Bernard Łętowski, who works in wedding photography, writes that his photographs made it into last year’s final thirty. They were printed and presented at the post-competition exhibition opening. The finalist was absent from the event. Today, almost a year after the exhibition opening, he writes on his blog that he was surprised to discover his competition photograph at a police station with the caption: viasudetica. He had expected his work to be captioned either with his surname or at least with the name of his wife’s company, where he works as a wedding photographer.

I consider this disappointment at the lack of a caption on the photograph entirely justified. After all, when taking part in any competition and reaching the finals, one hopes for some kind of prize. In the case of someone who makes a living taking photographs, having the photograph captioned is a very real benefit—advertising for the company. The photographs from Gliniada, displayed after the exhibition opening in local restaurants, may be seen by future clients.

Although the blog’s author declares that the whole matter is not particularly important to him and is merely a reflection in an online memoir, one can sense a hint of emotion that caused a disproportionate blunder. Łętowski misled his readers. The photograph does not bear the caption viasudetica; it contains only the website address: www.gliniada.org.

The story described by Łętowski nevertheless sheds light on the problem of the low quality of this year’s entries and explains why most of the photographs are pictures taken by people who have little to do with photography in their daily lives. Gline-one, the author of the photograph “Landing in Normandy,” was so surprised by the high assessment of his work that he himself described it as poor and said he had entered the competition for fun.

It is hypocritical to claim that people taking part in the competition and organizing it are not counting on any benefits.

Gliniada has enormous advertising potential, as Henry Kazimierczak, head of the Polish-American Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, told us in an interview: “By building events such as Gliniada, one builds the region’s appeal, which translates into tangible economic benefits.[…] It can be counted on in the future, because large companies can take advantage of its media potential and access to customers.”

Entrepreneurs organizing Gliniada and activities surrounding it are counting on benefits, taking care to be visible during all Glinoludy activities. Via Sudetica, as an association, looks after the interests of its members, while Gliniada itself served this year as a platform for entrepreneurs to advertise. Opałkowa Chata and Błękitny Burak, among others, prepared their own processions. Łętowski, wanting to see his own name or the company he works for on his photograph, had entirely justified grounds for complaint.

Except that the association did not look after the photographer Łętowski. Advertising the company does not necessarily have to matter to other photographers. But they may find the opportunity to appear in a photography magazine or become acquainted with the photography community attractive. This may attract talented people more than the 500 zloty first prize offered last year. Or the mere promise of attractive prizes, whatever that name may conceal this year.

For professional photographers, this competition is completely unattractive. They photograph the Glinoludy and sell the images to agencies, or provide services to the public and promote them without the competition’s help. For talented amateurs, enthusiasts and hobbyists, this competition does not open paths into the world of professional photography, where they might be noticed. The competition is local.

Those who remain, then, are people for whom “attractive prizes” and the local scope of the competition are still appealing. With full respect for the people who submitted photographs to the competition, I emphasize that most of this year’s entries were made by Sunday photographers.

An ambitious competition that was supposed to emphasize the artistic qualities of the Glinoludy parade turned into an online competition: send in a photograph—you will receive an attractive prize. The level of the competition was therefore affected by the inept actions of the Via Sudetica Association, not by those who merely assessed the phenomenon.

Grażyna Hanaf