Photographer of the Year 2024 - Terms And Conditions
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ENTRANT ELIGIBILITY
1. All categories are open to amateur photographers only. For the purposes of this competition an amateur photographer is defined as someone who has not earned more than $5,000 from photography (including videography) in any 12-month period in the previous five years, dating from the time of entry and has not completed their final year of study in a tertiary-level, multi-year photography qualification. (Note: For the purposes of this competition, photography earnings includes money earned from photo sales, photo education, photography tours, commercial work, and photo competitions. Non-cash prizes won in photography competitions, such as camera equipment and travel, are not considered earnings.)
2. Photographer of the Year is open to citizens and residents of Australia and New Zealand. For the purposes of this competition a resident is described as someone who has lived in Australia or New Zealand for at least six months at the time of entering this competition.
3. In order to receive a prize, winners must supply an Australian or New Zealand mailing address.
4. The ‘Junior' category is open to photographers who are aged under 18 years old at the time they submit their entry.
5. Employees of Yaffa Media Pty Ltd (the competition organiser) and the sponsors of Photographer of the Year 2024 are not permitted to enter the competition.
6. Freelance writers and photographers who have been paid to contribute to Australian Photography or Capture from 23 May 2023 to 15 October 2024 are not permitted to enter the competition.
ENTRY ELIGIBILITY
7. All elements must have been photographed by the entrant and images submitted must be 100% photographic in origin. The use of stock images or clip art is forbidden.
8. Images must have been taken on or after 1 June 2023. If the EXIF data attached to an image shows the image was captured before 1 June 2023, the entry may be disqualified.
9. Images entered in previous Photographer of the Year competitions are not eligible.
10. An image, or a similar version of that image, that has been a Winner or Runner-Up in any of the following Yaffa Media photo competitions – Australasia's Top Emerging Photographers, Photographer of the Year, The Landscape Awards, Wilderness Photographer of the Year, The Mono Awards or The Capture Awards – will not be eligible to be a Winner or Runner-Up in Photographer of the Year.
11. Images should not include watermarks or other branding. The competition organiser reserves the right to disqualify any entry with a watermark or other branding.
12. Images should not include frames or borders. The competition organiser reserves the right to to disqualify any entry with a frame or borders, or to remove frames or borders prior to shortlisting and judging.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
13. This is a photography competition and, as such, entered images must have been entirely captured with a camera (digital, film or phone camera) by the entrant. Images created by artificial intelligence using image-creation programs (for example, MidJourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, etc) may not be entered. Images edited using Generative AI in programs such as Photoshop, Topaz Photo AI, etc, where pixels are added that did not exist in the original photo, may not be entered. The competition organisers reserve the right to request original image files to verify the photographic integrity of any submitted entry. Failure to produce original image files, including previous and subsequent images captured during a shoot, may result in disqualification. Competition organisers reserve the right to disqualify an image if the photographic integrity of a submitted entry cannot be adequately verified.
DIGITAL MANIPULATION
14. Any post-production and editing must be the work of the entrant.
15. ALL CATEGORIES EXCEPT CREATIVE: Images must be single capture, not composites, with the following exceptions: Stitched panoramas, focus stacks and HDR images may be entered (in these cases, multiple images may be captured at the same location within a 12-hour time period, and merged to form a single image). Multiple exposures captured in-camera are allowed. Multiple exposures created in post-production are not allowed, with the exception of the Creative category where composite image are allowed. Images may be processed in post-production to adjust photographic variables only, such as cropping, noise, sharpness, colour, tone and contrast, including dodging and burning and black-and-white conversions. Pixels may not be added or removed, with the following exceptions: Digital lens and perspective corrections and cloning to remove dust spots and minor distractions are allowed. Competition organisers reserve the right to disqualify an image if they feel it lacks authenticity due to over-manipulation.
16. CREATIVE CATEGORY: Images may be single-capture or composite. Images must be wholly photographic in origin. All visual elements in the entry must have been photographed by the entrant and must be 100% photographic in origin, including textures, backgrounds, skies, borders, etc. Pixels may be moved, removed or added. The use of stock images, stock video, or clip art, or imagery created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not allowed.
PORTFOLIO CATEGORIES
17. AERIAL
Entrants must submit four images. Aerial includes photos taken from any elevated position. Images may be captured with a drone, from an aircraft, or from a high vantage point such as a building or bridge.
