I posted this last week in the Creativity forum, but as Dell Elzey pointed out, some of the regulars here may not have seen it:(posted 9784 days ago)If I ran a real contest...judging photos submitted by visitors to B&W World, with real prizes like boxes of printing paper and bricks of film or imaging software giveaways...would anyone participate? I have been struggling with this issue for a few months now, and have decided to open it up to the people who would make or break whatever I attempted...you.
I envision an ongoing, monthly contest, the winners being prominently displayed on the B&W World Home Page for a month and getting as-yet unknown prizes (I've just started discussions with some companies).
After that, things get vague. I can use some input here.
What kind of prizes would motivate you to enter? Would a brick of the film of your choice by Brand Z do it? 100 sheets of 8x10 premium real paper? Kai's Power Tools? A Leica M6? :-) Should each month have a contest "theme" or be open-ended?
I'm trying not to overburden my email server with a glut of GIF's and JPG's, so: any suggestions on how people can submit images without attaching them to email? Snail mail would be ok for me.
How much lead time should I give? If I announced a contest today (December 10), should it be due by Feb. 1? Later? Earlier?
Why run a contest? Because I would like to see some return on the thousands of hours of sweat equity that I've put into this site, and contests are popular and tend to attract sponsors. They also can be a fun way to highlight individual photos.
Comments?