Ok. I’ll admit it. The last of the prizes for the 2007 Photograph of the Year contest just went out last week. It’s not because I’m lazy or cheap or anything, though. I wanted to wait to make sure all the other prizes had gone out before I send the stuff that I had out. I learned my lesson from last year. I sent a bunch of stuff out right after the contest, only to have a couple of advertisers send me more stuff to send out. And when the contests are 100% international (which brings me to the point of this post), it can get pretty expensive. Sending a 12”×12”×12” (that’s 30cm x 30cm x 30cm) package to somewhere in Canada or the US from here (I’m in Barrie, Ontario, Canada) costs $20ish bucks. Sending one to Ireland or Australia or Portugal or something, though, can put me back as high as $120 for the same package. Yikes! No wonder a lot of the sponsors don’t want to ship overseas (and no wonder so many other photography contests, or contests in general, limit their contests to the US or the US and Canada).

But isn’t that one of the things that makes the Corner such a cool place? I mean, isn’t it worth the extra couple hundred bucks to have the best photograph win, instead of the best photograph from the US win? Isn’t it worth it to have everyone included in the contest? Obviously we at the Corner think so. Just one of the things that sets us apart from other photography sites and the other photography contests.

But of course, you knew that already.