I wanted to pass along some valuable information for my fellow photographers and future photogs as well. Be very careful when entering photography contests with respect to your copyright. I was about to enter Outside Magazine's South African photography contest when I noticed a little blurb in the fine print... [bold added for emphasis]
GENERAL CONDITIONS: Submission of an entry grants Sponsor and its designees the right in perpetuity to publish, use, adapt, edit and/or modify the Entry in any way, in commerce and in any and all media worldwide now known or hereinafter developed, without limitation and without further consent, consideration or notice to the winner. Submission of any entry further constitutes the winner’s irrevocable assignment and transfer to the Sponsor any and all rights, title, and interest in and to the Entry, including, without limitation, all intellectual property rights.
Seeing how I am not an attorney or adept in IP law, this still raises a big red flag to me. I follow Carolyn E. Wright's Photo Attorney blog and upon reading a lot of her posts I have decided to heed her advice and be choosy in the contests I enter. I suggest you do the same! While it would be great to enter as many contests as possible, giving up your copyright and IP rights is a deal breaker for me. Especially for some of my best work which I do not want to even come close to giving up any part of my ownership to some corporation.
So be careful and read the fine print! Cheers!