18. ANIMAL & NATURE
Entrants must submit four images. Images may be of animals (wild or domesticated), flowers, plants or other flora. The entrant must not do anything to cause injury or stress to an animal, or damage habitat. This includes flying a drone close to an animal.
19. BLACK & WHITE
Entrants must submit four images. Images may be black and white or monochrome (eg sepia, selenium, etc). Images with more than one tone, for example, spot-colour, duotone and and colour images are not eligible. Images may be captured in black and white or converted from colour to monochrome in post-production.
20. LANDSCAPE
Entrants must submit four images. Images may be of the natural or built environment. Aerial images must be entered in the Aerial category.
21. PEOPLE
Entrants must submit four images. Images may be of one or more people. Images may be posed or candid.
22. TRAVEL
Entrants must submit four images. Travel is a broad genre that can include portraiture, landscapes, wildlife and other imagery, but should try to reveal something about the culture or the unique character of a place. Images can be captured anywhere in the world including in Australia or New Zealand.
SINGLE-IMAGE CATEGORIES
23. SINGLE SHOT
Entrants must submit one image. This is an open-themed category.
24. JUNIOR
Entrants must submit one image. Entrants must be aged under 18 at the time of entry. This is an open-themed category.
25. CREATIVE
Entrants must submit one image. This is an open-themed category with greater freedoms for entrants to experiment with post-producution techniques, including montages.
DRONE PHOTOGRAPHY
26. Australian Photography supports the safe and legal operation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs), including drones. All entries captured with an RPA must comply with local rules and regulations. Any images suspected of being captured illegally will be disqualified. In order to be eligible for a prize, entrants must be able to provide verifiable EXIF data including drone type, position (latitude and longitude) and altitude information. Competition organisers reserve the right to disqualify any image they suspect may have been captured illegally.
COPYRIGHT
27. Each photographer retains copyright of their images. The entrant provides Australian Photography a limited-use authorisation to display, print, and distribute their photographs for the sole purpose of promoting Photographer of the Year. Images will be credited with the name of the photographer if used by Australian Photography.
28. The entrant must be the creator of any images they enter into the competition.
29. The entrant must be the copyright owner of any images they enter into the competition.
IMAGE CAPTURE CONSIDERATIONS
30. All entries must be taken safely and in a manner that complies with local laws and regulations.
31. When photographing in wilderness and natural areas, habitat disturbance should be kept to a minimum. Entrants should minimise any impact their presence has on surrounding flora and fauna and ensure they comply with local conservation guidance and requirements. Live baiting is not allowed and the use of any other means of attracting wild animals is strongly discouraged. If an attractant has been used to attract wildlife it must be declared in the entry information.
32. An entrant may be disqualified at any stage if it is found they have engaged in unethical practices in the capture and creation of their entry.
CLOSING DATE
33. Closing date for entries is 11.59pm AEDT Sunday 20 October 2024.
JUDGING
34. Entries will be shortlisted by staff of Australian Photography, published by Yaffa Media (ABN 54 002 699 354), 17-21 Bellevue Street, Surry Hills, Sydney.
35. A panel of leading photographers, selected by the staff of Australian Photography, will judge the shortlisted entries and vote on a winner in each category. The overall Photographer of the Year will be judged from one of the six portfolio category winners.
36. Judges' decisions are final and no further correspondence will be entered into.
WINNERS’ ANNOUNCEMENT
37. Winners, runners-up and finalists will be announced on www.australianphotography.com in December 2024 and published in the January 2025 edition of Australian Photography magazine.
PRODUCT PRIZES
38. Product prizes are subject to availability, 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 similar value or specification.
39. The competition organiser takes no responsibility for prizes damaged or lost in transit.
GENERAL
40. Entry fees are non-refundable.
41. The entrant indemnifies Yaffa Media Pty Ltd against any claim, legal or otherwise, that may arise out of publication of images.
42. Yaffa Media Pty Ltd reserves the right to disqualify any entry deemed to be in breach of these Terms and Conditions.
43. The information in these terms and conditions supersedes information in other parts of this website.
44. By entering images into this competition, the entrant warrants that all of the above Terms and Conditions have been met. Any entry found to breach the above Terms and Conditions will be disqualified and all prize money and product prizes must be returned to Yaffa Media Pty Ltd.