{"id":4859,"date":"2015-08-10T18:12:06","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T18:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/\/?p=4859"},"modified":"2015-08-10T19:00:31","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T19:00:31","slug":"be-careful-when-entering-photo-contests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/08\/10\/be-careful-when-entering-photo-contests\/","title":{"rendered":"Be careful when entering Photo Contests"},"content":{"rendered":"

My town (Enfield, NH) is hosting a photo contest. You can read the details here<\/a>\u00a0(PDF). There are no contest prizes other than the pride of being selected to be featured in a town municipal calendar. If you\u2019re an amateur photographer, these are a nice opportunity to have you work featured in a cool way but there\u2019s no payment or prizes offered. I selected 7 of my photos taken in the last 2 months as entries. I read the form completely and realized this could be a huge issue:<\/p>\n

“Submissions become the property of the Town of Enfield, which reserves the right to use any image in any other publication or media.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In summary, the 7 photos I submit immediately become the property of my town and they can use those images in any other publication or media. It\u2019s not mentioned for how long but I assume as I\u2019m transferring ownership, that means forever.<\/p>\n

I have seen many instances of this such as a photographer is granting a perpetual and global license to a party to use that photo forever and ever. This is quite common but the photographer can still use that photo on their portfolio, personal site or license it to someone else down the road. My town is basically saying that all of my submitted photos are owned by them even if I don\u2019t win and if I do, all I get is the pride of having my photo show on the town website and a 2016 calendar.<\/p>\n

I emailed the town asking for clarification on the rules.<\/p>\n

It turns out that what is stated on their contest form is not true at all. From Alisa, the Town Manager, they simply wanted to make it easy for them to use the photos for Town of Enfield marketing and local newsletters, memos and on their website. I fully understand that and it\u2019s quite normal to do a license like that as a photographer. She also confirmed that if another Enfield organization liked the photos and wanted to use them, she would give them my contact information and I would work with them directly. I would not be transferring ownership.<\/p>\n

This is a perfect summary of a photographer licensing his photo to one group but retaining ownership of his work. I don\u2019t mean to single out my town specifically but this is a good example of how wording can be very important when it comes to digital copyright. If you\u2019re writing rules for a contest or asking artists for their work, it\u2019s good to make it clear that you are only licensing it and what your use for it is and for how many months, years you\u2019ll want to have that license.<\/p>\n

Here is one of the photos I submitted. I\u2019m really happy with it:<\/p>\n

\"Summer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My town (Enfield, NH) is hosting a photo contest. You can read the details here\u00a0(PDF). There are no…\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2016-03-17T02:22:20Z","apple_news_api_id":"1dc4a999-980d-4193-8b21-6dcc34d0932f","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2016-03-17T02:22:20Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AHcSpmZgNQZOLIW3MNNCTLw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-technology","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-1gn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14151,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2026\/03\/11\/enfield-new-hampshire-hates-sidewalks-mobility-and-pedestrian-safety\/","url_meta":{"origin":4859,"position":0},"title":"Enfield New Hampshire Hates Sidewalks, Mobility and Pedestrian Safety","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"March 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"My wife and I voted in the Spring town election where we live and we voted that it makes a lot of sense to add two crosswalks, additional lakeside park vehicle parking and a sidewalk on the opposite side of the lake to another area that has grassy fields, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Rants"","block_context":{"text":"Rants","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/rants\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CleanShot-2026-03-11-at-15.04.11%402x.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CleanShot-2026-03-11-at-15.04.11%402x.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CleanShot-2026-03-11-at-15.04.11%402x.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CleanShot-2026-03-11-at-15.04.11%402x.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CleanShot-2026-03-11-at-15.04.11%402x.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1667,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/02\/03\/please-answer-your-emails\/","url_meta":{"origin":4859,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 Valley News, please answer your emails.","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"February 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've written about this before but possibly with too many curse words. 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Really happy with the results. \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Photography","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/photography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lake Mascoma, Enfield NH @ Night","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7368\/14007908240_853951ea06_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7368\/14007908240_853951ea06_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7368\/14007908240_853951ea06_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1129,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/11\/02\/in-celebration-of-our-san-francisco-giants\/","url_meta":{"origin":4859,"position":5},"title":"\u2605 In Celebration of Our San Francisco Giants","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"November 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I attended my first SF Giants game in 2008. 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