NYC Headshots Contest 2009 – Winners!
The results are in!
With over 2,000 unique voters giving their opinion, it’s time to see who came out on top…
After running the results through my handy-dandy duplicate removing system, here are the final results… and it was close!
Tahir Register | 426 |
Calvin Winbush | 387 |
Dolores Quintana | 309 |
Taavon Gamble | 227 |
Nikki Souvertjis | 196 |
Nora Hanlon | 101 |
Tara de Guzman | 82 |
Kelly B. Lewis | 81 |
Maria Chavez | 56 |
Alexa Gonzalez | 41 |
Jennifer Weedon | 38 |
Andrea E. | 24 |
John Pilliod | 19 |
Kristina Walker | 9 |
Rob Douglas | 8 |
Bobby Moreno | 5 |
Tamia Burton | 5 |
Evan J. Palazzo | 4 |
Soniya Johnson | 4 |
Kenneth Cruz | 4 |
Congratulations to Tahir Register and Calvin Winbush, who both used their network of friends and fans to boost them to the finish line!
Here’s a last look at their current photos… soon, they’ll have some brand new NYC Headshots to show off!
Headshots, Contests, & Promoting Your Career
So what can we learn from a contest like this? Is there anything to take away from it all? I think so!
None of us exists in a vacuum… at a certain point, we all need support. And as actors, support (and a healthy amount of self promotion) is truly one of the biggest factors in pushing your career forward.
Look for a post later this week reflecting on the contest, what I learned as a result, and how you can turn these results into a tool for promoting your acting career.
In the meantime, use this opportunity to wish Tahir and Calvin a warm congratulations, and to all of our finalists who are also pursuing their dreams.
As a thank you to everyone who took part in the contest, any finalist who books a NYC Headshot session before 2010 will receive $50 off a 3-Look session or $75 off a 5-Look session.
And for the remainder of November, anyone who books a headshot session and mentions the contest receives an extra Hi-Res, retouched image with their session package.
Anyone wishing to take a look at the final numbers can download an Excel spreadsheet with the unique identifying characters: Headshot Contest 2009 Voting .
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Tahir Register
OMG THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY! I’M SOO THANKFUL FOR WINNING, THX TO ALL WHO VOTED FOR ME! AND CONGRATULATIONS CALVIN! WOW!!!!!!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! THX!
Rachel
Its hard to believe Tahir Register and Calvin Winbush didn’t cheat their way to the finish line….I know the “vote duplicating” machine checked to make sure there were no duplicates, but technically there are other ways to cheat. And the headshots they already have are already professional, they don’t need another headshot session…should be given to someone who really does need it and cant afford one period. Plus, they already had a huge fanbase because acting is not their #1 craft…the whole thing was just set up unfair from the beginning.
Nick Coleman
Hi Rachel, I’m sorry to hear you were disappointed in the results of the contest… I did my best to keep the voting fair, and even provided the results if you’d like to take a look. If you know of a way to cheat the system that I don’t, please let me know! I want to make sure I keep things as fair as possible for any contest in the future.
As far as the professionalism of Tahir and Calvin’s current shots… I think you might be surprised to hear that in my opinion, they *both* need better shots in order to compete in NYC. Before I go any further, I would need to ask both of their permission to comment on the photos they submitted. Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback… it’s always appreciated.
Calvin Winbush
Thank you SO much for the opportunity to participate in this contest. You never know how things are ultimately going to turn out, but I thank God I took the time to fill out the submission form. Congratulations to you too, Tahir. Nick, please continue this contest in the future, it was definitely a well timed blessing for myself and I know there are other actors/actresses that would truly benefit as well. As far as permission to discuss my current headshot, please feel free to do so; anything to spread more education about how to get the best results from a headshot is fine by me :-).
Tahir Register
Hi! This is focused on Rachels comment…
I understand your feelings about the competition, but understand this. I am 19 years old I come from a broken home, and I live in Newark New Jersey…the picture before you IS NOT a head shot, I retouched that picture myself off a camera my friend had and I put it up here for the contest. So, I cannot afford headshots I NEVER HAD HEADSHOTS BEFORE, I am a young actor in the making and I ADVERTISED THE HELL out of this competition so that I can get votes, my luck was that people actually listened. Were you outside with papers telling people to vote for you, did you contact colleges telling people to vote for you, did you contact jobs telling people to vote for you, NO? WELL I DID! I feel blessed to have won this competition and CHEATING is not in my blood. You should be happy that a young actor like myself won this competition so that my dreams can come true! I can only speak for myself and as I said earlier I understand your frustrations, but I didnt cheat, I cant afford headshots, and I NEVER HAD HEADSHOTS BEFORE…I just know how to promote myself and get what I need to get! Sorry…
Nick Coleman
It’s been interesting to look at the server logs on my website… and I can vouch that there was some HEAVY promoting on forums, social media sites, etc. Again, I’m working on a post about why all of this is important… I’m confident that the winners are legitimate, and I’m amazed at their level of dedication!