Two of my favorite blogs, Dust & Grooves and Flea Market Funk, are putting on a pretty cool photo contest called Wax on Film. Some great sponsors are giving away some pretty fresh prizes so there’s really no reason not to enter. I’ll be one of the judges and can’t wait to see everyone’s collections out there. Details below.

Wax On Film: A Vinyl Photo Contest is an opportunity for vinyl collectors of all walks of life to showcase their true love for vinyl. It’s put together by Jamison Harvey of Flea Market Funk and Eilon Paz, of the acclaimed vinyl documentary photo site Dust & Grooves.

The mission of this photo contest is to help preserve vinyl heritage, as well as the artists that make it, just as our contestants do with their collections.

We want you to submit photos of your own vinyl collection!

We urge you to be creative with your photography. It could be a straight on shot, a collage, a digitally manipulated image, or any other creative art piece in the medium of photography.

Submissions will be judged by Jamison Harvey (DJ & creator of Flea Market Funk), Eilon Paz (Photographer & creator of Dust & Grooves), influential world famous DJ Rich Medina, Brian Ho (art director & creator of Dreams In Audio) and Brian Cross aka B+ (photographer & film maker from Mochilla). All finalists of the contest will be featured in articles on Flea Market Funk as well as Dust & Grooves.

More after the jump.

Prize Packages:

First Place:
1 Tucker and Bloom North South DJ Bag
1 Nixon RPM Headphones
1 Rare Byrds 45 Poster
1 Listen Clothing and 1 101 Apparel Tee
1 Cultures of Soul 7” test pressing of The Darling Dears “I Don’t Think I’ll Love Another”
1 Hot Peas & Butta Limited Edition Print
1 Tropicalia In Furs: Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas 3D LP
5 Truth and Soul Records 7” records
1 Super HI-FI Latest single “Single Player” on 7”

Second Place:
1 Nixon Crux Messenger Bag
1 Nixon RPM Headphones
1 Rare Byrds 45 Poster
3 Truth and Soul Records 7” records
1 Cultures of Soul 7” record
1 Listen Clothing and 1 101 Apparel Tee
1 Hot Peas & Butta Limited Edition Print
1 Tropicalia In Furs Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas 3D LP

Third Place:
1 Nixon Crux Messenger bag filled with Nixon Trooper Headphones
1 Rare Byrds 45 Poster,
1 Truth and Soul Records 7” record
1 Cultures of Soul 7” record
1 Hot Peas & Butta Limited Edition Print
1 Listen Clothing and 1 101 Apparel Tee

5 Runners Up:
1 Truth and Soul Records 7” record
1 Listen Clothing or 101 Apparel tee

* Prizes are subject to change without notice, based on availability.

Submission Rules:

* Submissions will be accepted until March 15th , 2012.
* Finalists will be announced no later than April 2nd, 2012.
* There is no limit to the number of images each artist may submit.
* Submission is open to all persons over the age of 18.
* Artwork should be submitted as a digital file.
* Maximum file size: 2MB
* File Format: JPEG
* Images should be saved at 72dpi
* Color Profile: sRGB
* Images should be no larger than 1400 pixels on their longest dimension.
* File names should consist of: Artist name_Artwork name_Sequence Number
* On the caption field please write your full name and a valid email address so we can contact you in case your submission wins.

Send all submissions here

Came across this great poster designed by Pop Chart Lab meticulously charting the expansive world of rap names. I haven’t studied the poster that closely yet, but the attention to detail here seems pretty impressive. You can order a copy here.

Because record nerds will be record nerds.

I don’t envy the guys over at Stones Throw for having to pick the winner of their recent video contest. Some pretty incredible entries spanning their entire catalog. Here are just a few that stood out to me.

J DILLA “LAST DONUT OF THE NIGHT” directed, written and edited by Tuomas Vauhkonen and Jeremias Nieminen.
Cast: Juha Ilmari Laine, Markku Laitinen, Rami Rusinen, Petra Lumioksa / Director of Photography: Jeremias Nieminen / Camera Operator: Antti Savolainen / Camera Asst: Sofia Palillo / Sound Engineer: Tuomas Vauhkonen / Sound Recording: Ilkka Kunttu / Gaffer: Jeremias Nieminen / Best Boy: Tuomas Peltonen / Runner: Petra Lumioksa / Catering: Petra Lumioksa. J Dilla’s “Last Donut of the Night” is taken from the album Donuts (2006)

J DILLA “LIGHTWORKS” by James McMillan.
Illustration, design and animation by James McMillan / james-works.com / Music includes J Dilla’s “Lightworks” from the album Donuts (2006) as well as an excerpt of Percee P’s Throwback Rap Attack (Acapella).

QUASIMOTO “BUS RIDE” by Vincent Longhi.
Director, Editor: Vincent Longhi / Actors: Charles Nogier (Old Willie), Vincent Longhi (Quasimoto), Paul Rey (Madlib) / Decor: Vincent Longhi, Nicolas Courgeon, Yann Grolleau / Production: European School of Visual Arts (EESI) / Quasimoto “Bus Ride” produced by Madlib, from the album The Further Adventures of Lord Quas (2005).

JAYLIB “The Heist” by  Rory Gamble and Demetrios Katsantonis
Jimmy Joey & Frankie Productions, Winnetka CA / Camera Operator, Animator, Editor: Rory Gamble. / Jaylib – J Dilla and Madlib – “The Heist” taken from the album Champion Sound (2003)

MADVILLAIN “STRANGE WAYS” by Jean-Yves Blanc.
Great work here from Jean-Yves, and it was a one-man show: “I did everything by myself, modeling clay figures, stage set, accesories, sketches, animations, photos and video montage.” More of his work can be seen over at hiphopsculture.com. MF DOOM & Madlib’s “Strange Ways” is from the album Madvillainy (2004).

East of Underground from Wax Poetics on Vimeo.

This is a great little mini documentary that sheds some light on one of the most elusive soul groups, The East of Underground. Props to Wax Poetics and Scion for putting this together.