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This is a list of competitions that have failed to meet all the conditions in our Bill of Rights. You will lose important rights to your images if you enter these contests, and the contest organisers, promoters, sponsors, affilliates and subsidiaries gain free usage of your images for ever in the vast majority of cases. Competitions which fail one or more conditions in The Bill of Rights are placed on this Photo Competitions - Investigated list shown below. Subsequently, we write to the organisers of some of the competitions on the Investigated list detailing our concerns, and urging them to change their rules. The outcome of this attempt at persuasion appears on the The Rights Off List when the organiser either refuses to adjust their rules, or simply fails to respond. Competitions listed in bold font below are contests that also appear on The Rights Off List as a result of failed negotiations with the organiser. The competitions in the Investigated list below are listed in various groups according to the rights they claim, whether or not they have published rules, or whether or not they have prizes. Yes! It's true, some 'competitions' have no prizes! We have one list of recommended competitions that pass all our Bill of Rights conditions - The Rights On List. If you are thinking of entering a competition that is not on one of our two main lists , the Investigated list, and The Rights On List please notify Pro-Imaging by using the competition campaign contact form This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and remember to include a link to the competition's web site. We will investigate all competitions that are notified to us within a day or so, but please understand that we may not be able to personally reply to all the notifications we receive. If you do take time to notify us of photographic competitions may we take the opportunity now to thank you for your help. In the competition reports below extracts from the competition website are reproduced for the purposes of review. We acknowledge the source of such extracts as being from the competition website detailed in the report. CHECK OUT OUR COMPETITION DIARY! Published every 7 -10 days.
Competitions claiming copyright and/or waiving of moral rights.L'Oréal Colour Trophy New Zealand 2008 competition end date not yet announced Take Care! - Firstly we would like to thank the New Zealand Advertising & Illustrative Photographers Association (AIPA) for sending the details of this contest to Pro-Imaging. This is a very high profile competition for hair salons where, as part of the entry terms, the hair dresser signs over "all future copyright" in any images they submit. The images are often taken by photographers who have never even seen the entry form, and therefore have no chance to object. And obviously the hair dressers have little or no comprehension of photographers rights - so they sign the form without thinking. At the time of writing this report (5th May 2008) the contest website is not yet complete and the details and rules of the contest have not yet been published. However, AIPA have forwarded a set of the rules to us. If you are a photographer be very wary of any hairdressers approaching you to take photographs. Prepare a form on which you state that the copyright in all images shot for them rests with you. Mention to the hairdresser contests such as this one and make it clear to them that they have no legal right to assign your copyright to another body or person. Then get them to sign the form before handing over the photographs. Alternatively you could simply decide not to do the photography at all to avoid any risk that your copyright might be infringed.
Rule 10 states that “All entrants agree that the future copyright of any supplied imagery belongs to L’Oreal Professional and is not permitted to be submitted to other competitions”
You, the photographer have just lost all rights to your images everywhere and forever. It is no longer your image and if you were to use it you could be sued for copyright infringement. Or so L’Oreal think, but they could be wrong.
If L’Oreal wishes to ensure that the photographs are not submitted to other competitions then this should simply be stated in the rules (e.g. “All entrants agree not to submit the supplied imagery to other competitions”). Claiming copyright ownership is not an appropriate way to do this.
If the photographer follows the above procedure by requiring the hairdresser sign a form that states copyright belongs to the photographer, the hairdresser does not own the copyright and has no legal right to assign that copyright to another person or organisation. Therefore L’Oreal's claim in such cases would be completely invalid, and should L’Oreal use such imagery the photographer may take action on the basis of copyright infringement.
Rule 16 states that “All entry photographs and digital images become the property of L’Oreal Professional and will not be returned to entrants.” It is inappropriate for L’Oreal to claim ownership of your images. If returning the photographs and digital images is not an option then why not say “Supplied material will not be returned to entrants.”
Rule 16 continues “Photography from the L'Oreal Professional Colour Trophy photo shoot (whether submitted or not) cannot be published AT ANY TIME BEFORE OR AFTER THE AWARDS ARE JUDGED, in any form (electronically, print or otherwise) without express written permission of L'Oreal Professional.”
Insisting that you seek written permission to use your own photography “any time before or after the awards” (i.e. from creation until the end of time) is completely unrealistic. In order to sustain their businesses photographers need to be able to use their work without restriction for self promotional purposes (portfolio, website, direct mail, exhibitions, photographic competitions, etc). Furthermore, once L’Oreal has finished using the winning images (e.g. after a year) photographers should be allowed to use their intellectual property as they see fit.
