Photography Contests

I typed up a long informative response to this yesterday, only to be logged out when I went to post it!!! So hopefully now I can remember everything I said! Photo contests are excellent! It is great experience! I would highly recommend entering as many contests as possible, even if you don't think you have a chance. It's a fantastic way to get your photos out there and get people looking at your work! I once entered a photo contest sponsored by a wildlife magazine. I didn't win. I wasn't even a finalist or an honorable mention. But about year after the contest, I got an e-mail from the editor of the magazine asking if they could publish the photo I'd entered in the contest in the magazine! What they ended up paying me for use of my photo was the same amount that they paid the grand prize winner of the contest! So there's a lot more to just entering a photo contest than winning a prize! I've entered many photo contest, and while I've never come in first place, I have been a runner up and a finalist a few times before. If you're interested in entering photo contests, I would recommend checking out http://www.viewbug.com It's a free photo, video and audio sharing website. They also have a new contest every couple of weeks. The winners of these contests get anywhere from $100 to $300 depending on the contest. Plus, you can submit photos to your gallery without even entering the themed contests. And every week they chose a handful of photos they really like and award them anywhere from $10 to $30. It's a fun site. And I've actually won quite a bit of money on it! If you love to compete, I would also recommend checking out http://skillfights.com/signup?ref=294 It's an art competition website that is free to join. Users can create their own competitions and enter their photos in competitions created by other users. The site works on a point system where you are awarded points for entering and creating competitions. Plus, you earn points when other users vote for your photos. You can cash out these points for money. If you're looking for legitimate big national and international photo contests, definitely check out http://www.shutterbug.com/photocontests/ It's got a calendar listing different photo contests going on for the rest of the year. I know that right now Ritz Camera is holding a big photo contest. You can find out more at http://www.ritzcamera.com/help/Photo+Contest.htm And I've found that the best way to learn about current and up-coming photo contests is by word of mouth. So make lots of photographer friends! Join online photography communities, post on online photography forums, join a local photography club, and get involved in local photography events! As far as submitting photos to magazines go, I would HIGHLY recommend picking up a copy of the book Photographer's Market. It is an extremely valuable resource. Among other things, it has a list of magazines that accept photo submissions. It has specific details on how to submit your photos to the magazines. It also has information on galleries and exhibitions, workshops, selling your photos to greeting card companies, selling your photos as stock, and... photo contests!!! Good luck and keep shooting!!!

I try to avoid most photo contests. If you read the fine print, most of the time you're giving away a lot more than you'd ever expect to get back if you won. A lot of contests throw some garbage in their rules that by submitting your image, you're giving them unrestricted rights to print, publish, sell, and basically do anything else they want to to with your photo for as long as their hearts desire, and you don't get as much as a photo credit or a thank you, let alone payment for the usage. If you're looking to get recognition for your photos, a lot of forums host their own contests. The 'prize' isn't something physical, it's usually just recognition for great work. If you want prizes or money, consider signing up for a stock agency to formally sell your work.

I have entered a couple of contests but avoid ones that you have to pay an entry fee. Hope this helps you.

What about instead of joining, you sell your high resolution photos. I know a lot of websites that are offering this photograph selling or royalty stuffs.

I would love to enter photo contests also, but so many require some kind of fees, not that they aren't legitimate, many are, but I never seem to have the funds to enter them..LOL. Here's a listing from Shutterbug magazine of current contests http://www.shutterbug.com/photocontests/ Here's another listing of contests http://www.proofpositive.com/contests/photocontests.htm You just have to plain do some research into this...there are a lot of scam photo contests out there. The worse is Photo Laureates

I submitted a photo of my dog to an online place and they've been bombarding me with "fabulous offers" of trophies and such that I can buy ever since to commemorate my "accomplishment"!