Australasia's Top Emerging Photographers Awards 2020 - Terms And Conditions

ELIGIBILITY

1. Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers is open to emerging photographers only. For the purposes of this competition, an emerging photographer is defined as someone who has less than four years of full-time experience working as a professional photographer. Entrants with no professional experience also qualify to enter the competition under this definition.

2. Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers is open to citizens and residents of Australia and New Zealand. In order to receive a prize, winners must supply an Australian or New Zealand mailing address. For the purposes of this competition, a resident is defined as a person who has lived in Australia or New Zealand for at least six months at the time of entering this competition.

3. An entrant may enter more than one category. Multiple entries within a category are also permitted.

4. Employees of Yaffa Media Pty Ltd are not permitted to enter the competition.

5. Freelance writers and photographers who have been paid to contribute to Capture since 1 January 2019 are not permitted to enter the competition.

IMAGE REQUIREMENTS

6. For each entry (excluding the Single Shot category), entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images relevant to the category. Entries with less than three images will not be considered.

7. Images must have been created on or after 1 January 2018. Any elements included in an image must also have been created on or after 1 January 2018. If the EXIF data attached to an image shows the image was captured before 1 January 2018 it will be deemed ineligible. 

8. Images must be free of watermarks and text. Images with watermarks or text will not be considered.

9. All elements must have been photographed by the entrant and images submitted must be 100% photographic in origin, including textures, backgrounds, skies, borders, etc. The use of stock images or clip art is forbidden.

COPYRIGHT

10. Entrants retain copyright of their images. By entering the competition, entrants provide Capture and other media a limited-use authorisation to publish entered photos for the sole purpose of promoting Australasia's Top Emerging Photographers. Images will be credited with the name of the photographer when used in any publicity for the competition.

11. The entrant must be the creator and copyright owner of any images entered into the competition.

12. All post-production and editing must be the work of the entrant.

13. The entrant is responsible for obtaining relevant model and/or property releases.

CATEGORIES

14. ANIMAL: Images may be single capture or composites. Animals may be domestic, farm, zoo/captive, or wild.

15. ARCHITECTURE: Images may be single capture or composites, however composite techniques that add or remove elements of a building or structure, hence creating an image of a building or structure that does not exist in reality, are forbidden.

16. ART: Images may be single capture or composites.

17. DOCUMENTARY: Images must be single capture. Images must be observed events. Composites are ineligible. Adding or changing pixels through the use of cloning or other means is not permitted, other than to remove dust spots. Minor tone, noise, and sharpness changes are permitted, with the proviso that these changes do not fundamentally alter the narrative of the image. Composite techniques such as focus-stacking, multiple exposure, panoramic stitching, and HDR are prohibited. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images.

18. LANDSCAPE: Images must be single capture with the following limited exceptions. Stitched panoramas, focus stacking, and HDR may be used only if all exposures are captured from the same location within an eight-hour period. With the exception of the previously mentioned techniques, adding or removing pixels is not permitted, other than to crop and/or remove dust spots. Adjustments may be made to noise, sharpness, colour, tone, and contrast, including dodging and burning, and black-and-white conversions. Digital lens corrections may also be made. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images. Natural, urban, seascape, and aerial images may be entered.

19. PORTRAIT: Images may be single capture or composites. Images should include a person or people as the primary subject in the image. Portraits of animals should be entered in the ‘Animal’ category.

20. SINGLE SHOT: Unlike the other categories which require a portfolio of three (3) images to be submitted, this category requires only one (1) image per submission. Images submitted may be single capture or composite.

21. TRAVEL: Images must be single capture with the following limited exceptions. Stitched panoramas, focus stacking, and HDR may be used only if all exposures are captured from the same location within an eight-hour period. With the exception of the previously mentioned techniques, adding or removing pixels is not permitted, other than to crop and/or remove dust spots. Adjustments may be made to noise, sharpness, colour, tone, and contrast, including dodging and burning, and black-and-white conversions. Digital lens corrections may also be made. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images.

22. WEDDING: Images must have been taken at an actual wedding, or civil ceremony. Images may be single capture or composite. For composite images, all elements included in the final image must have been captured during the same wedding or civil ceremony, with the exception of borders and textures, if used.

JUDGING

23. Entries will be shortlisted by staff of Capture.

24. A panel of professional photographers and industry experts will judge the shortlisted entries and vote to determine a winner in each category. The overall winner (Australasia's Top Emerging Photographer 2020) and overall runner-up will be chosen from the category winners.

25. Judges' decisions are final and no further correspondence will be entered into.

WINNERS' ANNOUNCEMENT

26. Winners, runners-up, and finalists will be announced in the May/June 2020 edition of Capture magazine. Winners will also be announced on capturemag.com.au in May 2020.

PRODUCT PRIZES

27. Product prizes are subject to availability, are not transferable or exchangeable, and cannot be taken as cash. If a prize is unavailable, the competition organiser reserves the right to substitute the prize with a prize of the similar value and/or specification.

28. The competition organiser takes no responsibility for prizes damaged or lost in transit.

GENERAL

29. The competition closes 16 February 2020, 11:59pm (AEDT). No responsibility is accepted for late, lost, delayed, or misdirected entries.

30. Entry fees are non-refundable.

31. The entrant indemnifies Yaffa Media Pty Ltd (ABN 54 002 699 354) against any claim, legal or otherwise, that may arise out of publication of the images.

32. Yaffa Media Pty Ltd reserves the right to disqualify any entry deemed to be in breach of the Terms and Conditions.

33. By entering this competition, the entrant guarantees to Yaffa Media Pty. Ltd. that all of the above Terms and Conditions have been met. Any entry found to breach the Terms and Conditions will be disqualified and all prize money and product prizes must be returned to Yaffa Media Pty Ltd.

Our terms and conditions have been approved by the Photowatchdog, and rated TopDog. Photowatchdog is the advocate for fair photo competitions in Australia.

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