Quote Originally Posted by Dug View Post
A friend of mine was trying to get me to put pictures into The Guardian (online) photo competitions and themed so called assignments.

It occurred to me that this could be a good way for an international media outlet to get free stock photography so I looked for their terms of submission.
Not easy to find other than finding the right search term to put into their website search engine.

The line in their terms that interested me most was:
"By submitting content to us, you are granting us an unconditional, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully transferable, perpetual worldwide licence to use, publish and/or transmit, and to authorise third-parties to use, publish and/or transmit your content in any format and on any platform, either now known or hereinafter invented."

On the face of it the impression is, have a bit of fun and show us your pictures.
But clearly from the wording here they have bigger plans for selected images and they are not just going to give them to third parties.

As with the OP, the message is look for and read the terms before deciding to submit your work anywhere.
I'm no doubt preaching to the converted in this forum section, but for the casual photographer it might come as a surprise when their holiday photo ends up as part of a mayor travel promotion with no say so or remuneration.
The West Australian does this rights grabbing exercise every so often too. There's currently one by the City of Wanneroo where entry transfers copyright to the CoW .