I think I hurt my sister’s feelings tonight, and probably my niece’s, too. Sis called and mentioned that my niece had won a photography contest. She read me the letter…"congratulations, your photo has been selected from 8,573 entries for inclusion in this year’s edition of Photo Vibe (not sure of the name). The judges were especially pleased with your use of light and the assymetry of your composition. You can get a copy of Photo Vibe for just $59.95, and will then become eligible for the grand prize of $5000…
I say this is just a scam, since no legitimate contest would require you to buy the winning entires in order to qualify for the grand prize, similar to those “Who’s Who in American High Schools” books where you get included if you pay. In other words, not a real photo competition at all, but a pay to get published thing. I could hear my niece (16 and very naive) in the background saying to my sister, “but you’re going to buy the book, right, because it means I’m published, and this is the only way to prove it.” Apparently one of her teachers sent the photo in for this “competition” and now that she has “won” she wants to use this on her future resume and college applications. I kind of discouraged my sister from buying the book, because $60+ is a lot of money for them to spend (especially when this child has been running up huge phone bills with her constant text messaging) and I could tell I’d stepped over some boundary. The niece is so excited that she’s getting published, and I called it a scam.
Now she has talent, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure this is a prize-winning photo. But I don’t think future employers and colleges will be impressed with winning this particular competition, or that they will consider this as being legitimately published. I wish I knew more specifics about the whole deal, like the actual name so I could research it better, but the conversation withered quickly and I think that they both thought I was being negative and unsupportive. But my sister always gets sucked into these slightly scammy things, and I’m always the voice of skepticism, so I hope she’s not too mad at me.
But what do you all think…scam or true, respected competition? You gotta pay to get published (she really believes they will print her photo in the book of prize winners wheter she pays or not…I doubt it). Anyone have any experience with this type of thing? Am I now the mean auntie?
I had a run-in with the poetry version of one of these, a few years ago when I was a youngling on the 'net. Mum purchased the book and everything. Then the letters started - “Come to our convention in Wisconsin. Only $500 for 2 days of POETRY!!”. They continued for about two or three years before I think they finally gave up because we weren’t responding.
It’s a scam. I enlisted myself on Poetry.com back in high school and it’s the exact same thing. They say they’ve selected you from a crowd of thousands to appear in their latest edition, which you may purchase for the low, low price of (surprise) $59.95.
There was no selection process and they actually printed whatever people sent them. I and some pals sent in gibberish and rubbish. We were surprised that they actually culled the gibberish yet still accepted the rubbish.
I’m sure your niece’s picture is far easier to look at than my high school writings, but it’s a dirty scam. Blame it on them, they’re the ones who got her hopes up. And send a dead fish to the teacher who entered her. Sorry, dude.
Well, it’s not so much a “scam” in the sense of being dishonest (I suspect the fine print may make no guarantee of it being included if she doesn’t pay), but clearly its not something that’s going to impress anyone … except possibly her and your parents. If it makes them happy and it’s their $60, who are you to disillusion them?
As my brother likes to say about his wife: Ya gotta pick which hill you wanna die on.
This thread is quite an interesting discussion. I’m going to include it in my book “Greatest Internet Threads”. All you need to do is send me $59.95. Think about how impressed your family, friends, and boss will be when your pearls of wisdom have been published.
So does this company print a different book for each person, substituting in a page with their submission? Or do they simply fill an ‘edition’ with paid works, and start a new one once they’ve got that?
If the latter, I’d be worried that your sister’s picture will wind up being a 1" thumbnail on a page with 20 other pictures.
If this is really a prize winning photo, you may also want to check to see if it limits future rights or sales of this photo. That would be adding insult to injury.
If she doesn’t believe you, ask her to wait it out while you send in your own"prize-winning" photo, and then show her your invitation.
Yes, maybe you shouldn’t disillusion people. But it’s much much worse to allow some asshole to profit at the expense of other people’s dreams. People get badly hurt by these things, and the last thing you should do is encourage your family members to send them money. The mother may be a lost cause, but the girl is young and artistic young people will encounter countless people seeking to take them on a ride. It’s better that she learn how to suss out a scam now than lose something more serious (like her dreams) in the future.
Suggestion: Look at your nieces work. You already said it is good, but let her know it is good enough that they should be paying her for the right to publish it.
No matter what it is, there is probably some niche publication that will appropriatly cover the content of the photo. Think beyond “Time” and “News Week”. There are tons of interest specific magazines that survive on advertising and society membership dues rather than large circulation. The contributers are not paid well, if at all, but they sure don’t pay for the privlege!
For example, I have been published in “Soaring” magazine. I got paid a tee-shirt and 10 copies of the edition I was in. But I think it may have influanced one person to hire me in a totally unrelated field. Basically, it showed I could write in complete sentences and have a sense of humor. Neither were critical to the job I was being considered for, but were faults the person I was replacing was known for.
If it is a landscape there is probably some magazine that focuses on that type of landscape…even a desert: “Southwest Style”. If there is an animal in the picture, there is probably a magazine devoted to fans of that animal, if possibly even the specific breed and color. Whatever is in the picture that makes it interesting probably has a publication devoted to that subject.
That’s the way it worked with the poetry.com book. There was about fifty million poems in there, and mine was on a page with about twenty or twenty five others.
I’m still of the opinion that the OP really should bring it up again, because it is nothing but a moneymaking scam, and won’t even net her anything she can put on a CV/in a portfolio.
Ahhh. but if she doesn’t buy the book, she’ll never know if she’s in there or not, and since the only way to see the book is to buy the book, then your photo will be in the book, which leads me to believe that the “circle of photography” is the circle of life.
