I do not remember ever seeing EH CHARGE to enter into the contest? I might be wrong, but it seems to me to be a HUGE risk to the AV company in hopes of winning.

Here is the article I am talking about.
https://homeoftheyear.electronichouse.com/

You would think EH is making out by having so much good stuff sent to them.

I had some stuff I was going to send in, but I do not think it is worth me paying them 199 or 299 in the "hopes" it is going to make it into their mag.

Anyone else thinking the same?

Did I just miss the entry fee before and it has always been there?

I submitted something a few years ago I thought, and it did not cost anything. Maybe that was a control 4 sponsored contest?

I don't know it just struck me funny that is all.

Got to hand it to them.. clever marketing..

___________________________________________________

"2008 Winner Awarded $2.2 Million in New Business!

"We were awarded a $1.2 million project that was a direct result from sending a press release of our Electronic House award. Several months later, we were awarded another $1 million project on the referral from one of our manufacturers who told the client we were a national award-winning integrator."

Michael Pope, Audio Video Interiors"
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In the Faq page i found this "Dealers are encouraged to check with their manufacturers to see if co-op dollars are available." so its quite possible C4 was footing the bill at some point.

The fee is a great way to weed out the not-so-serious competition but i would think $50 would be enough of a fee if that was their intention. @ 200 or 300 dollars they could price out the smaller companies that do really good work. I can imagine theres a great deal of work sifting thru the data but come on EH.. your payment is the content your getting.. photos and stories of the installations.

In the end 200-300 bucks is cheap adversiting if you do win. Magazine website and message boards could generate some business. Plus you get the nifty logo to put on your site, biz cards and the side of your van :).

If all your after is the logo.. here ya go.. just need to edit the 8 and make it a 9. :).

Looks to me like paid advertising with a contest to sweeten the deal

We won two awards last year, there was no fee. I don't remember there being more than 400 or so entries for the various categories and I'm guessing that with a fee this year those entries may be fewer. Seems like it might almost be a good bet to win with that few competitors. Still it seems poor timing to introduce a fee when most people can least afford it.

So what's the deal Julie?

Pay-To-Play seems to be rampant everywhere..

alright, alright, quit your whining!!

When these things are free, dealers, PR companies, etc. send in gobs of stuff willy nilly.

Only way to weed out the hacks and keep in the serious people is to charge a modest fee.

$299 (I think $199 for a short time) gets you as many entries as you want. I don't think that's so much to ask.

This is our most expensive and time-consuming issue of the year. You wouldn't BELIEVE how much we spend on photography and we never make it up. We're hurting like everyone else and need to recoup those costs.

We don't have the resources to plow through 400 entries. Hopefully the fee will get us a smaller number of very serious entries.

And in that case, the people who paid have a much higher chance of winning -- lots and lots of awards are given out.

OK?

FYI, the wins we had last year were great for PR. We still get hits on our website from EH's site, (though in the spirit of full disclosure it generated no work). Also if you're a winner they send a pro to take pics of the job and you might even convince the photographer to share some of the pics.

AMX sent us a new $4,200 5200i 5" touchpanel for our wins plus a bunch of other goodies from sponsor companies.

All in all it was well worth the entry...

I am amused at the fact that we only have 8 days to get in before there is now discount. It will take that long if not longer just to get ahold of some of my clients (on vacation and what not) and get their approval to use their houses.

Yes, I was surprised too. I believe you just have to commit by then to doing SOMETHING. You don't need to submit by then.

Give me a buzz if you can't get an OK from the homeowner by then.

frickin' hilarious!! Thanks for that! Posting on juliejacobson.com now (I know, I haven't updated in awhile.)

"Note: Julie Jacobson, Electronic House, EH Publishing and other affiliated organizations do not condone the use of corporal punishment."

LMAO!

by the way, that dress is very flattering.

I can't wait to meet you one day, 39!

I have zero issue with a fee to enter a contest.

Well also know that the contest price can be worked into the project cost and when the house wins it gets featured in every local newspaper and home show in that persons area. That price wouldn't even dent anyones bank account. (just bill it)