Photography Competitions

[Jansos]

Would it be useful if we had a thread to highlight any photography competitions that are taking place that users may be interested in?

I'll start with this one - $25k top prize (I've never been much inclined to enter competitions previously but I need something to do over the Christmas holiday period!):

https://www.worldphoto.org/user/login?destination=user

 

[Harry Harrison]

There's that Alamy one with 'Ageing Better', prizes are a bit underwhelming though, or is that just me:

 

https://www.alamy.com/blog/photo-competition-with-alamy-and-ageing-better

[Harry Harrison]

Another one, not exactly a competition though, prizes seem to be 'exposure' of some kind or another:

 

https://site.picter.com/photo-oxford-open-call-23

[Inchiquin]

I used to enter competitions sometimes (and got the odd prize too) but every one I've seen in the last 20 years has required permission from any person in the photo as a condition of entry, so I just don't bother any more.

 

Alan

Edited December 21, 2022 by Inchiquin

[NYCat]

Pay attention to whether you lose rights to the image. They tend to want the winners all to themselves.

 

Paulette

[Allan Bell]

22 hours ago, Jansos said:

Would it be useful if we had a thread to highlight any photography competitions that are taking place that users may be interested in?

I'll start with this one - $25k top prize (I've never been much inclined to enter competitions previously but I need something to do over the Christmas holiday period!):

https://www.worldphoto.org/user/login?destination=user

 

 

Not certain but I think that comp is for professional togs photographers only.

 

Allan

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Allan Bell

[Jansos]

2 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Not certain but I think that comp is for professional togs photographers only.

 

Allan

 

I think there is also an 'Open Competition' - https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/open
Less prize money though - think it is just $5k. Entry rules here...

https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/open

Edited December 21, 2022 by Jansos

[geoff s]

I think the hard part is making it past the young people with iphones who presumably filter the entries before your image gets in front of the actual judges. Though that maybe unduly cynical.....

Constable etc wouldn't stand a cat in hell's chance in the Turner Prize. And my pics are probably more Constable than Emin unfortunately 

[Doc]

On 21/12/2022 at 14:55, NYCat said:

Pay attention to whether you lose rights to the image. They tend to want the winners all to themselves.

 

Paulette

A lot of competitions seem to demand future free use of all images submitted for the competition whether they are winners or not.

 

Kumar

[Brian Yarvin]

Isn't all of professional photography for publication a competition of sorts?

[Michael Ventura]

38 minutes ago, Brian Yarvin said:

Isn't all of professional photography for publication a competition of sorts?

 

So true Brian!

[Jansos]

Another competition here - 12 monthly competitions. $2k top prize each month:
LIFE FRAMER PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE

https://www.life-framer.com/?fbclid=IwAR1Ek4-u0T1iiejO4MAJFYUVFod0TWv_ZaQBfCk29ZWnV66wlh_FpYNFPcw_aem_AeSek2WiasMPk6E7VURaq-pRF2iVjk2GJhlhbcvioFSiYP9oRtYekLS8fOEDJqPrEpio19YQhI1cBu-dUrXydpdK3SUvSl5OAaH8gfDaYQLiXrrNNfQa0YPsHtijS93tACQ

 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by Jansos

[Phil Crean]

10 hours ago, Jansos said:

Another competition here - 12 monthly competitions. $2k top prize each month:
LIFE FRAMER PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE

https://www.life-framer.com/?fbclid=IwAR1Ek4-u0T1iiejO4MAJFYUVFod0TWv_ZaQBfCk29ZWnV66wlh_FpYNFPcw_aem_AeSek2WiasMPk6E7VURaq-pRF2iVjk2GJhlhbcvioFSiYP9oRtYekLS8fOEDJqPrEpio19YQhI1cBu-dUrXydpdK3SUvSl5OAaH8gfDaYQLiXrrNNfQa0YPsHtijS93tACQ

 

 

https://www.life-framer.com/enter/#4

 

Cost to enter!!! Who's the real winner?

Phil

[Jansos]

8 hours ago, Phil Crean said:

https://www.life-framer.com/enter/#4

 

Cost to enter!!! Who's the real winner?

Phil

This is true but how many people are prepared to buy a lottery ticket each week? 

[Rebecca Ore]

8 hours ago, Phil Crean said:

https://www.life-framer.com/enter/#4

 

Cost to enter!!! Who's the real winner?

Phil

 

That's one of the hustles that shows up in literary competitions, too.   It's about profiting off people's self-deceptions and hopes.   Nope, nope. 

[antonsrkn]

14 hours ago, Phil Crean said:

https://www.life-framer.com/enter/#4

 

Cost to enter!!! Who's the real winner?

Phil

 

When it comes to competitions I often see the cost to enter cited as evidence of something underhanded, nefarious or profiteering - seems to me that a somewhat unfair take in itself.  Often the contests have large prizes for winners/runner ups, hosting space for the images that are submitted, a judging panel made up of accomplished photographers, galas or festivals with award ceremonies, etc... the costs of which I'm sure adds up quickly.  It's nice when there is a free contest (See Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards) but the money has to come from somewhere, in the aforementioned case just from vast wealth of the sponsors, but thats abnormal - from what I've seen the free to enter contests are often whats referred to as 'image rights scrapers' where as mentioned earlier - organizations use them to stockpile images for their own use (see the Nature Conservancy annual contest). 

