Looking to reignite your passion for photography? Seeking a little praise by professionals, recognition by your peers, and perhaps even a little free advanced instruction, camera equipment or travel perks?

Entering a photography competition offers a great way to get a little or all of the above while also providing a way to develop your skills and experience – whether you’re a seasoned pro or a weekend shutterbug. Bear in mind that winning a photo competition has more to do with how you photograph than what you photograph. Try not to prejudge your images – just enter contests with the idea that you’re likely to learn a lot and come away with fresh ideas. The key is to enjoy what you’re doing while shooting for more, so to speak.

One word of caution: Beware of contests that offer to provide exposure in exchange for rights to your work. It also doesn’t hurt to ensure your images have been uploaded to a LicenseStream Creator PRO user account which, in addition to providing automated licensing and royalty settlement services, provides proactive technology to track your images  as they get distributed. It also provides regular reporting on where a content owner’s images are found so the owner can take appropriate action.

Here are a few additional tips on how to approach photography contests and come away each time a winner – whether or not you actually win a contest:

• Do your homework: Research competitions online and look for one that matches your interests. Review the entries of past winners to see what worked – did they have people in them? Were they action shots? Were they abstract or manipulated digitally in some way?
• Practice, practice, practice: Once you’ve determined which contests to enter, grab your camera and click away. No matter what the focus, taking plenty of shots of a subject will give you the luxury to select from a wide variety of potential entries. 
• Review the contest’s categories: Many contests offer more than one category, enabling you to choose where your image stands the best chance of winning. If you want to enjoy the rush of winning, look for a category that may attract fewer entries.
• Follow the rules: This sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised at how many contestants fail to follow contest rules, resulting in their elimination. An easy way to stay ahead of the pack is to follow the rules to the letter --- and this means meeting deadlines!
• Read the fine print: Avoid contests that simply offer exposure in exchange for gaining rights to your photograph (except for the right to display your winning photo online or off). For a good list of criteria to consider as you research contests, check out The Bill of Rights for Photography Competitions located on the UK-based pro-imaging site. It warns competitions that try to claim copyright for your works, fail to give credit for all free usage, add, alter or remove metadata from digital images, or that require an entrant to sign a commercial agreement as a condition of winning.

Here are a few upcoming contests that we found interesting and that abide by The Bill of Rights for Photography Competitions:

• Shoot Nations 2010: Will launch Friday, May 21st with the theme “City Living.” This year, the contest is appealing to young people (under 25 years old) around the world to help build a global picture of what urban environments mean to them. Are the streets paved with gold, or fraught with risk and difficulty? How to the challenges of growing up in the city differ as a boy or a girl? Prizes aren’t yet posted for this year’s contest, but in the past have included the opportunity to be exhibited at the UN Secretariat building in New York, a new Olympus SLR camera, a National Geographic magazine subscription and a contemporary world wall map from The Future Mapping Company. For more information go to the ShootNations09 site  which includes information about this year’s contest. Competition closes Saturday, July 31st.
• Demotix: A user-generated newswire and photojournalism community with more than 14,000 users in 110 countries worldwide, Demotix holds a monthly competition called Viewfinder with a changing theme. For example, the Viewfinder competition in April focused on the art of portrait photography. Prizes lean toward the career-advancing tools, such as the opportunity to turn your images into a photojournalism book or to get your best images printed on glossy stock.   For more information, click into Viewfinder. 
• International Garden Photographer of the Year 2010: A prestigious competition open to everyone, anywhere, this competition imposes no restrictions on the type of camera you use or the techniques you use to produce an image. The competition accepts entries in six categories – ranging from People in the Garden to The Edible Garden, and also offers four seasonal competitions. Unlike many professional competitions, this one provides all entrants with professional feedback on their entries – upon request after the judging of the competition is completed. It also offers a “People’s Choice” award, that allows registered visitors to the site to vote for their favorite images in a different category each month. Prizes include cash awards and exhibitions of the winner’s work. The current contest, Spring into Life, closes May 31st, and the next contest, Insect Beauties, opens June 1. To learn more, check out International Garden Photographer of the Year 2010.  
• NSS Cave Arts and Music Salons: Organized by the U.S. National Speleological Society (NSS) to promote and recognize top-notch cave-related art, artists and musicians, NSS Salons are open to everyone so that those who enter need not be members of the NSS.  For photographers, there are two salons. Prizes consist of blue ribbons and winners can elect to have the NSS promote their work for use in periodicals or on Web sites to showcase winners, promote future NSS congresses, and competitions. The Photo Salon, to which contestants may submit slides and digital images has a closing date of May 15, 2010. The Print Salon, to which photographic prints can be submitted, has a closing date of July 31, 2010. Details about each competition can be found on the NSS Site: Photo Salon  and Print Salon.   

Plenty of other contests can be found online or through various photography organizations. If at first you don’t succeed, keep entering. Contests are a great way to make new contacts and friends. Eventually, you are sure to win your fair share of contests.

Most of all – be sure to enjoy yourself!  If you’re not having fun, you’re probably putting too much pressure on yourself and are not going to deliver your best work. 

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