Popular Photography Readers' Photo Contest

Now in its 17th year, the Readers' Photo Contest is Popular Photography's signature annual event. Thousands of photographers from around the globe--enthusiasts and professionals alike--compete in a range of genres from action to landscape to portraiture. One Grand Prize will be awarded for the best picture overall. Judged by the Editors of Popular Photography, along with a panel of distinguished photo editors, practitioners, critics, and teachers, the Readers' Photo Contest offers winners the opportunity to have their work seen by a huge audience of fellow photographers.

Contest Categories

The 17th Annual Popular Photography Photo Contest gives photographers the opportunity to win prizes and have their work recognized in the January 2011 issue of Popular Photography, the largest photo magazine in the world, as well as on our website, PopPhoto.com.


Action/Sports

Capture bodies in motion. Your subject doesn’t have to be human, or even living, as long as you convey the idea of movement.
Animals

Wildlife, pets, birds, insects, fish… Whether it trots, pounces, creeps, swims or flies, every creature counts.
Architecture

Depict a built environment: an interior or exterior, an entire building or a small detail, a palace or a yurt.
Candid/Humor

Snap a spontaneous moment. Or uncover irony in everyday scenes. Or create a visual joke. Any way you do it, make us think or make us laugh—or make us do both at the same time.
Landscape/Scenic

Whether a grand vista or a single tree, a mighty mountain or a patch of flowers, the great outdoors is the ultimate picture show. Give us a feature presentation.
People

The human condition. Describe it in a picture—whether you make a portrait or a scenario, depict one person or a crowd, shoot in a studio or in a theater, stage a narrative or capture a spontaneous moment.
Still Life

Breathe life into inanimate objects through composition, light, texture, color or tone, mood and feeling. Your image can be realistic or abstract, set up or found.
Travel/Places

There’s always some place we’d rather be. For some of us, it’s a Parisian bistro. For others, a tent in a jungle clearing. Either way, the best travel photos make us want to pick up and go—now.


Prizes

One (1) GRAND PRIZE: *Sony A550 DSLR Camera and Lens (Approx. value $849.99)

Eight ( FIRST PLACE CATEGORY PRIZES: *Sony a NEX-3 with 18-55mm lens (Approx. value $599.99)

*Prizes are subject to change without notice for another camera of equal or higher value.


Official Rules
“Popular Photography Readers’ Contest”

The Popular Photography Readers’ contest is sponsored by Popular Photography magazine, a publication of Bonnier Corporation (the “Sponsor”).

One (1) GRAND PRIZE: *Sony A550 DSLR Camera and Lens (Approx. value $849.99)

Eight ( FIRST PLACE CATEGORY PRIZES: *Sony a NEX-3 with 18-55mm lens (Approx. value $599.99)

*Prizes are subject to change without notice for another camera of equal or higher value.

ELIGIBILITY: The Contest is open only to individuals, eighteen (18) years or older at time of entry, who are legal residents of the United States, excluding residents of the states of Arizona, New Jersey and Vermont. Employees of Bonnier Corporation and its parent companies, subsidiaries or agents, their immediate families (defined as parents, children, siblings, spouse and grandparents) and those domiciled with any of the foregoing are not eligible.

This contest will be open from June 15, 2010 to October 12, 2010. To enter electronically, visit our website at http://www.popphoto.com/readerscontest2010. All information provided by entrant must be complete, true and correct. Submissions to the Contest must be received by midnight on October 12, 2010 in order to be eligible; entries received after that date will be deemed ineligible to win. All submitted entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned; Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, inaccurate, incomplete, damaged, illegible, or misdirected entries. Each entry must be submitted on an individual basis (i.e., no team, joint, or corporate entries) and all components of the entry must be the original creation of the submitting participant. Only non-commercial work may be submitted. Entries may not contain profanity, nudity, pornographic images, violent images, anti-competition messages, illegal material, or material that violates the rights of third parties. Entries may not include confidential information, trade secrets, trademarks or copyrighted material belonging to any person or entity other than the participant absent a suitable license or permission agreement (proof of which is required). Entries containing any forbidden matter or material otherwise deemed by Sponsor to be inappropriate will be disqualified. Online entries will be deemed submitted by the authorized account holder of the email address submitted at time of entry.

There is a ten dollar ($10) fee per photograph to enter the contest. Entrants may enter as many times as he/she would like, for $10 per photograph. Entrants can submit images in any one of eight ( categories: “Architecture”, “Action/Sports”, “Animals”, “Candid/Humor”, “Landscape/Scenic”, “People”, “Still Life” and “Travel/Places”. When submitting your photograph(s), please specify in which category you are entering.

The competition is open to work produced from June 2009 – October 2010.

File Specifications: Submissions should be in JPEG format. Your JPEG compression must be set to maximum image quality.

In Photoshop, save your file via Save As, select JPEG for your image type and put the quality slider to 12 (all the way to the right to 12.)

Entrant’s name, address, email address and category must be affixed to all entries.

JUDGING: The judging will be done by editors of Popular Photography magazine. Entries will be judged equally on creativity, technical expertise and aesthetic value. Entries will be ranked in descending order. The decisions of the judges are final and binding in all respects.

Judging will be completed by November 1, 2010 and potential winners will be notified by phone on or before November 15, 2010. Sponsor reserves the right not to select any winning submissions based upon the quantity or content of submissions. Potential winners will be required to sign and return a sworn Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and Publicity Release. If required documentation is not returned within seven (7) business days of notification, or if notification is returned as undeliverable, any prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner will be selected.

PRIZE AWARDS: There will be one prize winner in each category, and one Grand Prize winner for the overall contest. Winner will be featured in the January 2011 issue of Popular Photography magazine. Prizes will be awarded within sixty (60) days after winner verification. No prize substitution or transfer is permitted, except that Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value for any reason (including cash, at Sponsor’s discretion). All taxes and any other incidental expenses on Prizes are the sole responsibility of each winner.

GENERAL RULES & LIMITATIONS: By entering, you represent that: (i) your entry is your own original work; and (ii) you own or have the rights to convey any and all right and title in any material submitted as part of your entry into the Contest. By entering, you grant to Sponsor a non-exclusive, worldwide, royaltyfree license to edit, publish, promote, republish at any time in the future and otherwise use your submission, along with your name and likeness, in any and all media for any purpose, without further permission, notice or compensation (except where prohibited by law). By participating in the Contest, you agree to release Sponsor and its parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, directors, officers, and agents from any and all liability, claims or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, damages or losses to persons and property which may be sustained in connection with the receipt, ownership, possession, use, or misuse of any prize. Sponsor is not responsible for technical, hardware or software failures, or other errors or problems which may occur in connection with the Contest, whether computer, network, technical, mechanical, typographical, printing, human or otherwise, including, without limitation, errors or problems which may occur in connection with the administration of the Contest, the processing or judging of entries, the announcement of the prizes, in any Contest-related materials, or that may limit prize fulfillment or a participant's ability to enter the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to amend these official rules and to permanently disqualify from the Contest any person it believes has intentionally violated these official rules.

PRIVACY: By entering, you agree that the information you provide may be sent to promotional partners of the Sponsor. You may be contacted by the Sponsor and/or promotional partners with future promotional offers. Information provided by you to participate in this Contest is subject to the privacy policies of the Sponsor.

http://readerscontest2010.popphoto.com/