I’m sure you’ve noticed the latest addition in the USPDF products: the USPDF Wall Calendar 2011. If you haven’t flipped the pages yet, I’ll tell you this: it’s beautiful. (And Alethea handcuffed to the pole on the front cover is such an epic moment of course…)

The USPDF wall calendar was created so that USPDF could give back to their followers and competitors who share their comments and suggestions, adding USPDF on social pages, purchasing merchandise, watching videos, visiting the website, and attending USPDF workshops and competitions.

Out of hundreds of photos the founders picked out one photo of each finalist from the US Pole Dance Championships 2010 Pro division plus the winner of the amateur division, Mina Mortezaie, to feature in the calendar.

I briefly asked them how they decided on the photos. “Easier said than done,” Anna said. “We picked top 3-5 for each girl, left them alone for a few days and went back and crossed one out until we found a great fit.” After weeks of extreme close-ups, slowly shedding a pool of photos down to 13 top photos, they were one step closer to making a calendar. “It’s important to us that the picture matched the style of the personality we saw on stage”, Wendy added.

Finally, the USPDF Wall Calendar 2011 was born. The graphic designer Niyeti Metha did a wonderful job with the layout and look. But the best thing about it is that part of the proceeds goes to the finalists featured in the calendar, as well as to the photographers.

I hope you’ll love it just as much as I do (and so does everyone else who passes by my desk…). Don’t forget to bring it to Nationals April 29^th to have it signed J!