Legit photo contests

any suggestions for legitimate photography contests? i found a whole long list of them on www.proofpositive.com,

but is there any way i can tell if they are legit? most of them don't have entry fees, but what i'm more worried

about is submitting a photo and then someone else claiming it as their own (always a possibility on the internet,

i know). and then, of course, for the ones that DO have entry fees, i would have been scammed out of my money.

I can't speak about any specific contest, but I will tell you that you need to be just as cautious of the legitimate contest rules as the scams. A "legitimate" contest at a local zoo here in Illinois has the following in it's rules:

 

"Submission of any entry further constitutes the entrant’s consent to irrevocably assign and transfer to the Sponsor any and all rights, title and interest in the entry including, without limitation, all copyrights and moral rights. By submitting an entry, entrants grant to Sponsor and its agents the right to modify, adapt, sell, publish and/or use or not use the entry in any way, in whole or in part in any and all media now known or later developed, including on the Society’s Web site, without geographic limitation or additional compensation, except if entrant is a resident of TN and where prohibited by law"

 

OK if you only care about winning I guess, but not so much if you ever have a real offer\use for a photo you submitted. They don't have to even give you photo credit, much less notice of use or any compensation. May as well be donating stock to them. Avoid the scams by sticking with well know companies, magazines, etc....but read their rules too.

The "if you enter it it's ours" language can be found in places you never expected to see it. Our major, local paper has a "photo of the day" from readers. If you send it they own it. Read the rules for submissions.

Think about the reasons for any sponsor to start a photo contest. It has nothing to do with the sponsor wanting to simply

throw money away. The reason for any photo contest is for the sponsor to compile quality photographs within a specific

genre for their use. A contest in another word is another way for a sponsor to buy is a bunch of photographs.

 

There ain't no free lunch in this world.

I don't mind them using it, but I at least want photo credit, and would prefer a limit to what extent they can alter it. Also, as referenced in the example above, them using it for internal publications\advertising is a little different from them being able to sell it without me getting part of that. I would be fine with a finders fee for the image if a % were in the original wording, but why should they get 100% of the proceeds for someone else's work? Also this isn't an "If I win" scenario, this is simply if I submit a photo, they get all rights to it and can sell it. Sounds like they want a free lunch to me.

<i>"Sounds like they want a free lunch to me."</i>

<p>

Very typical of photo contests.

True oxymoron="legit photo contest."

Stay away from picture.com it is a scam, When you submit a photo you will recive a letter saying your photograph has been selected for publication in a book. Then you get invited to their bogus convention where they say you have been selected to receive the "Outstanding Achievement in Amateur Photography" award and get some silver bowl if you attend there conference. For a price of course