It sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? I’ve entered a few online cookery competitions last year and won some fabulous prizes. But I am getting increasingly frustrated at the number of entrants who seem to think it’s OK to copy a recipe and a photo from a blogger or online site and post it as if it is their own.
It is theft. No different to stealing from a supermarket. The originator will have spent time and effort developing the recipe, taking photographs and writing it up. That recipe and those pictures belong to them!
Copyright laws for recipes are a little complicated. Ingredient lists can’t be copyright. Why? Well, obviously the ingredients for an omelette are much the same whether you are Delia, Jamie or Gordon (I’m not going to include Heston here, he may well hold a copyright on the ingredients for snail porridge!). But the method is copyright. You can’t copy the words that are used in the method, nor can you plagiarise by re-writing a few words here and there. Obviously if you completely CHANGE the recipe it becomes your own. If you just adapt it a bit then it is polite to reference the originator.
Photographs are almost ALWAYS the copyright of the originator. You simply can’t copy and paste where you like. Technically you should ask permission before you ever copy a photo or link to it. In reality, posting a link back to the originator is usually OK. But obviously you can’t use someone else’s photos for your competition entry, unless of course it’s your own mother/sister/uncle and they have given you permission.
Apart from issues with plagiarisation, online cookery competitions are often blighted by a badly thought out structure. Having taken part in and won or been runner up in quite a few competitions this year, here are some of the features of the better run ones.
- They ask you to include a photo with something in the photo that shows the entry is yours. That can be YOU or a handwritten note.
- Shortlisted recipes are cooked and tested
- Judging is done by a panel of competent individuals
- There is no voting element
- Winners are asked for proof of identification.
For online cookery competitions with larger prizes like a cooker, well, having a face to face cook off is a really sensible solution. Only a genuine entrant will be able to make his or her recipe in front of a panel of judges.
Why no voting? It’s something which in my experience encourages cheating of the worst kind. You can buy votes – and while that might not be worth it for a bag of flour, once the prize value is in hundreds of pounds, it’s common for votes to be purchased. Even if they are not bought, they can be ‘exchanged’ – you vote for me and I’ll vote for you. And for most competitions that is not against the terms of the competitions. Or, the winner is the person with the most friends that can be persuaded to vote.
Regardless of that, I don’t think it achieves the objective of a skill based competition. I do vote for my friends. If someone asks me for a vote and I know them either from an online community or in real life, I will vote for them in preference to anyone else…regardless of how great their entry is (or not). And I am sure I am not alone.
So the end result of a voting competition is unlikely be what the organisers intend. Votes go to those who cheat outright by buying votes, those who exchange votes and those who are prepared to lobby their friends. Not to those who have the best entry, or even the entry which is most popular with the Company of the organiser. Vote purchase and exchange is global, so those voting are not likely to be in the UK or to have any interest in a UK Brand. If you must run a voting competition, then at least split it into two phases – an enter your recipe phase and a voting phase. Otherwise people who don’t spot the competition till the end of the entry phase will be so far behind they will be discouraged from entering.
Why proof of identification? Well, simply to show you are genuinely who you say you are! I noticed one entry for a baking competition where the entrant had the same first name as the blogger she had stolen the entry from. So simply googling wouldn’t have picked her up, other than the fact she had copied her recipe from a Canadian blogger;) I would also recommend using Google Image Compare to check the photographs are genuine. And, googling ‘distinctive’ phrases from the recipe.
Organisers ask why recipe competitions are so low entry…well, badly structured competitions that require effort are not worth entering unless you are going to cheat yourself. Nor are they are a great advertisement for the organisation running them!
Thank goodness, now someone is talking sense! Good luck with this blog
I APPLAUD YOU- I totally agree! Can we meet for coffee to discuss in length, as this post is not big enough to air all my views LOL. I too have entered a few cookery competitions and although hade some good sucess, I have also suffered at the hands of ‘popularity voting’ and obvious ‘cut & paste’ entries. A new one on me (and possibly you) that I found totally frustrating was when they got a celeb judge (not even in the food industry) to judge for the best CHRISTMAS dish, and I had gone to some effort to make mine which looked pretty darn good, only to see the winning dish was potato and leek dauphinoirs (that was it!) chosen by said celebrity as the winning dish – what reference does that have to Christmas? I could not get my head around it and felt like I had to speak out, thus contacted the competition providers to give them my feedback. I’m sure I sounded like a bitter looser, but it was the frustration of it all! So will be interested to see how the future of food competitions turn out.
I think organisations running these event are generally connected in some way with the food industry. And so it amazes me that they are willing to laud entries which are sub-standard and run events that are clearly half-baked (excuse the very weak pun).
Well said that woman!
Great post. It’s easy to underestimate what will be considered a fair competition until someone actually points these issues out. I’ll take your thoughts on board for the the next vegetable garden competition!
thanks Brittany, actually I think yours are pretty good (which is why I keep entering them!)
More strength to your elbow, and your beating/whisking arm.
I also wish they would stick to their T&C’s as regards to dates, they never announce the winners on time!
Well said Fiona.
I especially hate voting competitions and the popularity of Ian’s bread Nemesis demonstrates why they are so stupid, he who shouts the loudest and has the best social media presence wins. It is an especially bad example as you can vote daily, and do not have to even like the sponsor on Facebook to take part.
Although I gather than generally the sponsors do not care how much canvassing goes on as it all serves to attract attention to them too.
the sponsors need to check IPs. For the most part vote canvassing involves getting vote exchange or, sometimes vote purchases. They are seldom UK voters and unless you have a true global brand, it’s hardly helpful to have someone in singapore, india or the US voting for your product.
What a great post and you are so right. I have thought that before when I have voted for a fellow blogger.
I using bloggers voting tool for No Croutons Required, but I have to say the winners are always different and I usually pretty much agree with the dish chosen. Maybe my readers are quite honest, but then we are all into our food, rather than looking to win a prize
Well said, I found this blog from an online comp that is currently running, I asked for mine to be removed after I realised it was a ‘popularity’ comp, they have removed it but it took a few days and now seeing they have changed the rules etc, not good xxx
Thanks for this really interesting article, Fiona!