In a couple of days we’ll be announcing the 2008 Photograph of the Year contest. We’ve got a bunch of new sponsors and thousands of dollars in prizes to be won. But before I introduce that contest, I wanted to take a quick look at one of my favorite sponsors from the 2007 Photograph of the Year - PsPrint.com.

Last year they gave away a couple thousand dollars in in gift certificates and winners used them to buy stuff like business cards, envelopes, brochures, postcards and stickers. The also offer greeting cards, cd cover printing, calendars and poster printing. Really, they’re the one stop shop for photography promotional materials. If you’re starting your own photography business, even if it’s just part time, you can get everything you need (except the equipment and experience) to help you to get your name out there (and to look good doing it, too).

There are obvious uses for products like greeting cards, calendars, business cards, brochures, letterhead and envelopes. You can use stickers as promo materials, or even to put your contact information on your equipment and anything else related to your business. One of my favorite printing services that they offer is their CD/DVD sleeves. Imagine you’re handing a client a CD or a DVD of their photos after you’ve spent countless hours taking and editing them. Do you want to hand them a blank CD case? Wouldn’t it be better if your logo, contact information, and a cool design was on the sleeve instead? Depending on the quantity you order, you’re looking at around an extra $.50. And trust me, that $.50 goes a long way. Your photos will look that much better coming out of a professionally printed sleeve over a blank jewel case.

Another service PsPrint offers is their poster printing service. Now, these posters aren’t really for you to print off your photos to hang or frame, but more meant for promotional purposes. If you do wedding photography, you’ve probably done some wedding trade shows, and promo posters are a must. A nice photograph, your logo and some contact information. Suddenly you look 10x better than all the other photographers there. You can get these printed for way less than a buck each. Spend $100 on posters will get you more than $100 in clients. Well worth the money.

It’s not wedding season yet (though the wedding shows start to pop up in January), so you have some time to design your sleeves and posters. But if you do leave it to the last minute (like I often do), they do offer a quick turn-around time - as fast as 1 day, but usually you’re looking at 3-5 days.

Anyways, I don’t want this to start sounding like an infomercial - just an endorsement of a company I’ve used in the past, and will use in the future. Obviously they offer way more than I’ve covered here, so feel free to check them out at www.psprint.com to see the variety of printing services they offer. If you’re in the market for some promotional materials, I’ve yet to find another company I’d rather work with.