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Contest Season This was always the most dreaded time of the year for me. It was a time of indecision, painful discussions of a year's work, all-nighters and the final last minute dash to Federal Express. I have always hated contests. The contest season, like winter itself, brings out some of the best and worst of our nature. It is good to reflect upon your year. It is good to measure your progress. Nor is there anything inherently wrong with the desire and pursuit to be named "the best" in your field. At times, it can be an admirable quest. But, we all know the ugly side of the season. If you have ever entered a contest - you know it. It speaks your name and makes you feel vile. Don't lie. If you don't feel just a little stained by contests; do us a favor and get the hell out of our profession. Certainly a contest can serve to prolong or preserve a photo. It can serve your ideals to touch hearts and minds. It can extend your reach to people who may never have seen your brilliant work. Were it not for a few contests out there preserving the images for generations - would you have likely known them? But, lets be honest, you didn't enter for those reasons alone. We rationalize our insane efforts. We calm ourselves with apathetic resolve that a contest can serve a noble cause. Whose cause? One contest "official" once told me that their contest shapes the future of photojournalism. Thus, they award not for the best but rather for what they would like to see next year. Style reigns over content. I said he was wrong because a nation of excellent photojournalists, you and I, are working our asses off everyday to serve our community - WE set the agenda for tomorrow. They should merely reward our best. Was I right? I don't know anymore. Each year they set the rules and each year we follow. Each style honored is followed by one hundred more like it the next year. Maybe he was correct. But was he right? Oh well ... it doesn't really matter. A contest win or loss may help you become a better journalist. It may get you a better job or a raise. If you have a family to support - that's an even better reason to want the win. It may help raise the profile of your news organization which will help with recruiting and hopefully lead to a stronger department. It may preserve or further the reach of a story - from local readers to a worldwide audience. It may be the next best thing any of us do besides shooting. If we lose, maybe we'll shoot better images next year. Maybe none of this is the point. I used to have a quote from Tom Hardin of the Louisville Courier Journal next to my enlarger at The Dallas Morning News. I tore it from an issue of News Photographer. It read, (as best I can remember) "The best photographers do not shoot to win - but win with what they shoot." I'm sure I just botched his eloquent words but the message was clear; keep your eyes off of contests. That is not your mission. It has nothing to do with any purpose or pursuit in journalism. Maybe the reasons to enter are excellent. Maybe they are righteous and true. But maybe none of the reasons to enter really matter. Ultimately, that was the horror of it for me. I'm not afraid of hard work. I didn't mind losing either because I never learned much from winning. But I could never reconcile the pursuit of contest entries with my passion for making a difference. Entering contests was that benign effort that seemed to somehow make a difference in everything. Maybe that was why it was always so hard. 
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