Online Photo contests with $$$

[sugar_babygirli]

Hey. I'd REALLY like to start entering some photo contests and possibly win money too (of course lol). :p

Have any of you entered any online and can recommend ones to me? There are a bunch out there, but I am SUPER leary as some of them, I hear, own your copyright once you send your photos in. I absolutely do not want to have that happen, so what would be some reputable websites that would still let me keep my ownership to the photos?

So far I've found these:

http://www.circleofphotographers.com/
http://www.picture.com/contest/enter.asp
http://contests.monstercable.com/photocontest/rules.asp


One of the sites had this:

Monster’s Rights to Entries:
"All entries remain the intellectual property of the Participant who shall remain the owner of the original photos. By submitting an entry, a Participant irrevocably agrees to grant, and actually grants Monster a worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, unlimited, transferable, assignable, sublicensable, royalty-free right and license to reproduce, modify, translate, adapt, display, publish, and otherwise use and commercialize the entry in any manner and context, now known or in the future discovered, in any way, in any and all media, without limitation and without any compensation to Participant. Participant hereby agrees not to instigate, support, maintain, or authorize any action, claim, or lawsuit against Monster or its affiliates, or any other person, on the grounds that any use of the entry, or any derivative works infringe any of Participant’s rights as creator of the entry, including, without limitation, trademark rights, copyrights, and moral rights or “droit moral.” Nothing herein shall constitute an employment, joint venture, or partnership relationship between Participant and Monster. In no way is Participant to be construed as the agent or to be acting as the agent of Monster in any respect."


Does that mean they get the copyright? :confused:

[Timm]

Reads to me as though the photog keeps the copyright whilst Monster get the right to do whatever they feel like with your image, including giving it to anyone they want to do what they want with, whilst not having to pay any recompense/royalties or seek approval for what they intend to do.
It's a sweet deal - but only for them! :-s

[cjm]

I entered this http://www.circleofphotographers.com/, it's a scam.

They accept ALL photos, they get nothing but the best entries because they say you'll could win $5000.00. Then here is what they try to sell you,

As a contest finalist and for a limited time, enjoy the manuscript for only $59 (regular price is $69). This offer expires on Jul-29-2005 (or until stocks expire) and the next contest will only be in November 2005.

Click here to take advantage of this great offer now as we are finalizing orders. You can view sample selected pictures of fellow finalists by clicking here

Paying members who order the 2005 manuscript also qualify for the $5000 grand prize as a thank you for helping us to craft and print the manuscripts and to support our team. They will also receive an invitation to the global photography conference.

Our own manuscripts are 9 1/2" X 11 and are made of high quality, bounded paper with a 12 point glossy laminated soft cover. Manuscripts have over 250 pages of leading photographs and professional illustrations as well as several sections of photography techniques written by leading experts. They make terrific coffee table books and great gifts to friends and family! Of course, your work will be published in this manuscript along with your name.

When you email them back and tell them to with draw you from any sort of competition or book to the address they provide,
For help, support, and enquiry, please feel free to contact us at help@circleofphotographers.com (http://by106fd.bay106.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?mailto=1&msg=CB24870D-EB90-4920-8E95-4D6B8C4F1E4D&start=0&len=7518&src=&type=x&to=help@circleofphotographers.com&cc=&bcc=&subject=&body=&curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&a=f8aa987997a895e248a7237297f7ba7780ef9de6101b5f4a 5f48689a8c4f20ea) you then get a email from MAILER-DAEMON@globat.com saying "Failure notice".

I only entered it because a friend said it was a good place to enter. Yeah right, I may have just lost one of my good pictures that will be sold off to some company that makes pictures for Wal Mart.

Do lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of research before entering any photo contests to make sure it isn't a scam like this. This is a scam like they do to sucker parents and sell them a book of stuff with their childs writing in it that the only one who sees it are the ones that bought it. Not impressed.

[sugar_babygirli]

Wow that really stinks cjm :( Sorry about your loss and that is similar to another story I've heard as well....which is why I'm so leary of entereing contests.

Maybe the safest thing would be to not enter any? :mad:

[max101]

Wow - that's quite a scam: "... perpetual, unlimited, transferable, assignable, sublicensable, royalty-free right..." they just get your photos, sell them on as often as they like and take all profits forever.

Not good!