I think all the advice so far is very good.
While the development improvements are valid, I'm going to line up with Island Girl and my good friend with the good eye Lou and say that a bigger contribution to your future placement would be working on presentation.
In addition to IG's comment on the back double bi, I think you have your right leg too far away from your body in both directions -- too far back and too far to the side. As a result I see two separate masses of the two legs which can't hope to balance the mass of your upper body. Therefore, they don't look as big as they actually are. Bring that foot in closer. Instead of relying on distance from your body to be able to pop the hams (which is, I assume, why you are doing it that way), turn the heel in a little more toward the centerline of your body. This twist should pop the ham just fine, and it will in addition reveal more of the outer quad therefore giving your leg more mass.
In your front "relaxed" stance, you have your hands way out in front of the body. As a result, a judge is looking at your arms from a perspective that is their narrowest, i.e., at the crown of the bicep. WITHOUT rolling your shoulders forward (which narrows them and collapses the upper pec) bring your hands back more in the same plane as your body/elbows. As you do this, you'll see that the angle from which we view the arms becomes more like a front lat spread and we see more size. Your present choice of stance creates an immediate image of small arms which you then have to struggle to overcome in the judges' minds.
In each of the other mandatories, you need to take care to choose a position that places your arms at advantage, rather than disadvantage.
So...in the side chest, the currently popular approach of having your elbow away from the body is bad for you (it's actually bad for most competitors except someone like Eddie Moyzan who almost wants to make his arms look smaller!). Bring the elbow in against your torso until you can use your lat to "push" against the tri and pop it out. Use your ribs to push out the bi. You should also experiment with the position of your fist. Palm up creates maximum peak -- but if you need size then putting your fist in the same position as for hammer curls will lengthen it and fill it out and make it bigger. Also, the fist in hammer curl position will pop the brachialis out (just as the hammer curl exercise is the one to develop the brachialis), and usually folks find that it pops the crown of the delts and the rear delt more than the other position.
So...still thinking about arms...in the back lat you don't want the hands too far around infront of the body because that puts the tris at a bad angle such that the arms look thin. The farther back on the side of your body you can bring the hands in the back lat (while still getting the lats out), the more the arms will be rotated to show more biceps, and to show the depth of the tris.
You've observed that you need to work on flexibility in order to pose well. You are correct -- not just you but everyone. This is very visible for you in the side triceps in that your torso is not being presented in an advantageous way.
We are supposed to pay attention to the particular body part for which a pose is named. However, good judges are also judging the whole physique all the time regardless of the name of the pose. So you really have to look carefully at your whole physique in each pose and choose a presentation that shows what you want.
Also remember that in the mandatories the photographers and the audience don't count. You're trying to present your physique to give the judges the information YOU want them to have in order to make their decision. So don't get sucked in to what looks cool in the magazines!
Now for the good news!
You've got a good physique that's ready for the national level. Your goal of top 10 is reasonable for next year. You look tight, but my suspicion is that you are a little flat in these photos, and that (like 90% of competitors) you actually looked better the next morning!
If you fill up a little more without spilling, then as the muscle expands, the separation deepens (biceps/triceps; quads; quad/hamstring from the side; etc.). Too many competitors look at themselves, think they don't have the necessary separation, and "diet" more. The result is that they lose size and have LESS separation. And, by the way, it's separation that will win you the show, not striations.
Hope that makes sense! If not...well...I'm just one of those damn judges...and we know they don't know nuffin' !
Good luck. I'll look forward to seeing you next year!
Ken T.
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