WebProNews

The photos that rotate through Bing's homepage are, at least from an aesthetic standpoint (we mean no disrespect to the search engineers), one of the best things about the site; it's always a pleasure to stop by and see some interesting scene.  And now artistic types are getting a chance to contribute thanks to the new Bing Photo Contest.

The contest is for the most part straightforward - there's a submissions period (ending July 16th), followed by a couple rounds of voting (alternating with editorial selections).  The rules tell would-be participants to adhere to the theme of "summer travel" and steer clear of trademarks, logos, recognizable people, and objectionable content.

There's one interesting twist, though.  A Microsoft representative stated in an email to WebProNews, "[T]he contest is implemented through the Bing Photo Sharing Facebook application, where contestants can submit their photos and the Facebook community can vote on their favorites. . . .  Microsoft is running the contest on Facebook so contestants have an easy way to recruit their friends to vote for their photo."

Then here's the predictable, but still cool, end result: "The winning photo will be featured on the Bing homepage on Aug. 3."

So tell any photographers you know to grab their cameras and head to a sunny place.  Since statistics indicate that Bing just keeps getting more popular, this contest could generate a fair amount of publicity for the winner.

UPDATE: A winner's been picked.