10 Ways to Win Photo
Competitions and Contests
February 14th 2006
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Photo Contests |
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How many times
have you seen competitions with amazing prizes? Even more important
- how many times did you go in for them? Adopt a Positive Mental
attitude and you too can win Photo-competitions.
Here are some
basic rules -
1 READ THE ENTRY
RULES !
Most competitors
are actually disqualified because they don't read the rules.
Usually the promoting company wants to push THEIR product or service
and you should bear this in mind while choosing what to send them.
If the rules say they want color prints the don't send b/w or
digital entries.
2 If there is a
set subject for the competition then stick to that subject - Your
photos just won't get looked at if they are not relevant. Judges
are not just looking for a good picture they are looking for a good
relevant picture - Preferably with the sponsor's product. (I know -
I've been a competition judge)
3 Keep your
photos SIMPLE - confusing or cluttered pictures won't win prizes.
4 Make your
photos COLOURFUL - -they usually have more impact.
5 If an entry
coupon is needed then always enclose it !
6 Put your name
and address on the pictures or they won't know who they belong to.
7 THINK about the
sponsor - what would YOU want to see in an entry if you were the
Sponsor? - Something relating to YOUR product of course!
8 If you want
your pictures or cd back then enclose a stamped addressed envelope.
9 Actually GO IN
FOR THE COMPETITION! You have to be in it to win it.
10 Go to your
local supermarket and look for competitions you can enter. Food
companies usually run the best competitions from our point of view.
The prizes are better (new automobile or exotic holiday for
instance) and the best part is that most of the entries will be from
raw beginners whose quality is not usually great. You may have to go
to a second round though.
The other place
to look for competitions to enter is Magazines. Almost every glossy
weekly or monthly magazine regularly runs competitions regardless of
subject. You can win cars, boats or even a villa in the
Mediterranean!
Why not start off
with the Photo Magazines - they have monthly competitions and they
usually set fairly easy subjects like humor, season, colors etc. You
will find that your rivals are of better quality here since many
photographers will go in for these competitions - often with
excellent cameras or other goodies as prizes. Are you drooling at
the prospect of winning yet? You should be!
In the case of
the larger companies running big-prize competitions, they often
also need a snappy caption to accompany the photo. Make this
caption RELEVANT to the company and let it be something that makes
them look good as it will be a slogan they'll eventually use.
Here's an example
- Company A is a Butter company with a holiday prize. Send a
relevant photo and as a second round caption, try something witty or
funny something like - our butter's as fresh as the morning dew.
When accompanied by a photo of a spiders web covered in dew - that
makes it DOUBLY relevant since it refers not only to their product
but also to YOUR photo.
By the way avoid
ANY competition that grabs all copyright of all entries. It can be a
scam to get free photos...but it's normal practice for the leading
prize winners to have their pictures used by the promoting company
without further payment). Good Luck with your competitions - Go
out and Do IT NOW and I hope you Win.
About the Author: Keith Jones
Resource Section:
Keith Jones has been a Stock and Travel Photographer for over 40
years. His Website is at
http://www.fotos4web.com Where you'll find lots of his
photos and articles.This article may be freely
reproduced in print or on the world wide web providing :This resource section is also published intact and the article is
not altered in any way.
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