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Featured Publications: Six Travel Photo Contests
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You Could Be Sitting on a $5,000 Photo: Six Travel Photo Contests Where You Can Win Big

by Bonnie Caton in Alexandria, Virginia

If you'd like to get your photos published, one virtually painless way is to submit them to photo contests.  Some contests accept thousands of submissions before they choose a winner... but if your shot takes first place, you could win an all-expenses-paid trip, a professional digital camera, your photo on the cover of a popular magazine, or up to $5,000.  The first four in the list below award prizes to runners-up, too.

The best part is, it doesn't take much time or energy to enter online photo contests.  You can usually register with a site, read their rules, and submit your photo in a matter of minutes.  Then you can move on to other things while you wait for the results.

Here is a list of six photo contests from reputable sources that might be worth your time.  There are entry fees for a few of them; it's up to you to decide if your photo is a strong enough contender to warrant the fee. Also, check the rules of each contest as some of them have specific entry requirements for image size, post-processing, etc.

WORD TO THE WISE: Read the terms and conditions carefully before you enter any contest.  Before you submit a photo, you should know how it will be published and what rights you'll keep if it wins.  In some instances, photo contests keep the rights to your photos as soon as you submit them, whether you win or not.  In others, you only give up certain rights when you win.

The deadline for the first contest on the list -- and the one with the biggest prizes -- is coming up at the end of this month, so take a look through your best shots and mark your calendar if you'd like to enter.

Six Big Online Photo Contests:

NATURE'S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY
Publication: Nature's Best Photography Magazine
Deadline: April 26, 2008
Grand Prize: $2,500
Entry Fee: $25
http://www.naturesbestphotography.com

PILSNER URQUELL INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS
Publication: Annual International Photography Awards
Deadline: April 30, 2008
Grand Prize: $5,000 for amateur photographers, $10,000 for pros.  Plus, your photo published in a hard-bound book.
Entry Fee: $25 amateur, $35 pro
http://photoawards.com

NATIONAL WILDLIFE PHOTO CONTEST
Publication: National Wildlife Magazine
Deadline: July 1, 2008
Grand Prize: $5,000 plus your photo published in the magazine.
Entry Fee: $15, which also gets you a membership in National Wildlife Federation, and a subscription to National Wildlife Magazine.
http://www.nwf.org/photozone/enter_photo_contest.cfm

ONE CITY, MANY DESTINATIONS
Publication: City Magazine
Deadline: July 15, 2008
Grand Prize: A week-long trip for two to Australia, a professional digital camera, plus your photo on the cover of City Magazine
Entry Fee: None.
http://www.city-magazine.com/photocontest

THE EVERYMAN PHOTO CONTEST
Deadline: September 1, 2008
Prizes: Vary by category from $20 to $100.
Entry Fee: None.
Note: You can also submit old photos you've found in the "From the Attic" category.
http://www.theeveryman.com/index.php

AWAI'S MONTHLY PHOTO CHALLENGE
Publication: The Right Way to Travel
Deadline: The last Monday of each month.
Prize: Yearly grand prize winner gets $2,000 cash. Monthly first-place winners get a $30 gift certificate to the AWAI bookstore and a chance to win the yearly grand prize.
Entry Fee: None.
http://www.thephotographerslife.com/contest

Before you submit your photos to any -- or all -- of these photo contests, you might want to have a professional photographer look at your photos and tell you whether they're saleable or not, just to be sure.  Especially if you're going to pay an entrance fee.

The best way to be sure if your photo is ready to sell or enter into a competition is by signing up for Unlimited Photo Critiques and sending it in for a professional review.

See how it works here: http://www.acceleratedtrainingservices.com/puc/website

Good luck!

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