Organisations - L'Oréal
Judges - Not stated on the website. Contact - If you would like to write to L'Oréal to express your view of this contest here is the email addresss - Tanya Abbot
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Tanya is the Communications Manager at L'Oréal
CBS 42/Precision Camera Photo Contest weekly Take Care! - This is what happens to your photos "Four Points Media may, at its sole discretion, publish or otherwise use any photograph submitted by you. Such publication or other use may occur on television, in books, in newspapers and magazines, on the Internet, and/or in or on any other medium of communication now or hereafter devised, and may be for advertising, promotion, the use of trade, and/or other commercial purposes. By submitting a photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) consent to such publication or any other use. As a condition of submitting your photograph, you (and any other individual depicted in a photograph) unconditionally and irrevocably waive all claims to compensation for use of the photograph by Four Points, and/or any rights with respect to such use you may have under copyright law, the right to publicity, the right to privacy, the law of defamation, and any other common law or statutory claims under the laws of any jurisdiction." Whether you win or not this means that Four Points Media can freely use your photograph for commercial purposes for a year, you will not be paid, you will not be credited, you will have no right to object to the treatment of your work even if you feel it is derogatory to your reputation. They fail our Bill of Rights with regard to commercial usage. The only free commercial usage allowed by the Bill of Rights is the publication of a book promoting the submitted images and crediting the photographers. Four Points media make it quite clear they are going to profit from the use of your photographs, not one penny of which you will recieve. Originally this contest was claiming copyright. We have been advised by Travis Campbell that following his letter of protest to CBS 42 and his references to our original criticism, CBS 42 management and a lawyer updated the rules to the above. So Pro-Imaging say thanks to Travis for his efforts, and thanks to CBS 42 for removing the copyright grab, but we'd like CBS 42 to remove the commercial usage rights grab too. If CBS 42 wish to profit from the photographs, the Bill of Rights will allow that if they agree a rights managed license with each contestant whose image they wish to use commercially, paying them at normal rates for such usage, the license duration not exceeding two years. If they can do that, remove the waiving of moral rights for non commercial usage, and list the affiliates and subsidiaries who can also benefit from the commercial image usage, the contest can be placed on the Rights On List and CBS 42 will get great credit from Pro-Imaging for doing that. Come on CBS 42, positive PR is very valuable, its there for the taking, and with just a few steps more it could be yours and you could be taken off this list! We have noticed that on this page they are still claiming full copyright for entering the contest! Which set of rules is the true one?
Organisations - KEYE-TV, Four Points Media Group owned by Cerberus Capital Management Judges - Public voting Contact - express your feelings about this contest here
Grand Travel Photo Contest ends 1 September 2008 Take Care! - By entering their contests you "agree to assign their intellectual property rights to GRANDTRAVEL/Academic Travel Abroad, Inc. and permit GRANDTRAVEL/Academic Travel Abroad, Inc. to use the photos in any media, including the Internet" This means if you win this contest you lose all rights to your photo. It is no longer yours. You must not use it again, ever, but GRANDTRAVEL/Academic Travel Abroad, Inc. can use your photo freely for ever, license it commercially (for money) to others as often as they like, you won't see one penny of that money. Organisations - GRANDTRAVEL, Academic Travel Abroad
Judges - unnamed members of Grandtravel staff. Contact - express your feelings about this contest here
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Reflect Photo Awards 2008 ends 29 August 2008 Take Care! - By entering this competition "you agree that your entry can appear on public displays. The Port of Tyne may also use the entry on the internet, television and in print to promote the competition (in newspapers and magazines for example) and share them, with their partners and commercial supporters of this competition. Also note this - The Port of Tyne only retains ownership of the winning and runner up entries. Enter this contest & you will lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. A worse fate awaits the winner and running up entries - The Port of Tyne claim OWNERSHIP! This is a copyright claim - so dear winners and runner ups, you no longer own your photo. You can't use it or license it. It's a dead photo, except for the Port of Tyne who will have it in their library and can use it as often as they like. Saves having to pay photographers you know, smart move. Here's a news story about this contest by The Amateur Photographer.
Organisations - The Port of Tyne, Journal Live, The Shields Gazette Judges - They have not got any yet according to the website, it only says "To be confirmed". Contact - express your feelings about this contest here
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Caltex Shooting Stars ends 30th June 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest you have "to assign to Chevron all copyright in all Works submitted, and to waive all moral rights and similar rights in and to all such Works, by signing the attached Entry Form, failing which his Works will not be considered for participation." - and just in case that's not clear enough they go on as follows "For the avoidance of doubt and without limiting Chevron’s rights as copyright owner, Chevron shall have the sole and unfettered right to: reproduce all Works in any manner or form and circulate such Works to any person in connection with the Contest, without compensation whatsoever to the participants; and use, copy, publish, print, transmit, and distribute the Works in any manner, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes, as may be determined by Chevron without the prior consent of the photographers or owners of the Works and without any compensation whatsoever.
Thank you so much Caltex, it would make our life so much easier if all terms and conditions were worded so simply and clearly. Anyone can see at a glance that by submitting images to this contest you, the photograher, will instantly lose ownership of the images. Please note that care should be taken to create photographs that are positive and uplifting, and in line with The Chevron Way. Perhaps the rules of this contest will make you feel positive and uplifted? This contest has another great bonus for Caltex, it means that for the price of a few electronic devices (probably bought wholesale) they have saved themselves the considerable expense of commissioning a photographer to do the work for them. Of course they can tell the winners that their photographs will be published in the Caltex calendar, and that they will become famous, wow! Why would anyone want to do all this creative work photographing logos for Caltex in return for so little. So reader, why not go out and take some interesting photographs without logos, you retain the copyright for ever, you can make money from them for ever, isn't that a more fun and profitable way to spend your time? You bet it is!
