded Rhode Island reader-vote scene. Independent neighbours tracked alongside it include Best of Rhode Island, the DRINK AWARDS, the Audience Award, the Motif Bartender Awards, Best of Newport County from Newport Life Magazine and Best of RI from Rhode Island Monthly. Most of those span many local business categories at once, while the Stoninton ballot narrows to photographs alone.

RI Media Group's own Second Street account carries a fuller calendar. The Call & Times Community Choice ballot ran from July 18 to September 14, 2026, the Reader's Choice ballot from July 16 to September 14, 2026, and an SRI / IND Readers' Choice variant covered the same midsummer-to-autumn span. Sweepstakes fill the gaps between them: a $5,000 summer drawing closed in late August 2026, two Father's Day promotions ran in late May and early June 2026, and a $15,000 Q4 drawing is scheduled from November 2 to December 9, 2026.

The photo contest stands apart from each of those by asking for creative submissions rather than votes on established merchants. Where effort pays off differs accordingly: a broad best-of ballot rewards reach across many categories, whereas this format concentrates everything on a single image and its maker, so outreach targets the photograph's own audience rather than a business's customer base.

How can a photographer rally more support for an entry?

Support here attaches to a photograph and the person who made it, so promotion looks different from boosting a business in a best-of ballot. An entrant wanting more votes starts by putting the entry before people who already follow their photography: sharing the ballot link directly, naming the contest and its window, and asking plainly for the vote. Community circles around Westerly form the natural audience for a Stonington Magazine feature.

RI Media Group prints no guidance on the ballot about outside help or third-party vote services, so an entrant's plan should begin from the organiser's own terms. Tactics that transfer well to photo ballots of this shape are collected in the guide on earning more votes online.