Are Photography Contests Worthwhile or Worthless?

[Damaso]

http://blog.photoshelter.com/2012/09...-or-worthless/

"
Are photography contests worthless? Like most arguments, there are two sides:
Yes, photography contests, on the whole, are generally worthless – they are a time and money suck, and the organizers are looking to make money or disguise them as a rights grab.
No, they provide value, in that it forces photographers to curate their best work and ultimately push themselves to compete with “the best”. Plus, reading that so-and-so won this-and-that photo contest is kind of like being named Best Smile in the yearbook – many of us tend to pay attention to those awards, even if we’re not sure why."


My personal take is that most, especially the ones with entry fees, are worthless...

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

If you like competing they're an opportunity. If you don't like competing, they're pointless.

Everyone is different and, it seems to me, if someone else likes something it proves that person likes that thing.

It's called, I believe, diversity and many people consider it A Good Thing.

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by Damaso

. . . My personal take is that most, especially the ones with entry fees, are worthless...

I've judged more than I've entered, mostly because I used to be involved with PIC magazine, and everything depends on (a) who's judging (b) how the judges are feeling on the day and (c) pure luck -- in that order.

Ys, I think the pay-to-enter ones are worthless.

Free-to-enter? Almost anything else will do your photography more good, such as trying to put a small, local exhibition together, but if you've a picture that fits...

Cheers,

R.

[elmarman]

I have had some success in Photo Comps. over the years -- I won an Olympus Video Camera outfit in ' Camera Choice' magazine -- now defunct, some Zeiss Binoculars in 'Praktica Photography' magazine -- now defunct -- a Pentax Program A in 'Pentax Club' magazine-- now defunct -- £2000 worth of LOWEPRO products in the 2007 'Travel Photography' section of 'Profesional Photographer 'magazine -- still going -- but how many BAGS did I need to spend it all !!! _ I didn't use ALL the £2000 vouchers !!

[sojournerphoto]

When I win they're worthwhile, when I don't they're worthless...


Actually, I have so little spare time that investing it in a photo competition is well down the list of priorities. I long ago learned that I do not naturally make the kind of pictures that win prizes in most of the contests I see and investing effort to achieve something I don't really value (the image not the win!) would be a poor use of that time.

YMMV

[jwc57]

I enter two shows a year. Both support and promote arts and artists in their respective towns. Both have an entrance fee, unless you're a student, kindergarten through high school.

I may be biased since I've done well in these shows (so far), but I see paying a fee to enter a show/competition/contest as being no different than paying an entrance fee for a marathon, car race, or cycling event. If you want to run a stock car at the local short track you have to provide the car, the crew, the fuel, transportation to the track, pay an entrance fee for your class, and then hope you finish well enough to pay some of those expenses mentioned. You do it because you enjoy the experience. You do it because there is the remote chance you'll get lucky and move to a better venue. And you do it because you have confidence in your ability and you hope others will appreciate that ability.

[Guaranteed]

IMO overall, they're worthless. The ones jwc57 seem to differ as they help promote and support individuals locally but the larger ones through magazines and such are just a grab. Given that anything submitted becomes their property you could go from tens of thousands(smaller mags) to hundreds of thousands+(online and larger publications) of free images that will just be dumped into micro stock. Heck, I'd give out a <insert photo kit here> package everyday if I could recoup my costs ten fold selling stock photography.

[MIkhail]

worthless.

[FrankS]

I only enter my town's annual festival of the arts juried show/contest. There is a vibrant artist community in my area with studio tours, etc. There's an entrance fee but that's reasonable, and it is judged by professional artists. Many submissions are by professional artists. For example, Marni Grossman is one of the photographers who usually participates.

[Avotius]

When I won the Zeiss photo contest a few years back I got some free glass and some publicity. That was worth it for me.

[photomoof]

Originally Posted by jwc57

I may be biased since I've done well in these shows (so far), but I see paying a fee to enter a show/competition/contest as being no different than paying an entrance fee for a marathon, car race, or cycling event.

That about covers it, if you are paying think about what exactly that means. You may still want to enter for the fun of the experience.

