|
My own estimate is that there will be no more than 1500 entries which of course means a direct gross income of 15k. After staff, overhead & other running costs, I don't expect there will be much change left, leaving just enough to cover some of the prize money as stated in the rules.
All print media has suffered from diminishing ad revenue & increases in overhead (costs) so a change in the format of this competition didn't come as a surprise. I thought the offer last year was, in light of the general economic malaise, rather generous. And there appears to be an attempt to democratise the prize distribution
for 2011 which seems more balanced.
The problem with 'free' entry is that the overwhelming majority of submissions are, putting it kindly, rubbish. Check out the Macallan Masters of Photography Competition which is free to everyone. Not only is the overall quality of submissions very low, the theme, "Great Journey" has barely been considered in the vast majority of work, making a mockery of the whole event. And the voting mechanism is dependent on entrants having large lists of friends, no doubt all resident on Facebook or Myspace.
I'd rather compete with more serious contenders & take my chances at being measured by people in the photographic industry. Of course I want to win but so what if I dont. I at least feel that I have participated in something worthwhile, genuine, valuable & most of all relevant. And the exposure on this most visited of websites can do no harm whatsoever. As for the Macallan competition, as soon as the pages started to fill with arbitrary nonsense, I withdrew my three entries & wrote to the organisers to explain why. The wrote me back and to my surprise invited me to reconsider. I did & told them my decision was final. There are other more worthwhile events to participate in. I shall stick to my convictions for now and support this competition. Let it runs its course before making a final judgment.
G2
|