Verbal.

Not a month goes by without some competition offering instant fame, bundles of cash, groupies and a spot on Celebrity Big Brother. Hell, if you do a quick Google for ‘photography competitions’, you get the scale of how many there are.

What makes these competitions bad for any working photographer is often the terms and conditions. I was contacted yesterday and asked if I’d like to enter into a competition up in Johannesburg, as the person liked my ‘Spaces’ project and thought i’d be good at capturing their new building.

Being the obsessive-compulsive freak I am sometimes, I looked at the entry form and scanned the terms and conditions and noticed this rather ominous line”

13: ACME Architects and Someone will own the full copyright to the various entries. By signing this entry form, you assign the
copyright of your photograph to ACME Architects and Someone.

Que?

This isn’t new and happens on a regular basis, just have a look over at the following links:

• http://www.lightstalkers.org/right_grabs__microsoft_future_pro_photographers_photography_contest
• http://www.lightstalkers.org/rights_grab__national_geographic_is_no_better_than_the_others
• http://www.lightstalkers.org/rights_grab_attempt
• http://www.lightstalkers.org/bbc-photo-submission-rights-grab
• http://europe.ifj.org/en/articles/nuj-denounces-bauer-s-rights-grab-contributor-contract

I contacted the person who invited me and politely explained how it wouldn’t be possible for me to enter, due to the restrictive clause and thought nothing more about it. Twenty minutes later, I received a response

Hi Daniel, the new wording is as follows:

‘The winner and finalists retain copyright ownership of their photographs, but agree to grant a copyright license, without fee, to ACME Architects and Someone.’

I’ve used your feedback, as well as a couple of others, to stress the urgency to ACME and managed to get a new entry form.’

Wow, someone actually responded, admitted the error and rectified it there and then. This is so refreshing, especially when it happens all the time and people happily relinquish their ownership of the images they submit.

Now if only the other competitions could be so mature and respect our livelihood.

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