In our July, 1998, issue we let
readers know about the Second
World Underwater Photographic
Competition, a contest held in
the Turks and Caicos from May 1
to November 15, 1998. Preliminary
information did sound
appealing: winners would have
their winning photograph
reproduced on a Turks and
Caicos stamp and, according to
the contest rules printed on the
website, would “share up to
$10,000 US in cash prizes [and]
up to $50,000 in additional
prizes that will include dive
travel to exotic locations, dive
training, dive and underwater
photographic equipment.”
Florida reader Bob Kaufman
thought the contest sounded
tempting, so he traveled to the
Turks and Caicos, took photos,
and submitted an entry. At the
end of January he was notified
that he was the third-place
winner. Kaufman told us the
notice said “I would soon receive
a letter detailing the prizes I had
won and telling me how to get
them.” After several months and
plenty of phone calls, Kaufman
received prizes from PADI and
the Aggressor fleet, but has yet to
be notified what the balance of
his winnings are. He wrote us in
March asking if we could help
him collect his winnings, and we
contacted Ian Stuart with IDM
International, the contest’s
administrator, in an effort to
resolve the problem. Stuart was
unwilling to discuss specifics of
the contest and said that there
was no need for the media to
become involved. He also stressed
the fact that the contest promised
cash prizes of “up to” $10,000 and
non-cash prizes “up to” $50,000.
He could not confirm whether
this year’s prizes would be $1 or
$9,999 and would only attest that
winners would receive a sheet of
postage stamps and a letter
indicating who received commemorative
issues.
It seems Kaufman is not the
only winner who’s experienced
problems. The eighth-place
winner, Steven Genkins of North
Carolina, had not heard from
contest organizers, so he finally
wrote the folks at IDM. He
received a reply notifying him
that he had won but making no
mention of a prize. Reader
Ralph Oberlander of New
Hampshire won fifth place and
received $1,500 in 1997 and a
honorable mention in 1998. He
said, “I had to hound them to
get my prizes and my $1,500
share of the prize money. I did
get a free trip to the Turks and
Caicos and free hotel in addition
to the stamps.”
Ralph Higgs, Senior Marketing
Officer for the Turks and
Caicos Tourist Board, said he
didn’t know “why the winners
have not been notified of the prizes.” While Higgs said that
the prize money for the first
competition came from local
businesses, neither the rules nor
the contest organizers confirm
what prizes will be given this
year or who will provide them.
Winners will probably receive a
stamp and be able to point to
their name in the website’s list
of winners, but beyond that it
remains to be seen whether they
will receive much at all.
— the Ombudsman