1. Work on straightening, adjusting levels, desaturation unwanted colors.

2. Whenever possible post using the proportions of the monitor - 800 wide, 600 high.

3. See my tutorial on formatting at http://www.jeffprentice.net/tutorials/format.htm

4. See the "compare" attachment above

5. Levels is better than brightness contrast, and curves better than both - Brightness contrast brightens or darkens all pixels in an image, whereas with levels you select only certain value ranges and adjust them.

Commands I use all the time:

<cntrl> U = hue/saturation. you can slide the saturation bar down to desaturate al colors, or select a specific color.

<cntrl> L = Levels - try playing with the three sliders at the bottom.

Note - Always work on a copy of the image you have scanned. You should scan, save as "original;" and then save again as a working copy. Every adjustment means pixles are tossed out and the image becomes progressively "thinner".

Keep working on presentation. Famous architect Mies Van der Roh stated that "God is in the details." As designers and artists we have to very concerned with details, presentation. Your competition certainly is.