Organisations - Caltex
Judges - They say "A panel of judges appointed by Chevron (including external professional photographers) will select and shortlist the submissions" but don't name the judges. Contact - express your feelings about this contest here;
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1st Annual Young Artist On-line Art Competition ends 15 June 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest you "transfer and assign, all right, title and interest in and to the art work and the good-will associated therewith worldwide and in perpetuity, to Sponsor, its successors and assigns. Submission of a art work grants Sponsor the right to use, publish, adapt, edit and/or modify such entry in any way, in any and all media worldwide, without limitation or compensation to the entrant." This means whether you win or not, you lose all rights to your photo. It is no longer yours. You must not use it again, ever, but Echo Prospects can use your photo freely for ever, license it commercially (for money) to others as often as they like, you won't see one penny of that money. Organisations - Echo Prospects, Art Institute of Pittsburgh
Judges - 3 unnamed judges Contact - express your feelings about this contest here;
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Viewtyful World Photo Contest ends 11 June 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest you "irrevocably grant to the Promoter, the Sponsor and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies, a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, and publicly display the Photograph in any media throughout the world for any purpose, without limitation, and without additional review, compensation, or approval from you or any other party." This means for every photo you enter you lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. They can use your photo freely forever, even if you don't win anything, and you will never recieve one penny for all the uses made of it. Just look at the list below of all the people who get to use your image for free. How do you feel about that? However, for the winners there is an even worse fate in store, read this - "the Grand Prize Winner shall assign to the Promoter absolutely all rights, title and interest, including copyright and the Grand Prize Winner shall do all things as may be required to vest such interest in the Promoter prior to receiving the Grand Prize." You have just lost your photograph. It is no longer yours. You must not use it ever again, if you do you will be guilty of copyright infringement and can be pursued with the full force of the law. "the Winners agree to participate and co-operate as required in all editorial activities relating to the Promotion" You will cooperate, you will do as required, you must not disagree, you must submit. "It is a condition of accepting a prize that the Winner must comply with all the conditions of use of the prize and prize suppliers’ requirements." You will accede to all of the prize suppliers demands. You must not resist. "It is a condition of accepting a prize that the Winner may be required to sign a legal release in a form determined by the Promoter in its absolute discretion." You must sign the legal document, you have no choice, the promoter has the right to put whatever conditions they like in this document. You will do as you are told. Resistance is not permitted if you wish to have the prize.
Organisations - Ethan & Alice Marketing, Inc, National Geographic Magazine, Viewtyful World Flickr Group, LG Mobile Phone. Note for LG you will need to register first to get access to the contact form
Judges - One Judge appointed from National Geographic Magazine Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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,
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, Viewtyful World Flickr Group, and to LG Mobile Phone. Note to access the LG Mobile Phone contact form you will need to register first, sorry!
Canon New Baby Photo Contest ends 31 May 2008 Take Care! - "ENTERING A PHOTO IN THIS CONTEST CONSTITUTES ENTRANT’S IRREVOCABLE ASSIGNMENT, CONVEYANCE AND TRANSFERENCE TO SPONSOR OF ANY AND ALL RIGHT, TITLE AND INTEREST IN THE PHOTO INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL COPYRIGHTS." This means whether you win or not, you lose all rights to your photo. It is no longer yours. You must not use it again, ever, but Canon U.S.A. can use your photo freely for ever, license it commercially (for money) to others as often as they like, you won't see one penny of that money. More detail about this contest is in the Rights Off List . Organisations - Canon U.S.A , ePrize, LLC
Judges - unnamed 'experts' selected by Canon.
Contact - express your feelings about this contest here.
Guardian Unlimited Nissan Qashqai Urban Mural ended 4 April 2008Take Care! - By entering this contest you "irrevocably and unconditionally licence to GNM all present and future copyright and all other rights in their entries for the entire period of copyright and any renewals and extensions thereof." also "entrants irrevocably and unconditionally waive their moral rights to be identified as the author of the entries" This means you lose for ever, whether you win or not, your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. It also means whether you win or not, GNM (Guardian News & Media) can use your photograph freely for ever, license it commercially (for money) to others as often as they like, you won't see one penny of that money. By waiving your moral rights you lose the right to be credited every time your photo is published. So no credit and no money. Organisations - Guardian Unlimited Spnsorship, Guardian News & Media, Nissan
Judges - unnamed and unnumbered. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to the
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Save From Oblivion 27th Photographic Competition ended 16 October 2007 Take Care! - By entering this contest winners "transfer all property copyrights to the Works together with the exclusive right to allow the execution of conditional copyright to MCK. The transfer of the copyrights mentioned in the previous sentence includes all known fields of exploitation" This means that for winners, MCK - Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury (International Cultural Centre), can use your winning photograph freely for ever, and as they have acquired copyright, they can license it commercially (for money) to others as often as they like, you won't see one penny of that money. Organisations - Międzynarodowe Centrum Kultury (MCK - International Cultural Centre), Towarzystwo Miłośników Historii i Zabytków Krakowa (Cracow Heritage
