Interested in having your photography receive more exposure and possibly win some cash or camera equipment for yourself as well? Try entering your photographs into a photography contest!
Photography contests are a great way to gain some exposure to your work as well as receive some feedback, and the chance to win some cash or equipment isn’t too bad either.
There are many contests online that are free to enter with great prizes. For example, the photography contest May the Best Photo Win is free to enter and has a cash prize every month. Many of these contests are based on votes that each photo receives and others are based on a panel of judges. Either way, if you follow these steps you will greatly increase your chances.
First Step: Scope out which contests you’d like to enter
First off, find out which photography contests you’re interested in entering. Most contests run monthly so get accustomed to how they operate and see what photos are doing well and which ones are not. Read the rules of the contest as well because all contests are different. This way you are prepared to submit your photo for next month’s contest right when it starts.
Second Step: Prepare the photo(s) you’d like to submit
Based on the preliminary investigation that you’ve done, choose which of your photos or photo you’d like to submit. If a panel judges the contest, look at the previous winners and see if there’s a theme or similar aspect amongst them. Maybe the judges like a crisp modern looking photo or maybe they prefer a classic black and white feel. Choose a photo that you believe would fit well with the collection of previous winners.
Third Step: Enter the contest early on
Typically contests will have an entry period while others will allow submissions anytime during the contest. Either way, the earlier you enter, the more time you will have to promote your photo. As stated earlier, many of these contests are based solely on the votes of visitors to the site, so the more time people have to vote on your photo, the better. Even if a panel judges the contest, after 1,000 submissions photos will start to blend together, so be one of the first they see.
Fourth Step: Promote, Promote, Promote
Many of the photo contests are based off of visitor votes, so you need to promote your photo to friends and family via social networks to gain as many votes as possible. This is key to contests based on visitor’s votes. Try to spread the word and let people know what the prize is because they’ll be more inclined to help you if they know what they’re actually helping you for. There are also going to be people who visit the contest’s site regularly just to see good photography that will vote, so it’s not always just a popularity contest.
These simple steps should greatly increase your chances in the next contest you enter, but even if you don’t win you at least get exposure to your work.
Good luck and keep shooting!
Author: Nicholas Moeggenberg runs the photography contest May the Best Photo Win.