IPA Announces Finalists in Not Another Photo Contest

Judges Select 51 Images In The IPA Photo Contest

For Immediate Release:

December 12, 2010…International Press Association has announced that their Not Another Photo Contest was a huge success and they have announced the contest finalists.  The original plan was to select 30 finalists and then 14 winners, but the enormous popularity of the contest meant the judges had a more challenging assignment. They had to select these finalists from over 1500 qualified images in both the amateur and professional categories.

Over 800 photographers sent in their entries and these had to first qualify to be entered into the contest.  Those that were entered, then had to receive popular votes from over 70,000 visitors to the IPA site.  Contest submissions ended on November 30th and the three judges had to then view all of the entries, list their picks on a spread sheet and then compare their picks to the popular votes.  At that point, computations were done and the judges decided to settle on 51 images instead of the original plan of 30.

Although some images were excellent on their own, in some cases they received very few or no popular votes.  IPA said that this contest was not simply another photo contest, but one that would teach photographers the importance of marketing their images using social networking sites and their personal contacts.

It was noted that in some cases photographers didn’t even place votes on their own images.  According to an IPA spokesman, “We couldn’t believe that anyone that took the time to enter our contest didn’t bother to place a vote on their own images.  We understand that some people believe that “self promotion” has been considered a poor way to promote ones works, but in todays difficult times, we wanted to teach them that it is perfectly fine to do just that and utilize the power of the internet to do it.”

IPA stats showed that the number one referring site was Facebook.  This didn’t come as a big surprise considering that IPA has over 7,000 friends and members of their groups on Facebook alone and they have been promoting the contest there as well as other networking sites.  Over 6,000 inbound sites linked to IPA. They believe this enormous exposure the contest received was due to their unique voting concept and their use of social networking to take this contest to the next level.

Winners to Be Selected By December 24th

The final fourteen winners, two first place, two second place and 10 honorable mentions will be selected once again using the popular votes as 25% of the final score and the three judges for the additional 75%.  ”We are shooting for December 20th to announce winners, but want to give our finalists a little extra time to get more votes in” said Len Rapoport, IPA president.

• Over $8,000 in prizes to be awarded

Two First place winners will receive close to $2,000 each in Alien Skin Software, Manfrotto Tripods, Kata pro bags and a one year IPA Platinum membership package.

Two Second place winners will receive  close to $700 in prizes which also consists of Alien Skin Software, Manfrotto Tripods, Kata Laptop case and a one year IPA Gold Membership package.

Ten Honorable Mention winners will receive a $50 Credit toward an IPA Platinum Membership or Renewal (for current members), a Kata Laptop bag and USA winners will also receive a one year subscription to either Shutterbug or American Photo Magazine.

Winners will be asked to supply original image files for verification of the IPA contest rules that require limited retouching or photo adjustments and will take part in future IPA contest promotions.

Complete prize list can be found here…

•  The Next Not Another Photo Contest

IPA’s plan is to continue these contests which will depend on sponsor and photographer support.  IPA stated that the contest had no financial support for this contest and thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours to  run the contest came solely from IPA.  ”We are a small organization that wanted to introduce our organization and sponsors products to the thousands of photographers that are struggling today to find new ways to market their photos and services.  It was our hope that photographers would realize the many benefits of membership in IPA and join us” said Len Rapoport. Unfortunately, most simply came directly to the contest site, sent in their entries and never took the time to visit our site or join our organization.  The reality is that we cannot cover the enormous costs in labor and promotion without sponsors willing to donate more then prizes or see a direct boost in membership as a result of the contest.

Their  tentative plan is to create another unique contest that will be open to all of the wonderful HDR (High Dynamic Range), panoramic and other images that have been improved or changed using photo editing and creative software.

IPA’s first contest didn’t allow these special images and they had to reject many entries and question many others that seemed to look a bit unreal.  With the popularity of HDR and panoramic’s today and all the new software that makes it relatively easy to get exceptional artistic images. IPA believes that their next contest could truly bring out some of the most amazing photos and photographic art, while encouraging photographers to try some of these new techniques and software.

•  Sponsors Seeking Participation

IPA is now in talks with a number of major companies for contributions of prizes and the funds it will require to make the next contest a reality.  Interested companies or individual sponsors should contact Len Rapoport, IPA’s president to discuss the many opportunities and sponsorship levels open.

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Media and Sponsor Contact:

Len Rapoport – President
International Press Association
International Press Blog

T. 732 888-2777
E. lenrap@internationalpress.com