Society), Biuletyn Fotograficzny (Photographic Bulletin)
Judges - called 'jury' in this contest and unnamed Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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and
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Competitions claiming reproduction rights with no time limitThe Telegraph Big Picture Photography Contest ongoing Take Care! - By entering this contest you grant "a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual licence to Telegraph Media Group Limited to feature any or all of the submitted images in any of their publications, their websites and/or in any promotional material connected to this competition." They get to freely use your images for ever whether you win or not. You will never see a penny in payment, and you also lose for ever your exclusive right to license (make money) from your images. Note that the prize is a suitcase. Note also "The prize is subject to availability." The rules do not say what happens if the is not suitcase available. Do you get no prize? Do the Telegraph Media Group Ltd still have the right to use your photographs? The rules as stated do not oblige the Telegraph Media Group to do anything they don't want to, and you the contestant, can't complain. Use the contact address below for all your questions about this contest. Organisations - Telegraph Media Group Ltd Judges - The website does not state who the judges are. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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Air Miles Me and my Favourite Landmark ongoing Take Care! - By entering this competition you are required to accept that "any photograph entered may be used by the promoter at any time or in any media in the future on a royalty free basis." This is a monthly contest organised by Airmiles who are able to harvest on a regular basis loads of free images, thereby reducing or perhaps eliminating the need to pay for images. They get to use your images for ever whether you win or not. You will never see a penny in payment, and you also lose for ever your exclusive right to license (make money) from your images. Oh! Nearly forgot to mention -their is no real prize - all you get is 500 airmiles in return! This is clever stuff, this contest costs them virtually nothing to run yet Airmiles are building up a nice collection of valuable imagery! Organisations - Airmiles
Judges - All entries will be judged by an independent panel of judges. Who are they we might ask? Are they experienced? Why are they not being named on the website? Contact - express your feelings about this contest here.
Focal Monthly Photo Contest ongoing Take Care! - By entering this contest you grant Elsevier Inc. "a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide right and license to reproduce, publish, display and otherwise use their submitted image(s), credited with entrant’s full name and city and state/province/country of residence, online and in print or any other media for purposes of editorials, exhibition, advertising, publicity and promotion of the Contest and Sponsor’s publications and products, without additional compensation or permission, unless prohibited by law." Elsevier get to use your images freely for ever whether you win or not. They list many things they will do with your images, to the extent that the law permits them to do it! You will never see a penny for the use being made of your images. You on the other hand lose forever your exclusive right to license (make money) from your images. If you are a winner you will be required to sign a form, but the form is not displayed on the website. It should be! What does the small print of that form require you to agree to? Why is it hidden? But note this, if you don't comply in signing this form you can be disqualified! Here's a secret, if you have a good image it can make far more money over and over again than you will ever win in a photo competition. Don't give your creativity away!
Organisations - , Elsevier Inc., Focal Press It is extremely disturbing that Focal Press is associated with a contest with the terms and condition described above.
Judges - This is a mix of public voting and a panel of "Focal Press photography editors and/or “special guest” judges indicated on the Contest webpage, whose decisions are final." We have looked at the contest page and did not find any judges named on this page, who is this mysterious 'special guest judge'? Contact - If you would like to write to the organiser with your views of this contest send your comments to
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Intrepid Photography Competition ongoing Take Care! - If you enter this competition "Intrepid Travel and our Intrepid Photography Competition partners reserve the right to unlimited use of the photos for company brochures, promotion and advertising. So whether you win or not, all submitted photos will be freely used for ever by Intrepid Travel, Kathmandu, Lonely Planet and Lonely Planet Images. You lose forever your exclusive right to license (make money from) your photo, nor will you recieve one penny for the 'unlimited' usage by Intrepid Travel and it's partners. Organisations - Intrepid Travel, Kathmandu, Lonely Planet, Lonely Planet Images It is very interesting to note that Lonely Planet Images is a stock library and agency. Do they get to freely use images submitted to this competition? Do they get to commercially license these images to other companies? Would Intrepid Travel benefit from the proceeds of such sales by Lonely Planet. I'm sure we would all like to know the answers to these questions, especially those who entered their images into this competition. Oh! You do want answers to these questions. OK, this is where to send the questions -
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If you do get an answer please let Pro-Imaging know what it is, we are curious too!
