Again, even when the rules are all set out, it's still taking advantage of people. The person running the contest is getting a large amount of free work, for a small amount paid out to one person. If it's paid out at all.
An honest contest would be one with only the loosest of themes, even "Draw X doing Y" is a specification that should be a paid commission in a fair transaction. An honest contest would not require the creator to produce something specifically for that contest. An honest contest doesn't blanket transfer all rights to the submissions. An honest contest would only offer "exposure" if it were backed by a large publisher not a single operator.
As an example... An honest contest would be something more like ConBook submissions to a loose theme, where there is a prize draw for accepted submissions, and the exposure is to a specific known audience. A dishonest contest is to someone on a forum, who offers $50 to the 'winning' submission of her character as a superhero, and reserves rights to use any submissions as con-badges and on her website.
Again, even when the rules are all set out, it's still taking advantage of people. The person running the contest is getting a large amount of free work, for a small amount paid out to one person. If it's paid out at all.
An honest contest would be one with only the loosest of themes, even "Draw X doing Y" is a specification that should be a paid commission in a fair transaction. An honest contest would not require the creator to produce something specifically for that contest. An honest contest doesn't blanket transfer all rights to the submissions. An honest contest would only offer "exposure" if it were backed by a large publisher not a single operator.
As an example... An honest contest would be something more like ConBook submissions to a loose theme, where there is a prize draw for accepted submissions, and the exposure is to a specific known audience. A dishonest contest is to someone on a forum, who offers $50 to the 'winning' submission of her character as a superhero, and reserves rights to use any submissions as con-badges and on her website.