While exchanging e-mails with a prospective prize sponsor for PSC, I was directed to this contest going on at altia.com: http://www.altia.com/products_photoproto_contest.php?from=psc

They are giving away iPods to the top three finishers. All that you have to do is download a trial version of their software and use it to create a demo then e-mail it in. That's it!

I hope that you check it out, as well as the prizes the other sponsors have been so kind enough to provide for this awesome community. Enjoy.

that looks pretty interesting. thanks for the link JMH

Hmm contest eh lets find the fine print.

"# Judging will be done solely by Altia, Inc. All decisions are final. Entries will be judged on innovative use of PhotoProto features, layout, and aesthetics. Bonus points will be awarded for including the word "PhotoProto" in your interface!"
(There is no guareentee that your work will be judged on your ability, but you do get bounus points for adding their logo.)

"#By submitting your .psd, you grant Altia, Inc. the right to use, modify and/or distribute the work in any manner without notice, attribution or further compensation to the submitter."

"#Submissions must be original, un-copyrighted work."
(Those two combined are very discourageing) - if your idea is worth more than the prize.

"#Altia reserves the right to select a new winner if unable to contact the original winner within 7 days or if the original winner does not meet the eligibility requirements."

"# Limit one prize per person for this contest."

(which in a previous statment means)

"...Submit as many designs as you like"

(Just dont expect to win more than one prize even if all of your interfaces are miles better than the rest or thier favorate you will only get one prize. and if they fail to contact you then you will lose your prize, if you do not meet with thier specifications then bye bye prize as well)

Well those are the worst points in the extra bits.
Just looking out for the lil guy

lastly
"Substitute prizes of equal or greater value may be awarded if prize becomes unavailable. No prize transfer or cash redemption. Taxes and all other unspecified expenses are sole responsibility of winner. Winner will be notified by email on or about 12/19/06 and may be announced on the Altia web site."

As long as you meet requirements and have a good idea ya willing to sacrifice for the prize then enter.

Should be good

Why is that discouraging?
That's a pretty common rule to try and follow on anything.



...uhhh...... what do you do in any contest? not sure why this one would be considered a sacrifice.

If I have time, I'll try to down load the trial and see what I can do.......If I have any ideas

well it is discouraging if your idea is worth more than the prize.

refering to

"#By submitting your .psd, you grant Altia, Inc. the right to use, modify and/or distribute the work in any manner without notice, attribution or further compensation to the submitter."

"#Submissions must be original, un-copyrighted work."

Cool! Thank you, JMH! I'll check it out!

edit: Marx, all it means is that they will "pay" you the sum of one prize to make them a logo they can use without restriction... if that isn't enough to "hire" you, then don't "work" for them.

Almost any contest on the face of the earth that involves you sending in an original work requires that it be original and uncopyrighted, as well as requiring you to give them any an all rights to do whatever they want with it. That doesn't mean they are ever actually seriously going to use it...They might have a bit of it in an ad if you're lucky, but as it goes, you'll probably never see your design surface anywhere again.

You shouldn't have any problem with that then.

I don't think it's good for you to come here and start downing a potential sponsor.....not very wise in my opinion.
I say thanks to JMH for sharing this with us.

Fine print is a good practise.

and i didnt say the contest was crap.

edit "if that isn't enough to "hire" you, then don't "work" for them."

but they arnt hiring you... its a contest. which is why its good to read the extra parts

"Almost any contest on the face of the earth that involves you sending in an original work requires that it be original and uncopyrighted"
Not every contest requires uncopyrighted work.

For example movie awards, music awards

Contest doesn't appear to restrict the contestants country of origin...

Software itself looks pretty snappy.

Should save on exporting time which is a real pain in the ass.
Especially when concerning web design interfaces and flash prototyping.

Extra notes:

- System Requirements

* You must already have Photoshop CS or CS2 installed.
* Runs on Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X 10.4 with X11
(X11 comes with your OS X CD and may need to be installed on your system).

* Transform static Photoshop graphics into interactive prototypes.
* Create buttons, sliders, knobs, readouts, screens and more!
* Automatically export perfectly trimmed artwork with alpha channels intact (in PNG format).
* Send prototypes for colleagues and customers to try on their Macs or PCs.
* Play MP3's, AVI's and DirectX 3D models as part of your prototype
(currently only on Windows).
* Get a head start on your Altia Design development.
(PhotoProto output imports directly into Design.)




- It does not mention if you will get (RECOGNITION) your name next to your entry anywhere in the comptition rules.
(So you may want to put it in your design just in case.)

Thanks for taking a look at the contest. Sorry if the rules came off negatively. We have never done a contest before and really just wanted it to be simple.

I'll try to respond to your comments to let you know what we were thinking.

Yeah. We just want to get together in a room and pick the three we like best. We didn't want to set up any kind of elaborate voting/tallying system or worry about catching fraudulent votes, etc. I guess you're right that there isn't any guarantee about judging the artist's ability. We have perhaps erred on the side of "easier for us."


Yep, I can understand how you feel. We do want to be able to use/share/modify/whatever the creative work. It is something to consider since you'll essentially be giving Altia rights to what is created. We don't mind if you keep using it/giving it out yourself, but there are no restrictions on what we can do with it once it is submitted.

Someone else also asked about getting credit if it is used. That's what we were trying to get at with the "no attribution" piece above. Entrants shouldn't expect to be named when/if the design is shared/modified/whatever. We may end up giving credit, but we certainly don't want to be obligated to do so in perpetuity.

And I would expect to see some of these designs show up at least on our web page to get people thinking about the kinds of things they can do with PhotoProto.


We want to encourage as many people as possible to enter and didn't want to make everyone wait for their prizes while one person holds up the works (it's going to be the holiday season, after all ). It also seemed a good idea to ensure all the entrants that not one single person who has used our tools before is going to walk off with all the prizes. We're hoping to share the love.


The 30 GB iPod and 2 GB Nano have safely arrived and (barring a catastrophe here) will definitely be awarded. Supposedly, the Shuffle is "in the system" at Apple. This clause was just to let you know you're going to get a equal-or-better prize even if Apple can't get us what we're promising.

Whew! That ended up being longer than I thought. Well, I hope these answers didn't turn you all off too much. Thanks again for taking a look. I look forward to seeing what you can come up with!

Good luck!
Jason

HAHAHA!
Is it me or do others think Marx-man® is what Marco would be like on acid?

Or maybe its more an UnlimitedHoriZen on valium....
hmmmmm


Dog! I can only wish my work was worth an IPOD.

Marx-man® is a registered trademark of Finer Print Preductions.

© 2006. Any reply with quote of this comment is strictly prohibited without express written consent from Showcase Comments, LLC

Jason, thanks...but I dont think you owed any of us an explaination. It all looked pretty standard to most of us I think and if I were running something like that, it sounds just right.

Good Luck!

(now, I lost that paypal account info...so if you could just forward it to me again, I'll make that "donation" we talked about earlier in reference to my confidence at winning one of them ipods )

© 2006. Any reply with quote of this comment is strictly prohibited without express written consent from Showcase Comments, LLC

I'd say a little more like UnlimitedHorizen... Anyway, This sucks, I can't do it. I only have PS7... May the person with the best compatible software win!