Judges - We carefully looked into every corner of the website but despite our efforts we found no mention of judges. Good grief, how is this done? Is it just a lucky dip? Or do they have very shy judges? Why are they shy? C'mon Intrepid Travel, tell us who the judges are, we want to know that they are qualified to judge photographs. If you have already decided to ask Intrepid Travel the questions listed above, perhaps you could add these questions about the judges to your note. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to \n
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Dorset Cereals Simple Pleasures Competition ongoing Take Care! - By entering this contest winners "you give permission to Dorset Cereals to publish your pictures on the website and use them in the future for promotional purposes." This means you lose for ever, whether you win or not, your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. They can use your photo freely forever, even if you don't win anything. It's worth noting that if the picture you send to this 'contest' gets published you could win a very large amount of cereals. Just thought we'd mention this. Organisation - Dorset Cereals Ltd
Judges - "The draw will be made at the end of the month." is what the website says -sounds like a lucky dip! Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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Guardian News & Media In Pictures Competition - ongoing Take Care! - By entering this contest each entrant "grants to GNM an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence for the full period of copyright to publish or otherwise use the entry in so far as is relevant to this specific competition in any way and at any time and to sub-license such rights to any third-party." This means you lose for ever, whether you win or not, your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. They can use your photo freely forever, even if you don't win anything. It also means whether you win or not, GNM (Guardian News & Media) can license it commercially (for money) to others as often as they like, you won't see one penny of that money. Organisations - Guardian News & Media Limited, Canon UK
Note the rules for this competition keep moving to different pages each week, do a search on the Guardian website for -
"In pictures" competition - to find the latest rules if our link fails. Judges - unnamed and unnumbered. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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and to
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Photography Laureates Photo Contest - weekly Take Care! - To participate in this contest you need to subscribe to Photo Laureates by paying monthly ($5.99), quarterly or annual fees for as long as you wish to participate in it. Good business for Photo Laureates as they claim to have 120,000 members, plus all the photos they get to use for free! Pro-Imaging say to all photographers, do not enter contests that require you to subscribe to regular payments, there are free deals on offer elsewhere! Photo Laureates have issued a press release denying they were operating a scam. Organisation - Photo Laureates
Judges - "The two senior photography editors of photo laureates, Kyrta Reeve and John Warton, carefully evaluate photographs." Statements from John Wharton are available to read at dpchallenge, BetterPhoto, Yelp, photo.net, and countless others that you will find with a Google search. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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1000000 Million Places On Earth ends 16 January 2010 Take Care! - By entering this contest you "hereby grant to MPOE a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, sub-licensable, assignable, royalty-free right and license to use, store, display, publish, transmit, transfer, distribute, reproduce, create derivative works from or incorporate in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed, any photograph submitted by You, which forms part of the Entry, solely in the context of the Attempt, the Competitions and this Website." - and you will also agree that "In consideration of MPOE paying a reasonable fee (which will be agreed with You in advance and in good faith), You agree to allow MPOE to reproduce any Entry for any purpose unrelated to the Attempt or the Competitions. This means you lose for ever, whether you win or not, your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. They can use your photo freely forever, even if you don't win anything. There is no statement about the type of deal on offer if they want to use the photo outwith the contest, it does not say you can still be considered a winner if you turn down their offer. You should not feel obliged to accept any deal or agree in advance without knowing the details. Note this, the end date for the contest is years in the future (this was written in 2008) but MPOE reserve the right to extend the contest by another two years to 16 January 2012! There are better places to lodge your photographs for years than to have them languish in a contest such as this.
Organisations - MPOE, Beentheredonethatgotthephoto Ltd , Rough Guides Terri Crowther, 41, the sole director of MPOE and a single working mother originated this contest "as a way to both help travellers display images of their favourite spots on the globe as well as a way for her to reclaim her life from the march of time."
Judges - "MPOE reserves the right to select and appoint independent judges at its sole discretion, who will decide the winning Entries for the Competitions." The only Judge specifically mentioned is Hugo de Wolf "the Netherlands. Born in 1971, Hugo is a professional photographer, and founder / owner of 36clicks Creative, established in 1998." Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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and to Hugo de Wolf at
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International Garden Photographer of the Year 2009 end 31 january 2009 Take Care! - If you image is shortlisted you will be "contacted and invited to grant permission for your image to be used to promote the Competition and exhibition. This invitation will state as follows:
12.3.1 You grant Garden Photographer of the Year and its supporting partners a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty free license to reproduce, enlarge, publish or exhibit, on any media, theimages for anypurpose connected with the Competition. This may include, but is not limited to:
- inclusion on the Site and on the websites of sponsors and supporters;
- inclusion in associated books;
- display at any associated exhibitions;
- use in press releases to be distributed to national, regional & specialist press giving information about or promoting the Competition.
