Winner of our BorrowLenses Lens Rental Competition
Last week we ran a competition here at DPS where US readers had the opportunity to win themselves a 2 week lens rental.
The prize was put up by our friends at BorrowLenses.com (thanks for that) who offer a great range of Canon and Nikon lenses for rental within the USA.
The competition was simple – we asked readers to tell us which lens they wanted to rent from BorrowLenses and to tell us why. The team at Borrowlenses would then select their winner. With over 290 entries the choice was tough but I just received an email with the winner.
Borrowlenses have selected Dawn from Coming to a Nursery Near You to win 2 weeks with the Nikon 14mm f/2.8 AF ED wide angle lens. Congratulations Dawn! I’ll be in touch shortly with details of how to get the lens.
Thanks to everyone for entering and thanks again to Borrow Lenses for putting up the prize.
Sponsor Our Next Competition
If you represent a photography company and would like to put up a prize for a competition we’d love to chat with you. We’re particularly looking for prizes that can be won by our global audience. Contact us via our contact form if you’re interested.
10 Responses to “Winner of our BorrowLenses Lens Rental Competition” - Add Yours
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
There were several other people that could have used this for something more important than leaves. Babies being born, marriages, things that happen once in a lifetime….
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Thanks for the comment Jesse. I’m not really sure how BorrowLenses.com made their decision – just reporting the winner. Hopefully they’ll drop by and leave a few thoughts on why they went with this one.
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I have to agree with Jesse – while I’m sure Dawn will enjoy the lens I am a little shocked at why Borrow Lenses made the choice to go with someone who wanted to photograph Autumn leaves when there were some entries that seemed to merit a little compassion and that might have seen winners really have special moments in their lives changes/improved.
Oh well, I’m sure they had their reasons and I am sure Dawn is also a worthy winner. No matter who would have been chosen I’m sure there could have been debate about it.
I can appreciate it’s not your fault though Darren, don’t worry, but perhaps reflects a little poorly on the sponsor if anyone.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Hello,
My name is Mark. I am one of the owners of borrowlenses. I understand that there may be some confusion, and bad feelings generated by our choice of winners. The process of choosing a winner went something like this.
There are a lot of really sad stories. People who have been dreaming about using a nice piece of glass. People who are just starting out in photography. People who have children born, events that they believe are important to them, and of course they are. Overall, it’s just simply overwhelming to choose the best one on simple merit of some one writing about their lives.
We were faced with a real possibility of generating resentment from people being for choosing one person over many just because some one wrote the saddest “sob story”. Especially if later it came to light that the winner did not have a newborn child for portraits, or does not have a child in the HS football team, or whatever else the condition was.
As a result of such fears, we chose a winner with demonstrable commitment to photography. Dawn included a link to her site, not many others have done the same. We chose amongst those who included a link to their work.
I hope that this clarifies our decision making process and that you understand our reasoning.
We are hoping to run this contest very often. Perhaps as much as every month. If you have questions/comments, please feel free to leave them here. I will be checking back often.
Mark.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Darren, I didn’t mean to direct that at you or anyone else on the site. I’m aware it was Borrow Lenses decision and I should have been more specific. As Grant mentioned, I do hope Dawn enjoys her lens. Again, nothing against you guys here at DPS. I love this place and will continue to come back everyday! =D
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Thanks for your comment Mark – good to hear some of your back story and willingness to interact with readers on this.
Having judged numerous competitions in the past I know it never is easy to make these decisions! Looking forward to growing together with you as we explore these types of opportunities again – we’ll learn together how best to do it for next time.
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Mark again with borrowlenses. I wanted to make one more statement before I am off to bed.
At no point did we question the validity of any of the posts entered into the competition. Our decision was based on merit of the photographic works presented, and our desire to help improve a particular talent. Choosing amongst all of the heartfelt replies was a task too daunting for a single prize and our limited resources.
We appreciate all the comments and entries that people have entered here. We will be running a similar contest again soon, and wish good luck to everyone.
Mark.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:33 am
Mark, now that you put it that way I completely understand your final decision. As for the monthly contest that would be an awesome opportunity for everyone here at DPS. It will also spread your name pretty quickly. I had never heard of the company until last week on this site. I have already told numerous people about what you guys offer. Anyway, hope to see this next month! Thanks for the opportunity!
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Congratulations, Dawn!
Thanks for the comments, Mark, and the fun competition!
September 5th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Well, I’m very happy to have won, despite the controversy LOL
Thanks to Borrowlenses.com and DPS for the contest – I can’t wait to get and use the lens :)
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