Is this photo contest bogus?

After doing a quick search...it appears to be another one of those "Congratulations, your photo has been chosen by our editor to be published in our book....and for the low price of $$$ you can have your own copy."

This looks like Photo Laureates. In fact after a Google search I am finding evidence that it is indeed Photo Laureates. IT'S A SCAM!!!!! Yes that was yelling. Don't do it. WARNING! DANGER, Will Robinson.

They will choose you as a finalist. They will say that your awesome photo has been chosen to be in their anthology book that they are publishing. And that's not all. You can purchase their book for only $69.99 or something like that. I have heard that they have this book and they glue one special sheet into it that has your photo on it and it's obvious. They likely sell the same book to everyone but the only difference is that special page where everyone sees their photo. I sent them a photo but I did not send them any money for the book because I figure if I am contributing to their book they should give me a copy. My first clue was when I read $6,500 prize and $6,500 in prizes. I sent an email asking which it was. I never got a response. They send me an email every six months or so and I tell them to get out of my life and never get a response and they keep sending. Just google Photo Laureates or John Wharton and see what you get.

EDIT: Forgot to mention BEI is right on and Steve P has an outstanding intuition.

As a person who has entered gallery submission calls for entries as well as various contests all over the world, for some reason, this site just does not "sit well" with me. There are no clear cut guidelines as to the photography desired, no dates given about the "$6500 prize", and they also sell photo books and various other items. It would not surprise me that if you send in ANY photo, it will be selected as "a winner" and for a price of around $100 you can have the honor of having it published in one of their books. Like I say, I can't really put my finger on what is wrong with this site other than it is a long way from the type of places to which I normally submit. It may not be totally bogus, but it seems to be at some fuzzy middle ground that does not impress me at all.

steve

ADD: Yeah, BEI I do believe is correct. Here is another question asked here about this, and the answers and links also show it to be a scam:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201005...

It does look a little sketchy, in my opinion.

I'd enter false information prior, just to check it out and see how it goes.