Congratulations Aly. I just got accepted today !

It was my third attempt.  To be fair to SS, my first batch was crap - no argument.
My second attempt, however, I felt was at least technically almost perfect. I was very disappointed when this batch also got rejected. 
It took me a while to calmly and objectively review the reject reasons. I knew that a few had been rejected for trademarks and logos and for the life of me I knew that none of my images had logos in them (lions, crocodiles, apples all filling the frame). It took me a while to realise that I used possible trademarks in the keywords, e.g.. Johannesburg Zoo, Lesedi Cultural village etc.. Another issue was the fact that "holiday" doesn't seem to mean the same thing to SS reviewers (American?) as it does to us South Africans. We go on holiday to the beach (often). They go on vacation. "Holidays" seem to mean only public holidays and certain times of the year, I think.

I corrected all my keywords as above and got 8/10 accepted without changing anything else (those two are also crap).

I hope this helps someone out there who may not have to re-shoot new photos because their keywords are incorrect.

Hi Jens,

I am a newbie too and just like you acceptance as an IS contributor is my main goal. I have been accepted at DT & Fotolia (waiting for ss, Alamy, etc) but I regard IS as having the highest standards. I've been rejected once already for "too similar images" but I know that the real reason is that I don't have any people shots in the initial submission. My daughters will be my models for this project soon.

Your stuffs really good, in my humble opinion. Best  of luck!

Cheers,
Rodney