So GPOTY and it's partners have just granted themselves the right to use your image forever. You lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. Also - "Images used on any merchandise commissioned by the organisers will be subject to separate agreements." What kind of agreement? Why are the agreement terms not displayed on the website. Is it a rights managed agreement to prevent GPOTY yet again acquiring Royalty Free rights for ever? Can you refuse the agreement without jeopardising your chances of winning? There are no answers to these questions on the website. Also - The National Trust have agreed that photographs taken at their properties may be entered into the GPOTY competition. You are required to ensure that your entry clearly states in its caption the National Trust property photographed. Why do these photos need special identification? Have GPOTY agreed to hand these images over to the National Trust Library after the contest? The website rules should spell out clearly why these images have to be identified in this way, and precisely what happens to them. The home page of their website states -"Photographers' rights are protected" and the link takes you straight to the rules we have analysed for you above....... Organisations - Garden Photographer of the Year Limited, Photography Monthly, The English Garden, ARCHANT, Garpa, Calumet Photographic
Judges - "A panel of judges, including top garden photographer, Clive Nichols." The full panel of judges has yet to be announced for the 2009 competition but you can register to be notified as soon as they are announced. Last years judges can be seen here. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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and to the judge Clive Nichols at
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Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2008 ends 30 September 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest "you grant to Future and any of the official partners, sponsors, or associates of Future relating to the competition a worldwide, non-exclusive, irrevocable licence throughout the world in perpetuity in all media to reproduce any of the images for any purposes in connection with the competition". Whether you win or not Future and its partners can use your image freely forever. You lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. Organisations - Future Publishing Ltd, Canon, Adobe, Skyarts, The Royal Photographic Society, Jessops,
Judges - unnamed and unnumbered. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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Cardiff University 125 Years Photo Competition ends 30 September 2008 Take Care! -By submitting images to this contest you "grant Cardiff University a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to publish and otherwise use the submitted material in any way that we want. You still own the copyright to everything you contribute." Whether you win or not Cardiff University can use your photograph freely for ever, in any way that they want. They can license commercial usage to others and you will never see a penny of it. When they do license usage to others for usage outwith the competition you will not recieve a credit, this is what they say about credits - "Note that this accreditation will not be possible with use of your photo in printed publications, general Cardiff University website use or incorporation on any other media outside the context of the Cardiff University 125 Photo Competition." You lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. Organisations - Cardiff University,
Judges - unnamed and unnumbered. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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The Royal Horticultural Society Photo Competition 2008 ends 26 September 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest and you are a prize winner "RHS claims the right to use any prize-winning entries in publicity material, exhibitions and publications, including the RHS and Medici greeting card collection, to promote the RHS Photographic Competition." For winners RHS gain free use of your photograph for ever, as do Medici and RHS for use on greetings cards, from which you will receive no remuneration. You lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. Organisations - Royal Horticultural Society, Medici
Judges - unnamed and unnumbered. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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The Terry O'Neil Award ends 10th September 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest you "agree that IPG may reproduce and/or licence the reproduction of any entries featured in the award exhibition without any payment to the photographer, model or third party for any sales, marketing, educational and publicity use on and in all media worldwide including catalogues, posters, postcards and the internet. However such free use shall only be in connection with the competition and exhibition and where practicable the photographer or agency, will receive a credit for such use." For winners this means IPG can freely use your images forever "in connection with the competition", a phrase commonly in contest rules used but the meaning of which is never precisely defined. Beware of such fuzzy phrases especially when the rules put no time limit on free usage. For winners you lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo.
Organisations - Independent Photographers Gallery, Tag Worldwide, Hotshoe, Fulham Palace, Hammersmith Borough Council
Judges TERRY O’NEILL photographerMELISSA DE WITT editor Hotshoe magazineMARK GROSVENOR MD Tag CreativeELIZABETH ROBERTS Black &White magazinePAUL WOMBELL photographerROBIN BELL photographic printerRAY KYTE photgrapher, Director IPGMONICA ALLENDE picture editor Sunday TimesDANIEL CAMBPELL BLIGHT curator Fulham Palace Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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Vapormatic Photo Contest ends 31 August 2008 Take Care! - Enter this contest & you will lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. Vapormatic win the right to use it for ever for free. The prize is money to buy tractor parts & accessories.
Organisations - The Vapormatic Company Ltd
Judges - "Members from the Organiser, as well as representatives from Tractor and Machinery magazine will be appointed as judges to undertake selection of the winning photographs." Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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MyPlace Panasonic Photo of the Year ends 1 August 2008 Take Care! - Enter this contest & you grant Panasonic "a royalty free perpetual licence to use, copy or exploit any photographic material uploaded to this website for such promotional purposes as we may decide, whether on our behalf or in conjunction with any entity." This means that whether you win or not Panasonic can use your photograph for ever and use it in any way they wish, and this could include commercial usage not one penny of which will you ever see. You will lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo.
Organisations - Panasonic, Lumix, Our Place
Judges - unnamed and unnumbered. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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Small Luxury Hotels of the World Photo Competition ends 31 July 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest you grant to Small Luxury Hotels of the World Limited "a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, transferable, worldwide licence to use, copy, publicly display, distribute, sub-licence, modify, make derivative works and otherwise fully exploit such photograph for all commercial purposes, including marketing and promotion of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, through any media outlet and in any format without attribution of copyright to the entrant/prize winner and without any payment, compensation or permission." In other words they get to use your images for ever whether you win or not. You will never see a penny in payment, and you also lose for ever your exclusive right to license (make money) from your images. The extraordinary thing about this contest is that if you win you will be required to co-operate fully with the organiser, undertake a photographic commission and submit at least twenty high quality and interesting photographs of their Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ venue and surroundings, the exclusive rights to which you will lose as soon as you take the photograph So winning this contest means you do an unpaid commission, and lose the exclusive rights to your work. We congratualate Small Luxury Hotels of the World Limited on their innovative thinking. Why pay for a commission when with a bit of thought it can be done without incurring photographers fees and avoiding all those tiresome negotiations with photographers over licenses. Organisations - Small Luxury Hotels of the World Limited, American Airlines, Hotel Punta Islita, GAIA, The Capital, Luton Hoo, ESENCIA, The Iroquois New York Judges - The website states that "The organisers will appoint an independent judging panel to determine the shortlisted entries and winners." The judges are not named. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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Landscape Photographer of the Year 2008 ends 12 July 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest you "grant Take a view and its sponsors and supporters a non-exclusive, irrevocable licence to reproduce, enlarge, publish or exhibit, on any media, the images for any purpose connected with the competition." and then it goes on to give an ill defined and incomplete list of what they mean by the phrase "connected with the competition." The phrase "connected with the competition" is used in countless competitions and is always ill defined. It can mean just about anything the drafter of the rules want.
