Not all competitions are the same.
Some competitions actually promote photography, are good for photographers, photography as a whole, offer decent prizes and respect photographers work and copyright.
This is not a photography competition that is in any way good for photography or photographers, it's a simple rights grab from a company that is looking to build an image bank that it can use to promote it's business. In fact the terms are so shoddy and loose I'm not sure that there is anything to stop them selling the images on for others to use. You are in effect sharing your copyright with Tate Oil.
It's not just a bit of fun, this competition and the many others of it's ilk are just one of the many reasons why it is incredibily hard these days to earn a living from photography, or for that matter hold any value or integrity in photography as a whole, not to mention they contribute to the general decline in quality of photography.
Of course sure, you are free to enter, free to give your images away to others, for them to use for their own selfish fiancial gain - it's a free world. But please forgive me if I scream and start tearing my hair out (not that there is much of it left these days
) every-time I come across one of these all too common nasty cheap rights grabs so called competitions.
My tip would be to write to them, state you entered without paying to much attention to the terms, and having done so are shocked to find that you have given your photos away in a 'copyright grab' and want nothing further to do with their competition. It is also worth highlighting such 'competitions' to organisations such as the NUJ etc etc who campaign to stop such abuses and are trying to increase copyright protection in photography.
