Ensure timely declaration from CH
I think there need to be a system in place that ensures a contest holder has a set time period after the end of the contest (such as 2 days), after which he MUST declare if he is going to select a winner or not. This would put an end to CH's leaving designers in the dark for up to 5 days after a contest has ended. The CH should be made to agree to this clause before he is allowed to start a contest and there should perhaps have to pay a certain sum which he will only get back AFTER he has stated his intentions within 2 days of the end of the contest
This is something that is really needed, because there are few things worse than working hard on a design and then not knowing what has become of a contest. It is up to the CH to let the designers know in a timely fashion
0 Rodney
I don't think a decision such as a winning design that will be the future of a person's website needs to be done as soon as 2 days. Sometimes there are LOTS o designs to look over and consider. In some corporate environments it can take days to get all the decision makers together. If the only concern is not knowing, then an email notification when the decision is made seems like a better answer
0 Paul Annesley Admin
Two days is certainly too short to require a winner be declared for all contests. However I agree that there should a set time (7 days?) in which we strongly encourage contest holder to do so.
There will occasional be contest holders that have legitimate reasons to extend this - for example if a winner is to be decided in an upcoming meeting, or if thousands of designs are submitted.
3 Al'E
I agree, all I'm saying is the CH needs to give 'status updates' within 2 days. By that I mean simply let the entrants know what is going on. For example, Going over entries with client/Will declare winner within this week/Will NOT be declaring a winner etc. would be enough to put some minds at rest. What this would prevent is designers not knowing the fate of the contest for too long.
0 Paul Annesley Admin
That's true - it can be frustrating not hearing anything at all. How about if we prompt contest holders for a comment regarding their plans/timeline at the time that the contest ends?
0 Nadia
That would a great idea Paul. I too agree, there should be some accountability by the CH. We all realise that there may be a delay, particularly if there is more than one person involved in the final decision making, but at least designers would know that there is a decision pending.
eg: Fast 2 day contest , contest over for nearly a week, but not one word as to if there will be an outcome
2 mmentis
Agreed. We need to know if the CH is satisfied and already considering the designs being offered, or maybe not. Perhaps a status indicator with labels like undecided, selecting winning design, not satisfied etc...
0 imagineinternet
I see this as something that could be rolled up with the prepaid contests. As a CH, no matter how hard we try we sometimes get clients that drag us along, preventing us from declaring in a timely manner. I HATE when we can't declare a winner fast - it just makes us look bad, but it happens. We literally call clients daily and bug them until they decide. I say require a comment after 3 days.
0 Nadia
PS: Joey, my comment re: Fast track contest not one of yours by the way :-)
You are very good about keeping designers informed...
1 Matiu
I'd rather have a design that is in contention be shafted than not know at all and hold on the faint hope he or she might return to the contest and declare a winner.
Ch's holders need to be up front. If they aren't going to declare a winner, then tell us so we can move on. So yes i agree there needs to be a time frame in place or a definitive yes/no answer .
3 Omer
Yes this is really important, the CH should be required to declare a contest winner within a few days of contest end.
0 ChocolateLove
I strongley agree with this. There's way too many contests where the designers are left hanging for a long amount of time. It's bad enough waiting for the contest to end. And then ontop of that waiting for who knows how long hoping that the CH will come to a decision (which doesn't happen anyway in lots of cases.) A 3,5 day or so limit would be good to AT LEAST let designers know when to look for.
0 ChocolateLove
As far as "prompting" goes..I think there should be some kind of penalty or something that would cause them to update us in some way..otherwise they'll just ignore it like all other PMs or comments about it.