Sponsorship • Advertising Opportunities

IPA Announces Unique Sponsor Program For Their Photo Contests

For Immediate Release:

October 16, 2007…International Press Association has announced that their Not Another Photo Contest is becoming a huge success and they are now seeking new sponsors for their ongoing contest program.  The contests will run every three months if they are successful in locating qualified sponsors.  The plan is to have sponsors who will contribute prizes and in some cases help offset some of the real costs to promote the contest.

“The reception to the current contest has been enormous” said Len Rapoport, the contests creator and IPA president.  ”With a limited budget for advertising and promotion, our site  has received close to 15,000 unique visitors and close to 2 million hits in only 10 days.  The bandwidth used to deliver the images visitors are looking at has exceeded 60 GB in that short period of time.” he said.

As it builds up momentum and entrants in the contest promote voting for their images by using their “Vote For Me” linked banner, IPA estimates that their first contest will receive over 2,500 individual images. These are the images that have passed the first stage eliminations.  IPA expects over 1500 contestants entering the contest, which many contest promotors will agree is an amazing participation for a contest this size that is only open two months for contest submissions.

With this remarkable and targeted audience made up primarily of amateur and some professional photographers, they believe that sponsorship and advertising in their IPA Contest Program is not only a good investment for companies in terms of cost, but a wonderful way to keep ones product in the viewers minds.  They have found that the average visitor to our contest is staying and looking at images from 5-15 minutes or longer.  This means that the contest sponsors and advertisers will enjoy the exposure and attention their products deserve.

Why The Contest Sponsorship Program Is Unique

IPA has done extensive research and viewed hundreds of other contests and designed this contest to appeal to a much wider audience then most. Unlike other contests, you will note this one is quite different in the following ways.

• There are no fees of any kind involved in entering the contest

IPA claims that they have read so many complaints in all of their social networking groups that photographers feel that a photo contest should not be a gambling experience or a lottery.  Although some contests offer larger prizes, they often come at a cost to the entrant, the IPA contest is free of any costs to the photographers.

•  There are no specific themes, this means more entries

“Themes may be great if you own a shoe company and run a contest for shoe photos, but IPA has found that theme contests, that  may be wonderful for those that run them, limit the number of entries” said an IPA spokesman.   IPA feels their contests should be open to as many skilled photographers as possible. The IPA contest seeks photographers “Best Shots” one theme that seems to be inclusive vs. exclusive.

•  A contest  for many skilled photographers

IPA’s contest is open to both amateur’s and  professional’s (one that earns more then 50% of their income from photography).  Either skill level can enter the IPA contests and all entrants have an equal opportunity to win prizes.

•  A Contest that is International

The IPA contest is open for submissions from residents who reside in the United States and the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland,  Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

IPA intends on opening the contest to photographers globally, but must first evaluate contest prize restrictions and delivery of those prizes to winners in foreign lands.

•  All entries receive exposure and gain credibility

At IPA they believe in helping their members and now their contestants build credibility for their works while gaining important exposure. Unlike many contests that never publish the entries they feel those that pass the initial qualification review and have been entered are worthy of that exposure and credibility which they will receive in the voting galleries where their images reside.  Each image contains the photographers name and a copyright notice.

• IPA believes in complete transparency and honesty

Many contest ask contestants to enter their photos and one day in the future winners will be chosen.  IPA states that contestants never see their competition, so they really have no idea of why they may have lost the contest or what images to enter on future contests.

Mr. Rapoport stated that “Photographers don’t learn anything from entering these contests.  They are not involved in the contest and in most cases, after they enter them, they don’t revisit the site or forget about the contest and the sponsors. The IPA contest is designed to give all our contestants an opportunity to see every other entry and learn what they may be able to do to make their images even better.”

• IPA Respects Photographers Rights and Copyrights

Many contests are run as an inexpensive way to gather photographic content for a companies products or promotions.  The fine print on many actually ask the entrants and winners both to surrender their rights to those images and use them for their own commercial purposes. IPA says, “this is stealing a photographers hard work and creative talents and we strongly oppose these types of promotions and contests”.

For years IPA has been a staunch supporter of photographers rights and the right to be compensated for use of their images.  Photographers have been pleased to discover that they retain all of their rights to their images in the IPA contests.  Successful entrants only agree to have their images appear in the contest and contest promotions that will in effect offer them even more exposure and credibility.  The Rules are very clear when they state “We hope you understand our intent is to protect your rights and wish to support your efforts.”

