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There's a weird rule which says "New Jersey, USA" residents may not enter among other countries and states. Does anyone know why?

The contest link.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I would presume its due to local laws in NJ. Each state is a sovereign entity according to the US Constitution, and they have the right to do as they see fit from a legal standpoint, so long as it conforms to the state constitution. \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista
    Commented Jul 12, 2012 at 0:54
  • \$\begingroup\$ Wow. Some rules. A few years back there were some online articles bouncing around about NG contest scams and NG collecting and reselling photos. Don't know if those were true or not but it seems like entrants are pretty much giving their photos away to NG. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jakub Sisak GeoGraphics
    Commented Jul 12, 2012 at 2:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Jakub I'm glad at least that NG doesn't demand a copyright transfer of the winning works, only a license. This allows the artist to still sell licenses in the work to others. However, saying "Entrants consent to the Sponsor doing or omitting to do any act that would otherwise infringe the entrant’s “moral rights” in their entries" is unenforcable in nations with inalienable moral rights like France. Their strictness about getting releases for every third party element in the work (and every person present in the photo) is also needlessly paranoid. \$\endgroup\$
    – Chiara Coetzee
    Commented Jul 12, 2012 at 17:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DerrickCoetzee - paranoid indeed. In terms of copyrights our own Canadian Geographic is as bad if not worse. Entrants can either give away the rights to their work by merely entering for the odd chance they may be published or one can always choose an inferior photo to submit and accept the fact that NG or CG can do with it as they please. However, an inferior photo will likely not win and giving away royalty free rights to one's best photo sounds like a loose loose situation for the photographer. - a win win situation for these sponsors who wind up with a lot of great royalty free photos \$\endgroup\$
    – Jakub Sisak GeoGraphics
    Commented Jul 12, 2012 at 18:51

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The National Geographic site explains it:

Why are residents of New Jersey and Vermont not allowed to participate?

Those states do not allow operation of a skill contest that requires an entry fee. Please contact your local jurisdiction for further information.

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