Why I Don’t Enter Photography Contests
Free Photo Contests
I recently received an email from the International Dark-Sky Association. The email was a call for submissions to their Capture The Dark Photography Contest. I think the IDA is a good organization. They promote astronomy, appreciation of dark skies, and advocate for reduced light pollution. All good things. I have nothing against the organization, but I have been thinking about it for a while and this particular email prompted me to finally write about it. This is not specific to the IDA. Rather, it's a pretty common scheme where companies and organizations take advantage of photographers in order to collect free marketing material.
If you clicked through to the contest page, you can scroll all the way to the very bottom to see Terms and Conditions that you can click into. In fact, if you’re not looking for it, you’re probably going to miss it. For your convenience, I’ll link it here.
Free contests will almost always include a clause that gives away perpetual, non-exclusive rights to the photos you submitted, which allows them to copy, modify, or even sell your photo. For the IDA, we can see that right here:
All you get in exchange for the perpetual rights to your image, is the chance to win a swag bag and have your photo printed in the magazine.
As I mentioned above, the IDA is not alone in this.
Let’s look at the Audubon Photography Contest. We can scroll towards the bottom of the page and see note 4 in the General Conditions:
At least with Audubon, there is the opportunity to win prize money. The grand prize for 2022 is $5,000 USD which is pretty substantial, but only a handful of participants will win anything at all, meanwhile, they have collected thousands of photos for free.
You will see this even in smaller local organizations. In Manitoba, the credit unions hold contests every year for their calendars. Here’s an example from Sunrise Credit Union.
You will see by now that there is a recurring theme going. While most contests follow this pattern, there are a few exceptions. I’ll discuss that in a moment, but first let’s talk about why you might still enter these contests anyway.
You don’t value your work. By this I mean you don’t think your work will ever have commercial value. If you are strictly taking photos for a hobby and don’t think you will ever sell your work. In that case, it might be nice to get some recognition for your work.
You want to support the organization. If you like the organization and what they stand for, you may want to treat your contest entry as a donation so that they could potentially use your photo to promote their work.
Consider not submitting your best work. While the objective of entering a contest is to win, if you have a set of images, consider submitting one that is similar, but still your b-reel work so that you can save your best material for people who are willing to pay.
Paid Entry Photo Contests
Generally, if you had to pay to enter the photo contest, there is no attempt to harvest free digital assets. The Nature Photographer Of The Year contest is a good example of this where they only retain the right to your images for a set period of time (five years) rather than perpetual as you often see with the free contests.
They even go so far as to say that in the event of inquiries to purchase rights to the image, they will forward the interested party your contact information. Contrast this to the free contest where you’ve given the contest organizer the right to sell your work.
In the case of NPOTY, by paying an entry fee, you are sponsoring the contest overhead and overhead. It's similar to when we discuss social media and say when you are not paying for the product, you are the product.
Conclusion
In the end, it comes down to how you value your work, what you’re looking to get out of entering a contest, and what your intentions are with your photography.
If you have more professional aspirations, you may want to steer clear of free contests, though paid contests may help you achieve prestige while also retaining the rights to your work.
If photography is only ever going to be a hobby for you, or if you want to support an organization you care about, then maybe you don’t mind giving away the rights to your work for the chance to win prize and publication.
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