Do this and you are giving permission for Take a view and all its partners to use your images for ever, just look below at the number of partners! You will lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. Unfortunately it doesn't stop there, by entering you are allowing all of the UK national and regional tourist associations to use your images freely until 31st December 2009. Well this is a neat trick! Why on earth should these tourist organisations get to use your images for free, they should be paying you for the use of your images! Of course when the 31st of December 2009 comes along, and assuming this contests runs each year (which it does), the UK tourist associations will be in posession of another batch of free imagery. Pro-Imaging think it shameful that bodies in receipt of public funds such as the the UK tourist associations should be party to devices with the aim of getting free imagery. It sets a bad example, however it seems the norm nowaday for a flock of organisations to be circling round ill formed rules looking for pickings.
Organisations - Lightworx Ltd t/a Take a view, EnjoyEngland, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Visit Wales, Visit Scotland, Jersey Tourism, VisitGuernsey, Visit Britain, Britain on View, Light and Land, National Theatre, Sunday Times Magazine, AA Publishing, Amateur Photographer, Bayeux, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Páramo - outdoor clothing with a difference, Outdoor Photography, Fuji Film, Calumet, Lowepro, Giottos, B+W
Judges - All images will be assessed by a panel of judges, including top landscape photographer, Charlie Waite. Charlie is an acclaimed and respected landscape photographer, does he know about the rules of this contest? Contact - express your feelings about this contest to Charlie Waite and
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Guardian Student Media Award 2008 ends 4 July 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest each student "(a) grants GNM a royalty-free licence to copy, edit, display, publish, broadcast and make available their entry in any format in connection with the Awards or promotion of the Awards, the winners and/or runners-up; (b) agrees that GNM may publish their name in connection with GNM's use of the entry; (c) warrants that the work submitted with their entry is their own or the relevant team's original work, that it is not defamatory and that it shall not infringe any third-party rights including, without limitation, privacy; and (d) agrees that GNM may grant to its partners and/or associated companies a sub-licence of the rights licensed to GNM under these terms and conditions on such terms as GNM shall agree in its sole discretion." Enter this contest & you will lose forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your entry. GNM and it's partners and associated companies award themselves a license to use your work for ever. Here are some news items about the Guardian; Guardian backs down on competition 'Rights Grab' after NUJ intervene.
Guardian left red faced over "Inadvertant" competition rights grab.
Guardian caught running second rights grabbing competition.
'Ethical' & 'honest' Guardian lied about NUJ endorsement for controversial contract.
Organisations - Guardian News & Media, Sky News, NME,
Judges - There are differents sets of judges for each category Lionel Barber, editor, Financial Times
Janine Gibson, G3 editor, and editor in chief, MediaGuardian
Andrew Neil, chief executive, Press Holdings Media, and broadcaster,
BBC TV and radio
Alan Rusbridger, editor, the Guardian Jane Bruton, editor, Grazia
Ian Katz, executive editor, the Guardian
Jeremy Langmead, editor, Esquire
Caspar Llewellyn Smith, editor, Observer Music Monthly Duncan Campbell, senior correspondent, the Guardian
Jane Martinson, editor, MediaGuardian
Alex Thomson, presenter, Channel 4 News
Natasha Kaplinsky , presenter, Five News Rachel Cooke, feature writer, The Observer
Giles Coren, restaurant critic, The Times
Simon Hattenstone, feature writer, the Guardian
Katharine Viner, features editor, the Guardian Kate Edwards picture editor, Weekend magazine, the Guardian
Eamonn McCabe, photographer, the Guardian
Gideon Mendel, photographer Giles Brenard, creative director, Guardian Creative
Jeremy Leslie, executive creative director, John Brown Group
Mark Porter, creative editor, the Guardian Emily Bell, director of digital content, Guardian News and Media
Brent Hoberman, co-founder, lastminute.com and mydeco
Paul Macinnes, entertainment editor, guardian.co.uk Alex Needham, culture editor, guardian.co.uk
Ekow Eshun, artistic director, Institute of Contemporary Arts
Caitlin Moran, critic and columnist, The Times
Conor McNicholas, editor, NME Rob Kirk, editorial development manager, Sky News
Dermot Murnaghan, presenter, Sky News Today
Matt Wells, head of audio, guardian.co.uk
Kirsty Young , presenter, BBC Ben Clissitt , sports editor, the Guardian
Martin Samuel , sports writer and columnist, The Times
Jeff Stelling , presenter, Soccer Saturday, Sky Sports Kira Cochrane, women's editor, the Guardian
Joseph Harker , assistant comment editor, the Guardian
Trevor Phillips , chair, Equality and Human Rights Commission
Ben Summerskill , chief executive, Stonewall Isabel Choat , travel editor, the Guardian
Sarah Miller , editor, Conde Nast Traveller Jonathan Freedland, head of policy, the Guardian
Hugh Muir, senior reporter, the Guardian
Lucy Siegle, environmental columnist, Observer Magazine
Zoe Williams, columnist, the Guardian Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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,
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, and to Trevor Philips at
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Trevor Philips is a judge listed above and the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Cultures On My Street ends 30 June 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest "The European Commission reserves the right to use submitted photos for the information campaign and to reproduce all entries for promotional purposes." They get to use your images for ever whether you win or not. You will never see a penny in payment, and you also lose for ever your exclusive right to license (make money) from your images. Organisations - European Commission, Berlitz, EF - Education First, The European Federation of Youth Hostel Associations, The European Youth Forum, The European Youth Parliament Judges - The website states "In total, four winners will be selected from among all eligible submissions. Three will be chosen by a jury of established artists and leading figures on intercultural issues. The fourth winner will be selected by the visitors to the competition website through a process of online voting." No where does it name who the judges are.
