PhotoSpin Kicks Off Second Annual SpinnerAwards; Five Judges Are Chosen to Pick The Design That Best Uses PhotoSpin Images; Submissions due by Aug. 8, 2003.

Business Editors

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 16, 2003

PhotoSpin.com today kicked off its second annual SpinnerAwards and is taking submissions at http://www.photospin.com/spinnerawards until 12 midnight on Friday, Aug. 8, 2003. PhotoSpin is looking for the top, or most talented, graphic designers, illustrators, marketing professionals, students or anyone else who has used PhotoSpin imagery in their design work to submit their work for an opportunity to be recognized as one of this year's Top Spinners. PhotoSpin.com is the premier subscription service for royalty-free photos, illustrations, fonts, film and sound clips.

PhotoSpin also announces five industry experts chosen to judge its second annual Top SpinnerAwards. Scott Kelby, Helene DeLillo, Pam Pfiffner, Jeremy Sutton, and Ben Willmore will choose this year's PhotoSpin's Top Spinners for Best of Print, Best of Web, and Best of Illustration.

These judges will look for the top, or most talented, graphic designers, illustrators, marketing professionals, students or anyone else who has used PhotoSpin imagery in their design work to be recognized as one of PhotoSpin's Top Spinners.

"We expect the judges to look at the entries in terms of creative use of royalty free images. These judges are all well known in the industry and can provide a completely unbiased set of 'eyes'," said Stephanie Robey, president of PhotoSpin. "It is also helpful for designers to see what their peers are doing and to assess their skills based upon where they stand in their own design community."

Scott Kelby is editor-in-chief of PhotoshopUser magazine, editor of MacDesign magazine, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), and president of KW Media Group Inc., a Florida-based software training and publishing company. He also authored the several bestselling PhotoShop and Mac books and was the developer of the new Photoshop 7.0 Help plug-in "Kelby's notes for Adobe Photoshop."

Helene DeLillo is a photographer and digital imaging artist, columnist for Communication Arts, member of Apple Computer's Advisory Council, and international speaker on digital photography & imaging. Her company, Dancing Icon Inc., provides digital imaging consulting and designs digital photography studios.

Pam Pfiffner is the editor in chief of Creativepro.com, which she started in 1999. She has been editor in chief of such magazines as MacUser and Publish and launched the dynamic-media Web site of the cable television station ZDTV (now TechTV). She writes, teaches, and speaks regularly about technology and tools for designers. Her book, "Inside the Publishing Revolution: The Adobe Story" (Adobe Press/Peachpit Press), was named 2002 Book of the Year by Design, Type & Graphics magazine.

Ben Willmore is the founder of Digital Mastery, a training and consulting firm based in the mountains west of Boulder, Colo. Ben has personally trained more than 12,000 Photoshop users how to "think Photoshop", is a monthly columnist for Photoshop User magazine, and is a featured speaker at national publishing conferences and events nationwide.

Jeremy Sutton is the author of several Painter books and videos including Fractal Design Painter Creative Techniques, an associate editor for EFX Art & Design magazine, host of the Painter World Wide User Group, and a former faculty member of the Academy of Art College, San Francisco State University, Center for Electronic Art, and Expression Center for New Media.

The SpinnerAward winners will be announced on Sept. 3, 2003 and will also be featured in PhotoSpin's SpinNews and on the photospin.com Web site. Winners will receive the PhotoSpin bronzed-propeller-hat award and a free one-year subscription to PhotoSpin. Several honorable mentions will also be picked in each category.

Designers can submit up to three entries in any of the three categories: Best of Print, Best of Web, and Best of Illustration. The only requirement is that somewhere within the design of the piece(s) a PhotoSpin photo, illustration, font, film or sound clip is included. Designers who are not subscribers to PhotoSpin can sign up for a free trial subscription and use any of the 100 free images for their design submission.

Entries must be received by Friday, Aug. 8, 2003 by 12 midnight. All entries must include a description of the hardware and software used to create the work and the PhotoSpin image number that was used. All print entries must be in a low-res JPEG image no larger than 7x7 inches at 72dpi in JPG format only. Winners will be required to submit the high-resolution version of their submission by Aug. 29, 2003.

JPEG entries can be submitted either online at http://www.photospin.com/spinnerawards or by mailing a CD-ROM with these file formats to PhotoSpin's Corporate offices at 4030 Palos Verdes Dr. N., Suite 200, Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. 90274. A $45 entry fee is required for each category, which allows up to four images to be uploaded for that category. Each entrant will receive a free SpinnerAward T-shirt and 30-day full subscription to photospin.com.

This year, PhotoSpin will select finalists daily and post them online in the SpinGallery. Visitors to the site will vote via an online voting procedure for one print designer, web designer and illustrator, which will decide the final winners. The public is urged to vote at http://www.photospin.com/spinnerawards from August 11-27, 2003 for their favorite design work.

About PhotoSpin

PhotoSpin Inc. is the first content subscription site for business professionals. The PhotoSpin collection includes 60,000 award-winning photographs, illustrations, video clips, sound files, fonts, and more. Additionally, 200 or more files are added to the collection each month. The company has a unique subscription-based model where users pay an annual fee, create a unique user name and password, and then can go on to the site for unlimited downloads of content for one year. Individual downloads and CD-ROMs are also available at the site. For more information about PhotoSpin, or its collection of images or individual products, visit www.photospin.com or call 888-246-1313.