• TV Talent Show Voting adds excitement and increases traffic

Because of the IPA unique voting system, contestants are encouraged to get out and get the votes which again keeps them involved and drives traffic to the site. By adapting the same methods that have proven themselves on shows like America’s Got Talent,  Dancing With The Stars and so many others, they have been able to customize this voting scheme to work in their contest.

Popular votes for photographic entries amount to 25% of the total score.  Their panel of three judges, each have a total of the remaining 75% of the votes.  All entries are pre-qualified as they are received and those that don’t meet the contests standards for technique and aesthetics are never entered into the contest. This keeps the quality of those that were successful in being accepted much higher, thus encouraging more people to visit the contest pages and vote on their favorite images.

• Thousands of dollars in valuable prizes, means more participation

IPA believes that people need to be motivated to enter any contest, especially a photo contest. With literally thousands of photo contests being run each year, IPA wanted to make sure that not only would their contest be one of the best, but would offer some of the best prizes. Through their sponsorship program they have been fortunate to gain the support of three exceptional companies, Alien Skin Software, Manfrotto USA, Kata Bags and we will continue to seek out others for future sponsorship opportunities.

• IPA offers sponsors and advertisers even more

“IPA has so many way to support our sponsors and advertisers and it doesn’t end with a banner on our web pages or a list of the prizes they may be contributing.  IPA is a legitimate and recognized web publication with thousands of published articles and images from our professional staff and from our independent staff members.

The millions of visitors to the IPA site over the years keep coming back to read the latest reviews of trade and consumer shows they cover. Others will read the many reviews that deal with travel, new products, tips and tricks, hot new software and so much more.” Rapoport said.

IPA also publishes press releases they believe will be of interest to their readers and have an events section on the main site that enables members and readers to know about all the hot new trade and consumer shows that are opening in the coming months.

Their sponsors and advertisers will also enjoy being linked from the IPA Links section of their site to theirs, another way they try to increase traffic to their sponsors and advertising partner sites.

• Reasonable participation plans for sponsors and advertisers

IPA is now seeking companies in the Photographic or  photo software and hardware industry and those that sell products or services to photographers.  They are also looking for support from the travel industry and other companies that want to promote their products to photographers.

“We need prizes that have value and will add excitement. Certainly trips to exotic locations or prizes that would excite the contestants would be what they would look for”, said Mr. Rapoport.

IPA reminds us that there are also many opportunities to advertise on their main website as well.  Their main site receives substantial traffic and those that seek membership in IPA or  those looking to view IPA members works will visit the site. Of course  thousands that do visit, also find the many professionally written reviews, press releases and member articles.

IPA has can now offer a number of promotional opportunities reaching different audiences which makes sponsorship and advertising on their sites what many companies seem to be looking for.   They are seeking strategic partners that not only can supply contest prizes, but those that will understand the valuable advertising opportunities they are now offering.

About International Press Association

IPA is a 20 year old organization and completely web based for close to 15 years and has become a respected, credible and legitimate media outlet that receives millions of page views each year.  IPA independent staff members are primarily international photographers and journalists of all skill levels.

IPA publishes their members photographs and articles on their main site and this member content also appears on the members IPA professional portfolio on the site.  IPA has become known for not only its interesting and informative site content, but for supporting the thousands of members past and current who have achieved credibility and exposure by being part of IPA and publishing their articles and photos on the site.   IPA is a firm believer that one of the best methods of teaching professional skills is by actually having the members learn how to gain the access and then do the work and publish the articles and photos from those assignments on the site.   “Do The Work”,  has become the IPA mantra and their member support blog has informative articles that help the members do just that.

IPA maintains groups on many of the leading social networking sites including Facbook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and others and encourage all of their social networking fans and friends to enter their photos in this contest.

Len Rapoport

A photographer for over 50 years who’s early iconic photos of Neil Diamond has appeared in and on millions of album covers, books, and other publications. For over thirty years he has been a corporate executive, communications consultant, business owner, writer and photographer. You can view his full resume on the IPA blog.

Twenty years ago he realized the importance in offering independent photographers the education they needed to learn their skills and offered a number of local seminars and work shops. With the invention of the internet, YouTube and the digital age, he embraced the technology and created the first version of the IPA website and member organization. With the many new possibilities the IPA concept evolved to what it is today.

His leadership and vision keep IPA growing and his dedication to his members continues as it did 20 years ago when he first created this company. At 67 years of age, he continues to shoot and publish his works and still does some outside corporate communication consulting. He resides and works from his home in a small community on the New Jersey shore.

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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