Contest Entry Form Template
Run a judged contest cleanly — entries arrive with the work attached, the rules accepted, and duplicates locked out from the start.
Show us your best shot. One entry per person, winners chosen by our judging panel, and every entrant lands on the announcement list.
A contest is a lead magnet with a judging problem attached. The entries need to arrive complete (work, title, statement), verifiably owned, and exactly once per person — otherwise the announcement day gets awkward. This template is built backwards from that judging table.
Why these fields. Full name and notification email are the prize-delivery pair; the email label says exactly what it will be used for, which both raises data quality and reads as fair play. The entry title does something underrated: it forces entrants to frame their own work, gives judges a handle for deliberation ("the lighthouse one"), and hands your announcement post its copy ready-made. The upload block is locked to JPEG and PNG at up to 10MB — tight enough that judges never wrestle a codec, roomy enough for print-quality submissions. The artist statement stays optional but prompted; the entries with statements are almost always the ones that survive the first cut, and the prompt tells entrants so obliquely. The rules acceptance is a required single choice with one affirmative option — an explicit act, not a pre-ticked assumption, recorded with every entry.
One entry per person, actually enforced. Turn on duplicate prevention in Settings (per device or per IP) and repeat submissions bounce automatically. Pair it with a closing date using the form's close rules, and the contest ends itself at the deadline instead of relying on you remembering at midnight — late arrivals see your custom closed message.
How judging works from here. Every entry sits in the responses view with its image attached; download originals per response, or export the CSV as the master scoresheet while judges work through the gallery. If you route entries to a shared channel with a webhook, the panel can react to each piece as it arrives.
What we left out. Social handles and share-to-win mechanics — they contaminate a judged contest with popularity dynamics, and platform rules around them shift constantly. Age and region eligibility gates also stayed out of the default; add a dropdown if your prize's legal terms demand one.
Who uses this. Photography communities, brands running creative UGC campaigns, local arts councils, and newsletters gamifying their audience — anyone whose prize is worth a portfolio piece.
Make it yours. Rewrite the intro with your actual prize and deadline, widen the file types if you accept PDFs or design files, and set the close rules before you publish, not after the first late entry argues with you. The entrant list is the quiet second prize: every contest ends with a CSV of people who cared enough to make something.
Frequently asked questions
How do entrants attach their work?
Through the file upload block — this template accepts one JPEG or PNG up to 10MB. You can widen the allowed types or raise the file count in the block settings if your contest needs it.
Can people enter more than once?
Not if you enable duplicate prevention in Settings — submissions from the same device or IP are blocked after the first. State the one-entry rule in your intro so the block never surprises anyone.
How do I close entries at the deadline?
Set a close date (or a maximum number of entries) in Settings. After that, visitors see your custom closed message instead of the form — no midnight manual shutdown required.
Where do judges review everything?
The responses view shows each entry with its uploaded image, title, and statement together. Export the CSV as a scoring sheet, or push entries to a shared channel via webhook as they arrive.