14 DAY TRIAL // Under the slogan "Get Real" Microsoft has debuted a fresh photography contest addressed at Windows Live Spaces members. In an effort to get Windows Live Spaces off the ground, Microsoft is willing to spend a little something as incentive for building its social engineering infrastructure. This is why the Redmond Company is inviting amateur photographers to create their own Live Spaces, to post their images and vote for their favorites.
"This is a skill-based Contest. The object of this Contest is to submit an original photograph for judging based on public "community" voting. For purpose of this Contest, the photograph you create and submit in the Contest will be called an "entry." All eligible entries received will be determined by public "community" voting, and daily, weekly and overall winners will receive the prizes," Microsoft revealed in the Windows Live Spaces "Get Real" photo contest official rules.
The grand prize put by Microsoft up for grabs is a Toshiba 42" HIDefLCD TV and a Canon PowerShot G7 digital camera. Together, the value is over $1,700, which is a pretty sweat deal. But of course it is a small price to pay for Microsoft in the battle to attract eyeballs. In addition to the two grand prizes, Microsoft will also be offering weekly prizes to seven talented photographers, namely seven Canon PowerShot SD800 IS 7.1, and no less than 48 Digital Framez digital photo frames.
The only downside to this is that, of course, the contest is only opened to US participants. "You may only submit 15 unique entries per day. If you submit more than 15 unique entries per day, all subsequent entries will be disqualified. Given the subjective nature of photography, Microsoft reserves the right to determine the uniqueness of entries, and their decisions are final and binding in all matters relating to the contest. In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, the tie will be broken by a panel of judges from the Windows Live Spaces team, who will the judge the entries that are tied based on the following criteria: 50% Creativity and 50% Originality," Microsoft added.