Photo Contests

Glenn, Kenna, or whoever is minding the store these days:

 

Can we safely conclude that photo contests already have gone the way of the dodo, or can we reasonably expect some new ones to pop up sometime or other? I have no doubt that others previously posed the same question.

 

With my anticipated gratitude for an anticipated timely response,

 

michael

Can we safely conclude that photo contests already have gone the way of the dod

I think it is very clear that Photo Contest is an empty shell and just a heading to fill the benefits list of becoming a paying member.From a real feature of PN-1,it was carried over briefly into this version before becoming the empty shell we now have.I was fortunate enough to win one of these contests back then and was really upset and shared my frustration with Admin for an openly discriminating ruling of first prize for US members only and second prizes for others,normally consisting of much lesser value How-to classes......and I ceased to participate,but that is not the reason the Contest feature went empty shortly after.

hey guys - i'm back for a few hours a week to help CreativeLive - I can discuss this with them.

It has been a month now....would be nice to know if any progress on this?Thanks!

Hello - I'm working on a schedule of contests for the next 3 months. If you have suggestions on a new theme you'd like to see - please feel free to DM me. I expect to have the schedule of contests it published by the end of the week.

For the process to remain credible, we must ensure that prizes are distributed in a timely and efficient manner, which has not been the case in the recent past.

 

Also, I would suggest that prizes such as lenses etc., not be accepted from sponsors for select geographical distribution only, PN has an international memberships and there should be equal opportunity and rights for all, on the assumption that these competitions are indeed a benefit offered to full members on inscription. Some cannot be more equal than others.

on the assumption that these competitions are indeed a benefit offered to full members on inscription. Some cannot be more equal than others.

Apologies, I have just seen that this was already mentioned further up by frigo ...

For the process to remain credible, we must ensure that prizes are distributed in a timely and efficient manner, which has not been the case in the recent past.

 

Also, I would suggest that prizes such as lenses etc., not be accepted from sponsors for select geographical distribution only, PN has an international memberships and there should be equal opportunity and rights for all, on the assumption that these competitions are indeed a benefit offered to full members on inscription. Some cannot be more equal than others.

I agree John - physical prizes we get often (lens - for example) are often tied to an advertising campaign the sponsor is doing with us and those budgets are generally geographic in nature (ie US only) for a number of reasons like customs, shipping charges, etc.. Moving forward we can be sure to include an international prize and if necessary break it out separately. 40% of our users are based in US so we'll still likely cater to our sponsors requests, but be sure to have a prize allocated for our international friends and have those prizes be deliverable via email.

I agree John - physical prizes we get often (lens - for example) are often tied to an advertising campaign the sponsor is doing with us and those budgets are generally geographic in nature (ie US only) for a number of reasons like customs, shipping charges, etc.. Moving forward we can be sure to include an international prize and if necessary break it out separately. 40% of our users are based in US so we'll still likely cater to our sponsors requests, but be sure to have a prize allocated for our international friends and have those prizes be deliverable via email.

Well, that means that 60% of the PN users are based outside the US and thus constitutes a majority. That alone should be an incentive not to keep that vital group from being able to win on equal terms. With such a large operation going on as PN - including the big equipment manufacturers as donors to competitions - the shipping expenses of prizes consisting of physical products should not be a problem at all. Think of all the goodwill you get in return if you act and appear to be fair. And then think of the opposite. What do you think in the long run will be more profitable? And then think again of the gigantic loss of members in the latest few years. What went wrong? What can be corrected? I think that thought process could turn out extremely profitable. And the keyword here is Goodwill.

We have had international prizes in the past and will in the future. I'm just telling you that in general, when we get a piece of equipment - those advertisers/sponsors are pulling from their country specific US budgets so they want the prize winner to be US based. We usually don't work with manufacturer budgets in UK, CA, DE (or fill in country not US) which is why we haven't had equipment prizes for our international friends. Generally speaking, manufacturer budgets seem to be focused by country and we rarely work directly with them on international basis. But again - we have had international prizes in the past and will in the future.