Holiday dessert recipe contest

[davina]

http://www.chow.com/contests/holidayd...

I'm hoping to see some of you all submitting some delicious holiday desserts! We've got a great giveaway, a Maytag range.

[TrishUntrapped]

The winners are posted if anyone is interested. I congratulate the winner and honorable mentions. My recipe for a trifle was not one of the chosen ones, but it was an interesting contest experience, so I thank all involved.

[The Dairy Queen]

Hi Trish,

TDQ-come-lately here. I just noticed the winners had been published (yeah, I know, I'm really, really late to the party). I'm sorry you didn't win (and, in fact, that the winner doesn't appear to be a regular contributor to Chowhound), but I admire you for entering. Your dessert attempts always sound amazing to me. I think I'll even give your trifle recipe a go this season. It does sound lovely!

~TDQ

[LindaWhit]

in fact, that the winner doesn't appear to be a regular contributor to Chowhound
~~~~~~~~~~~
I hadn't noticed that earlier, TDQ. That really grates on me.

[Tehama]

So...... if I wanted to enter a recipe I have already published, how do I do that? And just to clarify, is this http://www.chow.com/home_cooking_dige... considered already published? Thank you! T

[Caitlin McGrath]

Tehama, since the Digest is part of Chow.com, using substance you've posted on Chowhound, all already covered under the nonexclusive right quoted above by toodie jjane, I cannot imagine that submitting same to this contest would be problematic, if that is the one place it has been published. If it has been published elsewhere, but you own the copyright, I would think that would be fine, as well.

[Tehama]

Thanks so much for your message back. As far as I know, that is the only place it has ever been 'published' unless my Grandmother had it printed somewhere in the 1950s! :-)

Can you please tell me how I link the recipe to the contest? Many, many thanks to you! T

[Caitlin McGrath]

I think you will need to type the recipe in through the link that Davina provided in the initial post above, which is specific to this contest.

[kiiess]

yes,i agree with Tehama

[toodie jane]

what is Chow planning on doing with all the recipes collected?

"When you post or transmit Content on or through the Site you grant the Site and CNET Networks, their affiliates and partners a nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub licensable, royalty-free license to use, store, display, publish, transmit, transfer, distribute, reproduce, rearrange, edit, modify, aggregate your Content with other Content, create derivative works of and publicly perform that Content for any purpose on and through each of the services provided by the Site or on other sites owned by CNET Networks or its affiliates or partners. This license shall apply to the distribution and the storage of your Content in any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed."

--from 'terms of use'

though I suppose selling a cookbook isn't any different than selling advertisements on this site...

[davina]

We don't have plans at the moment to sell cookbooks, we've got our hands full with the website!

[Jibe]

An answer any politician would be proud of!

[toodie jane]

I love the "now known or later developed" part, hehe

[MMRuth]

So, if one posts a recipe on CH - does one need CH to give permission, should one (entirely hypothetically at this point), in order to publish it elsewhere?

Thanks.

[MMRuth]

Oh - and do you test the recipes?

[davina]

For the contest? Yes. Not all of them -- but we do test the 4-5 that we deem the most promising, and from those we pick the winner, runner-up, and we usually grant a people's choice, too, from the votes. In the holiday desserts contest, though, only the winner gets the grand prize!

[toodie jane]

"non-exclusive" so they get to use it how they see fit, but it's a non-exclusive right to do so.

[davina]

Nope, you own your work. We haven't devised a way to get around that pesky little detail, unfortunately. I'll let you know when we've annexed the portion of your brain that comes up with delicious recipe ideas.

We just get a license to use the recipe.

[HillJ]

How do you know if the recipes posted are original as in "owned" by the submitter? Honor system? For instance, I have found examples of the current top voted recipe entered into the contest elsewhere on the Net.

[LindaWhit]

I was wondering the same thing. I've been using a version of that recipe for at least 10 years (sans crust) that I got from a magazine, I believe.

[HillJ]

Bingo...and it disappoints me a bit that no one responded back. Doesn't leave me w/much faith for CHOW contests if recipes need not be original or no requirement that recipes be original. The prize is certainly worthy of originality.

[LindaWhit]

What I thought as well. There are some good recipes on the list, but it seems like the person in the lead might be having friends vote that particular recipe "up". However, having said that - at least they'll be testing the recipes and pick the few winners out of those (although it seems People's Choice will go a certain way :-/ ).

[HillJ]

The way the recipe contests are set up, it's hard to know much of anything about their back story. "Let thy taste buds decide" seems to be the most important factor.

[LindaWhit]

Yup - looks like the non-original recipe wins.

[HillJ]

CHOW's contest, CHOW's "rules" but for a prize so worthy, original recipe would have been nice. Congrats to all the chowhounds who entered.

[LindaWhit]

Yes - an original recipe would be best. But - their rules, as you said. Congrats to all (too bad there weren't additional prizes give out for at least honorable mention!)

[TrishUntrapped]

As a first time Chow contest participant, this was an eye-opener for me and I learned some things. Suffice it to say I don't think I will be entering another contest run like this one, but it was interesting to see how things played out.

[LindaWhit]

Interesting, Trish. While I know you can't reveal what you learned, it does say a lot, and pretty much confirms I don't think I'd want to participate in one. I do think it odd that the winner had 91 votes whereas the next closest vote getter was half that (even if they weren't in the top 3). Doesn't seem much different from a site like French's Mustard, where people enter a weekly contest and then post on message boards asking for people to vote for their recipe (and yes, I saw this happening on an AOL food message board). It was a popularity contest more than anything. Similar to American Idol. :-)

[HillJ]

And what would be wrong about the CHOW Team sharing how the contest is run? Don't all contests offer some form of explanation and tour behind the contest scenes. I'd love to know who tested the recipes, who voted on the tested recipes and what their feedback was completely based on. That would bring greater insight and possibly more interest to CH contests.

[julesrules]

Yes the contest is closed and yes one recipe has received more user votes. But I believe it says the winners will be announced November 16 and that the votes may play a role in the selection.

[TrishUntrapped]

Jules, that's why I was surprised to find that the winner has already been announced.

[julesrules]

ah i see, i couldn't figure out where the link was last night.

[davina]

I'm happy to explain how the contest works, and I'm sorry for the delay in responding here.

When the contest ends, we go through the submitted recipes (in this case "we" means me and our two food editors Amy and Christine) and talk through what sounds good, what's a well-written recipe, what's most appropriate for the particular contest. For example, for holiday desserts we wanted something festive and seasonal, and of course tasty.

We always test the one that gets the most votes, because we need to photograph it for people's choice. But we don't usually expect it to win. We test anywhere from four to nine other recipes. In this case, I think we tested five, and from those came the winner and two honorable mentions.

The staff tasted the recipes and offered comments and favorites, and after that I talked to the food editors about how they felt about actually cooking the recipes. What seemed off, what was downright wrong, what turned out horribly or great. For example, many of these recipes were much sweeter than we would have liked.

It's a subjective process, like any taste test. But we're happy with the recipe that won and big congrats to the winner and to the honorable mentions, and all of the entries.

[HillJ]

davina, I appreciate the reply. With respect to the actual recipes did judging the submissions include researching recipe origin?

[davina]

We didn't look at every recipe uploaded, but we do check to see that the winning recipe isn't taken verbatim from somewhere.

[jeanmarieok]

To Linda, and Trish - ditto - it's all about popularity. While the recipe that won looks good, it's not the best recipe that was submitted.