Get your iPhone photo on an Apple billboard with #ShotOniPhone contest

Apple's publicity campaign is now a contest that 10 photographers will win in February.

Stephen Shankland principal writer

Stephen Shankland has been a reporter at CNET since 1998 and writes about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.

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I've been covering the technology industry for 24 years and was a science writer for five years before that. I've got deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and other dee

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Stephen Shankland

Jan. 22, 2019 2:04 p.m. PT

2 min read

Apple for years has publicized the creative possibilities of its smartphones with the #ShotOniPhone hashtag, here used on the company's Instagram page.
Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET

If you want the world to see your iPhone photo magnified to the size of a billboard, Apple has expanded its #ShotOniPhone publicity campaign to a contest anyone can enter.

To enter, you can upload photos on Twitter, Instagram or Weibo with the #ShotOniPhone tag Apple has been using to highlight the photography potential of its phones for years. You can also email them, Apple said Tuesday in its instructions on entering the iPhone photography contest. Check the fine print for details.

An 11-person panel -- including former Barack Obama presidential photographer Pete Souza, Apple camera software leader Jon McCormack and Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller -- will select 10 winners, the company said. Photos must be submitted by Feb. 7, and winners will be announced about Feb. 26. Winners will be able to see their photos on billboards and other Apple marketing channels.

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Apple has for decades tried to show off the creative potential of its products in the hands of musicians and artists, but with millions of iPhones sold, that creative potential is now a lot closer to the average person. Mobile phone photography has improved by leaps and bounds, but Apple has lost its once-formidable technology lead as Android phones like Google's Pixel 3 have caught up and in some ways surpassed it.

Contestants grant Apple rights to use their photos for a year. For billboard use, Apple requires exclusive commercial rights to the photos for that year, too.

It's not clear what contest winners might get out of the competition besides publicity -- prize money, for example. Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.

First published Jan. 22, 10:57 a.m. PT.

Update, 2:04 p.m. PT: Adds that Apple didn't comment.

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