[Pablito]

But some of those contests charge a lot - like $35 USD.

And you need to be very careful if you value your intellectual property. Some of those contests have you give up the rights to your images in order to enter.

[FrankS]

Yes, you have to choose carefully and read the fine print. Some contests are clearly rip-offs.

[gns]

The most worthwhile don't charge any fees. In fact you don't even know you are entered...http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair...genius-grants/

[jwc57]

I haven't and wouldn't enter a contest that didn't require a physical print. And I get my prints back after the show, whether it wins something or not. If they needed to display it for a year, until the next show, I'd allow that. I remember reading a few years ago that Daytona required the winner of their race to leave the car for display until the next year's race.

To me anything online is like saying Fine Art America is my gallery and "handles" my work. It may be real, and I might get something out of it, but overall it is just seems like a waste of time.

[Jamie123]

Originally Posted by Roger Hicks

Ys, I think the pay-to-enter ones are worthless.

Doesn't nearly every contest charge a small entry fee? The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize is highly regarded and even they charge £24 per image and I don't think that contest is worthless.
I think a small entry fee does make sense as it forces photographers to limit their entries instead of just submitting a lot and hoping for a win.

That being said, I do think one should only enter a contest one highly respects. Some people seem to enter any contest they can find just so they can win.

Personally, there are just a few contests I would be honored to win. Deutsche Börse, Prix Pictet, Turner and Taylor Wessing are the few that come to mind. Not that I am likely to ever submit to these contest but they are the ones that I highly respect.

[Roger Hicks]

Originally Posted by Jamie123

Doesn't nearly every contest charge a small entry fee? The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize is highly regarded and even they charge £24 per image and I don't think that contest is worthless.
I think a small entry fee does make sense as it forces photographers to limit their entries instead of just submitting a lot and hoping for a win.

That being said, I do think one should only enter a contest one highly respects. Some people seem to enter any contest they can find just so they can win.

Personally, there are just a few contests I would be honored to win. Deutsche Börse, Prix Pictet, Turner and Taylor Wessing are the few that come to mind. Not that I am likely to ever submit to these contest but they are the ones that I highly respect.

Fair enough, and I'd not disagree. But there are an awful lot of what look to be self-funding scams in the paid-entry contest business.

Cheers,

R.

[Jamie123]

Originally Posted by Roger Hicks

But there are an awful lot of what look to be self-funding scams in the paid-entry contest business.

Oh yes, I completely agree. And there's an awful lot of other self-funding scams in the photo business, too, like portfolio reviews, workshops, etc. etc.
But I think for all of these things one has to remember that they're not all scams.

I think a good rule of thumb is if you've never heard of a contest and/or you've never heard of the past winners then it's probably not worth entering.

[Paul Jenkin]

There's one that put up a Leica Monochrom as a prize recently in association with a magazine to which I have a monthly subscription. I think there was an entry fee but the prize is very worthwhile IMO. The other issue is that the entries / winner will be made public and (if the judging is up to the magazine's usual standard) the resulting photos will be worth looking at (at worst) and might be influential / inspirational.

I think it's too simplistic to label all as either worthwhile or worthless.

[nikon_junkie]

I'll likely enter my first contest or three this year. State Fair and a few other local/state contests.

[Hamel]

I'm surprised at all of the negative responses to contests on here. I usually enter one every three months but choose wisely. The next one on the list is the Viena International Photo Awards. http://thevipawards.com/2013/

What about Alec Soth's LBM Camp for Awkward Storytellers contest?
http://www.littlebrownmushroom.com/b...-storytellers/

While there are MANY that are there to rip you off there are also plenty that are worth your time and effort of entering. I think it is ignorant to write them all off as a waste.

[ampguy]

for amateurs and hobbyists, I think free contests, where fair rules, and some objective comments will come, can be a good idea.

Where they go bad are when the image sizes are so tiny, that they you can't see the images. Those contests are a waste of time, and I'm not sure what the contest arranger was thinking, allowing a maximum entry size, the size of a thumbnail.