 

Of course, there are many people and organizations that have taken to running contests as purely a money-making endeavor which is why its important to be discerning in picking which to enter - however the presence of an entry fee alone isn't particularly useful to separate the esteemed from the fluff/profit mills. 

[Michael Ventura]

I chaired, as a volunteer, a travel photo competition, for four years, that was within a travel journalist association.  There was a fee, not that much, I believe it was around $35 to submit up to 20 photos.  The contest barely broke even but that was the idea.  It was not a money making venture like some are.  And no rights grabbing.  I believe the top prize was $1000 and there were many other possible ways to win and get awarded cash.  But many of the ones I see pushed in photo magazines, are money makers.

[Phil Crean]

10 hours ago, antonsrkn said:

Of course, there are many people and organizations that have taken to running contests as purely a money-making endeavor which is why its important to be discerning in picking which to enter - however the presence of an entry fee alone isn't particularly useful to separate the esteemed from the fluff/profit mills. 

This^^^^^^

Phil

[Harry Harrison]

It's a difficult one isn't it, I entered the British Life Photography Awards competition a few times because their themes coincided quite well with the types of pictures I like to take. I got in the books a couple of times, went to the private views etc., it was enjoyable really. Yes, you had to pay to enter but I don't recall that it seemed particularly exploitative. They were presumably there to make money, I don't know if that was their primary reason, but they're gone now. Fuji sponsored them with prizes and of course they had a travelling exhibition, the reception and the books (the last one was just a paperback), it wouldn't have been cheap to run. So I guess I'm disappointed that they didn't make enough money from it if that was indeed the reason they had to stop, they seemed like good people. They didn't really promote properly on Social Media, a big mistake I think, their website has come down now though I see their Instagram account is still there.

 

 

[Harry Harrison]

There is a new similarly themed competition, the British Photography Awards, I haven't read every page but they seem pretty transparent about how they are run, their objectives, how much went to charity etc. Rather oddly you have to have a British passport to enter, perhaps this is something to do with the charities, they probably explain it somewhere.

 

https://www.britishphotographyawards.org/

[NYCat]

B&H ran a wildlife competition once, and only once. One of the categories was a "people's choice" award and it was won by an image that was rather inferior to hundreds of others and seemed to go to someone skilled at promoting himself in social media. It turned me off the opportunity to vote in any of these contests and I think B&H were not happy either as they never did it again.

 

Paulette

[Rebecca Ore]

One thing that colors this for me that probably isn't a factor for others is the whole business of vanity volumes and all that in poetry, short stories, and such.   Most writers' organizations are very cynical about these, and agents who charge reading fees, and even more vanity publishing.   People who have small audience books can get them printed and bound with a regular job printer for less than paying for vanity publication which claims to be doing useful promotion.   Doubleday Literary Guild had a dump box of vanity press books -- we never read them at all.

 

I also wonder what comes from winning an award beyond the cash prize.   Better to get a community college photo certificate and get a job editing or assisting, and get paid something.   The higher priced educational programs don't do better for their students than the community college programs (the Philly community college program was quite good and I heard of one in NC which was also very good).

 

[Cal]

5 hours ago, NYCat said:

B&H ran a wildlife competition once, and only once. One of the categories was a "people's choice" award and it was won by an image that was rather inferior to hundreds of others and seemed to go to someone skilled at promoting himself in social media. It turned me off the opportunity to vote in any of these contests and I think B&H were not happy either as they never did it again.

 

Paulette

 

Life is rarely a meritocracy... I have also witnessed the same thing. People who really are not very good at photography but very good at rallying half the town to vote for them.

[Steve Hyde]

I enter the odd competition and I’ve won a few cameras over the years. The only thing I’d add to what’s been already said is, if you do enter, don’t get too hung up about it if you don’t make the cut. 
 

I submitted the image below to two separate photography competitions in the summer. One being the ShutterHub 2022 Yearbook and the other the 2022 British Photography Awards. The image didn’t make the top 100 in the ShutterHub yearbook so wasn’t published. However, it was shortlisted in the Events section of the BPA Awards. 
 

As a result of being shortlisted, we were invited to the Awards Ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel, London, in November. The Awards Committee put on an excellent event and we were wined and dined extremely well. I got to chat with some amazing professional photographers. The guest speakers were superb and we had a great ‘long weekend’ away in London (not staying at The Dorchester I’d add, our Premier Inn was just fine though). I didn’t win but I had a fantastic experience which I would never have had if I hadn’t bothered entering the competition.

 

It just goes to show that it’s all very subjective!

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Steve Hyde

[PuffinsPictures]

15 hours ago, NYCat said:

B&H ran a wildlife competition once, and only once. One of the categories was a "people's choice" award and it was won by an image that was rather inferior to hundreds of others and seemed to go to someone skilled at promoting himself in social media. It turned me off the opportunity to vote in any of these contests and I think B&H were not happy either as they never did it again.

 

Paulette

That's why I don't even bother wasting time on anything dependent on the general public voting. While not my first experience with this, I officially gave up when I tried entering contests run by an international student organization where the recurring theme was what we saw and did when not studying. My actual adventures exploring nature and stuff consistently lost to generic bar selfies taken by people who had thousands of Facebook friends ready to vote for them. I only ever got a half dozen votes from my tiny and largely apathetic circle.

Edited December 27, 2022 by PuffinsPictures