I'd say there's a difference between beatings some yokels at the county fair, and an infinite amount of rights grabbing scam 'contests' online.

Quote from: sjlocke on July 23, 2010, 19:41

I'd say there's a difference between beatings some yokels at the county fair, and an infinite amount of rights grabbing scam 'contests' online.

You gotta read the fine print real close. A lot of times you a signing your rights away.

Absolutely correct. Some of the scams have language in the terms such as "worldwide irrevocable rights including distribution", so in these cases you are unwittingly surrendering your ability to submit the image as stock especially in cases like DT buyouts or going exclusive at iStock. Found a site last year with almost this exact language when a friend of mine was looking to enter a particular contest.

Hmm... my brain must be turned off today because I honestly didn't think about that...  Thanks.

At least with the fairs you submit prints which they give you back.

Quote from: louoates on July 23, 2010, 20:11

Contests have become a source of pirate-able images. Some even ask a "entry fee". So you can actually pay to have your work stolen. If you've never heard of the outfit asking for "entries" and you are contacted through email do the following: Find a mirror. Twist your head around. Read the "rekcus" sign on your back.

Hehe...  The contests I was thinking about entering are from Minolta, Dominoes Pizza, and Kansas Nature magazine.  I have zero intention of entering anything that requires an entry fee.  And for the Minolta and Dominoes contests I was going to shoot something specific for those contests.

Just because Dominos is a brand name don't think that you'll be treated any differently. They;'re hunting for free publicity pics. Minolta and the rest too. Read the terms carefully.

and see the links

http://www.photoattorney.com/?p=1034

http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2008/02/19/how-the-rights-to-your-photo-are-being-hijackedthrough-photo-contests-social-media/

I think some of the contests are legitimate.  Even those, however, take the rights to your image (should you win anything).  Read the contest rules carefully,  Maybe the prize package is enough for the rights to your image.  One thing for sure ... I don't think their rules are any more complicated or deceiving than a Microstock TOS.

I've been very envious of a friend who won trips to Hawaii and Alaska for the rights to an image and/or having her evaluation of a backpack published.

I don't agree with her continuous submission of images to local newspaper contests; the zoo, street life, etc., but, she won a camera from that contest too. 

My biggest concern is what happens to all those images that do NOT win anything?

I wonder why someone would go to all the trouble to run an online photo contest if not to derive some economic gain. Signing over copyright in that case is working for free. The fact that there is some "prize" involved, whether or not ever paid to some eventual winner, is much like buying a lottery ticket. Only the uninformed are led to that behavior.

Just because Dominos is a brand name don't think that you'll be treated any differently. They;'re hunting for free publicity pics. Minolta and the rest too. Read the terms carefully.

Yeah, I know.  But as long as I'm eating Dominoes pizzas anyway, it's no harm to take a few pictures of one for their contest.

In all the contests I have taken the time to read the terms (and that included National Geographic), they require rights to use the images submitted, even if they do not win anything or are never published by them. Most don't require exclusivity, though some may ask for unpublished work.

I think it's a fair thing that they may use the winning images or even the published ones to promote the contest, even sell books with the winners. What I don't agree however is that they normally get the right to do anything with the images, even those who are discarded. They may use them in a book that is not related to the contest, for instance.

In the case of NGM, I don't think they use these images in their magazines, except on the specific sections where they were submitted to ("readers' photos" or things like that).  The articles have dedicated photographers, many of which long-time contributors to the magazine. But I can imagine the photos being used in their merchandise, although I never heard of that.