Who won HP photo contest?
By Sumeer Singh

On Jan 6, 2010, we had reported on how Hewlett Packard (HP) teamed up with WWF India and Sanctuary Asia to launch a climate change photo contest. Unlike similar contests by Google and Intel where employees are barred to avoid perceptions of partiality, this photo competition allowed their workers to participate.  And the Judges are from the companies as well.

What are the prizes offered by this HP India, WWF India and Sanctuary Asia photo competition?  The first prize is one 1dv6 fully loaded entertainment PC plus picture featured on Sanctuary Asia (SA) cover. 3 winners will be given a HP Mini with a Photosmart printer as the second prize. 5 people will be given a Photosmart printer each as the third prize.

The contest closed on Dec 31, 2009 and the terms and conditions said the winner will be announced on Feb 10, 2010.

A contestant sent a tip to Techgoss which clearly shows the results have not been announced as promised by Feb 10.  In fact, no winner has been announced on the website till today. There is no explanation on why the results have been delayed by 5 days.

Despite being backed by such big names in tech and media, not many from the public voted.  Even the best photos have drawn less than 200 votes.  95 percent of the photos have less than 10 votes each.

(Techgoss had published the following on Jan 6, 2010)

HP: Unfair photo contest?
By Sumeer Singh

Many tech firms hold online competitions as a brand building strategy.  Most ensure strict rules so that the contest is free and fair. A rule of most contests is that employees of the company cannot participate to ensure outsiders don’t feel disadvantaged. The Google India Logo design competition barred Google workers and their families from participating 

The Economic Times is widely read in the Indian IT, BPO and KPO sectors. The Economic Times’ The Power of Ideas (ETPI) is an initiative of and the sole property of The Economic Times. ETPI is supported by partners and sponsors.  No employee of the parent company Times of India is allowed to participate.  Members of the evaluation or Mentoring panel are also banned.

Indian online jobsite Shine.com competitions do not allow its ‘employees, sponsors, associated agencies, participating operators and their immediate family members and relatives to participate’.

So, why has blue chip Tech Company Hewlett Packard (HP) teamed up with WWF India and Sanctuary Asia to launch a climate change photo contest which allows the employees of all 3 organizations to participate? And to boot, all the Judges are from the hosting organizations!

What are the prizes offered by this HP India, WWF India and Sanctuary Asia photo competition?  The first prize is one 1dv6 fully loaded entertainment PC plus picture featured on Sanctuary Asia (SA) cover. 3 winners will be given a HP Mini with a Photosmart printer as the second prize. 5 people will be given a Photosmart printer each as the third prize.

The contest closed on Dec 31 and the winner will be announced on Feb 10, 2010.

If you look at the rules of the competition, they clearly say: ‘The contest is open to public, including employees of Sanctuary Asia, WWF India and Hewlett-Packard India.’

HP, WWF and Sanctuary are highly regarded as organizations of integrity.  But they have slipped up by allowing their employees to participate in their own competition.

(Hat tip to Mahesh for the story tip)