Participating in contests is a great vehicle for starting to teach
about copyright issues. Most contests for amateurs have terms in
them that devalue the image as well as the creator by not exchanging
anything but pride for the usage of the image.
As you know, pride has no monetary value in our society and the only
useful tool for meeting basic and non-essential needs in our culture
is money.
Contests that circumscribe the rights of those who submit in exchange
for only pride (of being published, of winning, etc.) are not an
equitable deal. The contest company gets all the rewards that count
and often the creator has both copyright and control over usage
confiscated as a term of submitting.
Most contests reap big money benefits for the companies running them.
They save the companies from having to hire professionals, allow all
usages especially for advertising where they'd actually have to pay
real money for content and bring many more buyers of their printed
products (newspapers, magazines, etc.).
Your kids cannot save for college on the pride of publication that
they may get from a contest. Help them determine which contests
actually respect their efforts.
And help them learn about copyright registration as part of your
teaching. It should be the final step of every project - before
publication.
--
Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@xxxxxxxx
508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography
http://www.vsu.cape.com/~elf/
