Photography competitions are everywhere. A quick google search will reveal hundreds of them across the world in any given month. Fabulous, you might think. I’ll enter a few and hopefully get some recognition, win a prize, be able to call myself an award-winning photographer… So I’m preparing to send off some of my very best images when the terms and conditions catch my eye. Hold on a minute, what does “"you grant a perpetual and irrevocable right to use your images worldwide and in all media without further recompense to you"” mean?
And herein lies the problem. Why is this company or organisation really holding a competition? Is it because they’re passionate about visual imagery and wish to seek out and reward the best photography they can find? Or do they want to get their sticky mitts on your best images and then use them anywhere in the world, for any purpose they like, FOREVER? And you thought you were entering to win a shiny new gizmo or world recognition!
There’s one organisation fighting this trend for poor terms and conditions for competitions and that’s Pro Imaging – the international web-based group of independent professional photographers. I’m a member, and I’m keen to promote them to fellow creatives as they campaign for the rights of photographers and also explain in simple terms the issues around copyright and licensing.
Check out their website www.pro-imaging.org And watch your back if you’re entering any competitions!
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