Contest holders should pay up front

I think it would be beneficial to require the CH to pay DesignConstest.com on the front end so that they are more compelled to choose a winner and rate the submissions. From what I've seen on other sites comparable to this, it tends to work quite well. If they know they are paying the prize money up front then they will follow the submissions and provide necessary feedback and/or contest extensions so that they get exactly what they want. Otherwise, they are just throwing their money away... and no one would just throw money away. The prize money would be released by the CH after the winner is chosen. If no winner is chosen within 30 days after contest close then DesignContest.com gets the money. Maybe they could donate a portion (or all of it) to a charity or something.

This method is a win/win/win in my opinion. The CHs get what their looking for and the designers get helpful feedback and rating points. The designers will also have the satisfaction of knowing that their time and work effort was not a total waste.

Thoughts?

aren't most of the contests already prepaid?!
all in all i think you are right, cmkenerly... the CHs should pay more attention at their contests and give more (useful) feedback - that would help the designers as well as the CHs themselves
but if there's no design which fits to the CHs expectations it would be unfair to let him/her pay...

All contests are prepaid here at desgicnontest.com

All contest are pre-paid.........but one thing we can't do is force the CH to pay attention to their contest more. Or to even rate the contest. I think that there could or should be a easier way for the ch to rate the designs and give feedback on them. But other then that dc can't force the contest holders to watch or rate their contest.