Baby Photo Contest?

[AprilRamone]

What do you guys think of these? I have a couple of baby photos (that I have model releases for) that I think are contest worthy. I thought it might be good for business to be able to say that a picture of mine has won a contest.
The place that I print my pictures has one that I enter. But, they only do it at the beginning of the year and the pictures have to be taken during a certain timeframe. So, I was looking around for some other contests.
Unfortunately, most of them seem really stupid. You have to pay an entrance fee on many of them and some of them even have in fine print that if you win, they take over the copyright of your picture!
So, have any of you tried contests like this and do you think it's helpful for business? Are there any specific contests that you would recommend? Preferrably ones that are free or have extremely low cost entrance fees and don't just take over the copyright.

Thanks
-April

 

[Fadi]

I was actually thinking about doing something with a baby contest too. But it would be inhouse. my idea: 1) with model releases, post baby pictures on a page where people can vote for their favorite pictures.
2) Inform parents that each month's winner will get a free session on their first birthday.
3)This would entice the parents to spread the word about the site to their family/friends to get people to vote.
4)Friends/family vote, then maybe some of them visit more of the site, and some of those would be clients...

Personally I think it's a good idea. What do you guys think?

 

[Iron Flatline]

Do the competition have to result in prizes?

A very good free competition is Weekly Shot. It features pretty serious hobbyists, and is invite-only. Do you have a website or photoblog? I wouldn't mind sending you an invite, but want to take a quick look at your work beforehand.

 

[AprilRamone]

Fadi, I'm considering doing my own sort of baby photo contest in conjunction with the one that my printing company does. They do it in the beginning of the year when sales are slow to try and encourage more shoots to be scheduled. I do like your idea of doing it all yourself though!
Iron, does the weekly contest always have a theme? I mainly just do children's photos and I have a few that I think would do great in a contest of some sort so I guess that was more what I was looking for.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Yes, it is a completely different theme each week. This week we're doing Rain, last week it was Natural Abstract. See the site to see how different photographers interpreted the theme.