For the third consecutive year, iStockphoto has let exclusive contributors keep 100% of the revenue generated by their images on August 7, for a total of more than $225,000. The company is also continuing its Punctum Day tradition, celebrating this year with $45,000 in contributor prizes.
iStock first gave away $100,000 in exclusive contributor royalties in 2007. The number doubled in a year, with the 2008 giveaway exceeding $200,000. Skeptics might say that this year’s $225,000 is proof that iStock—and perhaps microstock in general—has reached a plateau. However, this is far from a foregone conclusion: despite the economic crash of last fall, iStock exclusive contributors' slowest-month royalties are up by 9% since last summer; it is quite possible that this growth rate would be substantially higher in a less turbulent macro environment.
[caption id="attachment_4955" align="alignright" width="300" caption="iStock Punctum Day Photo of the Year: Full Moon Calling by Vladimir Piskunov"]
[/caption]This year’s $5,000 Punctum Day prizes for photo, video, vector, audio, Flash and design of the year were respectively awarded to Vladimir Piskunov (Russia), David Baumber (U.K.), Brian Smith (United States), Alexander Maas (Germany), Holger Bogen (Germany) and Adrian Foster (U.K.). Three more iStock members—most improved contributor Kurt Paris (U.K.); Luis Sandoval Mandujano (Chile), the contributor most deserving of new equipment; and Steel Cage competition winner Jamie Carroll—each took home the same amounts in cash or equivalent value prizes.
There were over 1.75 million entries in the 2009 Punctum Day prize competition. Finalists were selected by the iStock community and then judged by a panel that included Chris and Trish Meyer, founders of Crish Design; Russell Brown, senior creative director at Adobe Systems; and Scott Kelby, publisher and co-founder of Photoshop User Magazine, editor-in-chief of Layers magazine and host of Photoshop User TV.
As part of the festivities, iStock also inducted company founder Bruce Livingstone into the Hall of Fame. Livingstone resigned with iStock and Getty Images in March.