Summer Contest Questions! PDN Magazine contests

[jackphoto]

Glad I found this site to mingle with fellow artists!

I am particularly interested in talking to people about photo contests...what are the good ones and what makes a person really want to apply for a specific contest?

I have checked out a couple so far. Some are with PDN mag, CMYK mag, and National Geographic. I am trying to compare them.

Has anyone ever applied for either? They are both annual contests I believe. But I would like to hear the public's opinion.

[PrintDriver]

The first thing you need to do is read the rules. I went immediately to the Nat'l Geographic site to see what you were talking about and the log-in wanted to much information right off the bat.

Read the rules to see what rights you are giving up in the photo just for submitting it, let alone winning anything with it. Do you give the contest entity permission to use it in perpetuity for whatever purpose they want? Do you want that?

Second, look at the prize. Is it something you really want. A trip to Guatemala?????

Third, are you just looking for glory?

Fourth, have you scoped out the winners from previous years? How do you stand against your competition. Submissions cost money.
Can you compete with Carlos Sereo on PDN?
With Tylenol and Chapstick ad execs on CMYK?

You won't know unless you enter, I suppose.

I deleted your duplicate post. No need to post more than once. It gets too confusing.