Contact - To express your feelings about this contest click here.
Canon Fan Foto ends 29 June 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest you are agreeing that -
"(i) UEFA and Canon are automatically granted a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive (subject to (iii) below), unrestricted, worldwide and irrevocable licence to copy, display, modify, publish, translate and otherwise use that Content, in whole or in part, on the Website; (ii) UEFA and Canon have the right to use your name in connection with the use or publication of the Content on the Website; and (iii) during the period of the Competition, you will not use any Image for any other purpose. - and if you are a winner "you agree to grant or procure to grant to both UEFA and Canon a licence which is perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide and royalty-free to copy, display, modify and publish the Content for internal and external use and for use in advertising, promotions and trade. You agree that you will not grant to any party other than UEFA and Canon the rights granted to UEFA and Canon under this Paragraph 22. You acknowledge and accept that UEFA and Canon may ask you to execute a document setting out the foregoing in writing." Whew!! What does that all mean you wonder? Firstly, if you enter a photo, whether you are a winner or not, UEFA and Canon get to use your image for ever on 'the website'. You have lost forever your exclusive right to license (earn money from) your photo. It gets worse however if you are a winner, you lose even more! If you are a winner UEFA and Canon get to use your image forever in commercial usage (i.e. they sell it for money as often as they like) and you will never get a penny. But here's the neat bit! You are not allowed to license your own photo to others in the way that UEFA and Canon have claimed from you. So although they have not claimed copyright, you are left with a valueless image.
Organisations - Canon, UEFA, Getty Images
Judges - Public voting in phase 1. Phase 2 winners are selected "by a Getty Images judge". In Phase 3 the overall winner is selected by Getty Images. Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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,
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,
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, and to Getty Images.
Hello Young Photographers Award ends 27 June 2008 Take Care! - By entering this contest you "give HML, GIG and NUK a worldwide royalty free perpetual licence to edit, publish and use all or segments of each entry in any and all media (including print and online) for publicity and news purposes relating to this competition and to the publicity and promotion of this competition in future years. In particular, all entrants license HML the right to publish their entry on HMC and in print. Where an image is used, the photographer will be credited. Publication of any entry does not necessarily mean that the entrant has won a prize and no consideration shall be due or payable, or compensation awarded, in the event of publication without any prize being awarded."
HML, GIG, and NUK get to use your images for ever whether you win or not. You will never see a penny in payment, and you also lose for ever your exclusive right to license (make money) from your images. See Organisations below for what organisations the abbreviations HML, GIG, and NUK refer to.
The winner of the contest will be commissioned to do a photo shoot for Hello magazine. Does the winner retain any rights to his images? The rules don't say. Will the winner be required to sign a contract assigning copyright in the commissioned images to HML? The rules don't say.
Organisations - Hello! Magazine Ltd, Nikon UK, Getty Images Gallery Judges - Lorenzo Agius, photographer, contact at
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Mike Daines, photographer, contact at
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Dave Hogan, photographerPenny Lancaster Stewart, celebrity
Terry O’Neill, photographer Christopher Simon Sykes, photographerAidan Sullivan , Vice President Photo Assignments for Getty ImagesJohn Swannell , photographer, contact at
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Mark Thompson , photographer, contact at
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Ronnie Whelan, former HELLO! editor Contact - express your feelings about this contest to
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to
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and to any of the judges.
Pilsner Urquel International Photography Awards 2008 ends 15 June 2008 Take Care! - The rules say "Copyright and all other rights remain that of the photographer. Any photograph used by IPA shall carry the photographer's credit line. Use may include publication in any IPA media sponsor publication. All entrants understand that any image submitted to the competition may be used by IPA and the SABMiller group for marketing and promotional purposes including in any media such as exhibitions, print and digital media directly related to the IPA competition." It is unfortunate that IPA did not set a limit of two years usage for images submitted to the contest. Had that been stated it is possible this contest could have been considered for the Rights On List subject to clarifying some points with the organisers. As it is they get to use your photograph for ever and you lose forever your exclusive right to license your photograph.
Organisations - International Photography Awards, Pilsner Urquell, atedge, Orbitz, Ilford, Kingston, Hasselblad, Photoflex.com, splashlight, Canon, The Black Book, Fresh Lists, Lensbabies, Wacom, Workbook, Hewlit Packard, Les Rencontres D'Arles, Advertising Photographers of Amercica (APA), American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), Society of Motion Picture Still Photographer (SMPSP), National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), Photoworkshop.com, Canadian Association For Photographic Art, DivePhotoGuide.com, Women in Photography International, Planetpoint,
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