Australasia's Top Emerging Photographers 2024 - 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 2023 are not permitted to enter the competition.

6. An image that has previously been a winner or runner-up in any of the following Yaffa Media photo competitions – The Landscape Awards, Photographer of the Year, The Mono Awards, Wilderness Photographer of the Year, The Capture Awards – will not be eligible to win a prize or award in Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers.

COPYRIGHT

6. Each entrant retains copyright of their images. By entering the competition, entrants provide Capture a limited-use authorisation to display, publish and distribute their photos for the sole purpose of promoting Australasia's Top Emerging Photographers. Images will be credited with the name of the photographer if used by Capture.

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

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

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

IMAGE REQUIREMENTS

10. Images must have been created on or after 1 January 2021. Any elements included in an image must also have been created on or after 1 January 2021.

11. Images entered in previous years of Australasia’s Top Emerging Photographers may not be entered into the 2024 competition.

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

13. 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.

14. Images created wholly or in part with the assistance of artificial intelligence, 3D, or illustration processes may not be entered.

15. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files or series of original JPGS with Metadata to confirm the authenticity of images.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

16. This is a photography competition and, as such, any entered images must have been entirely captured with a camera (digital, film or phone camera) by the entrant. Images created by artificial intelligence using AI 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.

CATEGORIES

17. For the Animal, Architecture, Art, Black & White, Landscape, Portrait, and Travel categories entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images. Entries with fewer than three (3) images will not be considered.

18. In the Documentary category entrants must submit a portfolio of five (5) images. Entries with fewer than five (5) images will not be considered.

19. In the Single Shot category entrants must submit one (1) image.

20. ANIMAL: Images may be single capture or composites. Animals may be domestic, farm, zoo/captive, or wild. An animal (or animals) should be the main focus of the image. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images.  Entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images. Entries with fewer than three (3) images will not be considered. 

21. ARCHITECTURE: Images must be single capture and represent a building or structure that exists in reality. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images. Entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images. Entries with fewer than three (3) images will not be considered. 

22. ART: Images may be single capture or composites. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images. Entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images. Entries with fewer than three (3) images will not be considered.

23. DOCUMENTARY: Images must be observed events not staged (i.e. no staged / pretend events) for the purposes of photography. Images must be single capture. 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. Entrants must submit a portfolio of five (5) images. Entries with fewer than five (5) images will not be considered.

24. LANDSCAPE: Natural, urban and aerial landscape images may be entered. 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. Entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images. Entries with fewer than three (3) images will not be considered.

25. PORTRAIT: Images should include a person or people as the primary subject in the image. Images may be single capture or composites. Portraits of animals should be entered in the ‘Animal’ category. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images. Entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images. Entries with fewer than three (3) images will not be considered. 

26. BLACK & WHITE: Images may be shot in black & white, or captured in colour and converted to black & white in post-production. Colour toning, sepia, or other post production techniques rendering the image not solely black and white are not permitted. Images entered must be single capture (not composite). The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images. Entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images. Entries with fewer than three (3) images will not be considered.

27. TRAVEL: Images may include landscape, portrait, architecture or other subject matter. 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. Entrants must submit a portfolio of three (3) images. Entries with fewer than three (3) images will not be considered.

28. SINGLE SHOT: This is an open-theme category. Images submitted may be single capture or composite. The competition organisers reserve the right to request RAW files to confirm the authenticity of images.  This category requires only one (1) image per submission.

JUDGING

29. Entries will be shortlisted by the staff of Capture.

30. 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 and overall runner-up will be chosen from the category winners.

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

WINNERS' ANNOUNCEMENT

32. Winners, runners-up, and finalists will be announced in the Winter 2024 edition of Capture magazine (available in June). Winners will also be announced at www.capturemag.com.au in June 2024.

PRODUCT PRIZES

33. 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 a prize of similar value.

34. Prize values are supplied by sponsors. Retail prices in stores and online may vary.

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

GENERAL

36. All entries / images must be taken safely and in a manner that complies with local laws and regulations.

37. When photographing in wilderness and natural areas habitat disturbance must be kept to a minimum. Entrants must 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 is used to attract wildlife it must be declared in the entry information.

38. 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.

39. The competition closes 20 March 2024, 11:59pm (AEDT). No responsibility is accepted for late, lost, delayed, or misdirected entries.

40. Entry fees are non-refundable.

41. 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.

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

43. 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 . Photowatchdog is the advocate for fair photo competitions in Australia.