Nikonians Contest Rules

Below you will find our contest rules. Please always consult the rules within the forum you are participating in.

1. How to post

To post a picture in this year's monthly contest:

1.1         There is no entry fee for the Best of Nikonians Images Photo Contests, however, you must be a registered Silver, Gold or Platinum Member to be able to submit an image.
1.2         You can post only one image per member per category, within the submission period established for uploading, as shown in section 6.2 below. You may participate in all categories open for the 2011 contest if you choose to do so.
1.3         The exception to the above rule in section 1.2 is category I. Online Assignments and Challenges, where members may submit their winning image for each and all forums Online Assignments and Challenges in which they won during the year, before the submission deadline; and ONE image per member, per category, in each and all of the other three categories before the end of the submission deadline in section 6.2 below. This opportunity for multiple submissions is open to all Silver, Gold and Platinum Nikonians members.
1.4         Deadline or last day to post an image is the last day of submission period. The posting time stamp that counts is midnight of that last day, time of our main servers, Germany time. Missing the deadline means that the posted image will not be considered by the judges for that month's contest.
1.5         Your picture(s) must be in accordance with our Terms of Use. Any pictures not complying with our Terms of Use will not be considered for the contest and may be deleted. No nude images are accepted in the Contest. For Contest purposes only images made with Nikon or Nikon-mount hybrid bodies are accepted.
1.6         To be able to upload your photos, if you are logged in at the community, following the Galleries link in the upper banner on all community pages will automatically log you into the images galleries server. If you are not logged in, you must first login into our Galleries server with your Nikonians username and password, then follow the upload link, choosing the appropriate category.
          

2. Eligibility

2.1         The contest is open to Nikonians photographers, beginners, amateur, semi-pro or professional, except those mentioned in 2.9 below.
2.2         You must have read, understood and accepted our Terms of Use before you register.
2.3         There is no entry fee for the Best of Nikonians Photo Contests, however you must be a registered Silver, Gold or Platinum Member of the Nikonians community.
2.4         The photographer retains the copyrights, however, by posting automatically gives Nikonians rights for publishing the image at the Nikonians community websites, whether at the forums and/or in any publications linked to Nikonians, for example in The Nikonian eZine, banners here or elsewhere or a post in the homepage, without compensation. Should the possibility arises to use the image in a possible future for-profit venture, Nikonians will first approach the photographer, owner of the copyrights to negotiate terms and conditions.
2.5         Photos must have been made with a Nikon® camera, whether film or digital and it must be specified in the appropriate field.
2.6         Photos made with Nikon mount hybrid digital cameras are also eligible; i.e. with Kodak DCS and Fujifilm FinePix cameras with Nikon lens mount.
2.7         The lens does not need to be a Nikkor lens.
2.8         You can digitally manipulate the picture any way you want, but you should use the comment field in the online form to indicate that the image has been manipulated.
2.9         Members of the Nikonians Team (i.e. Administrators, Moderators, Finance, Marketing and other functions Team) are not eligible for this Contest.
2.10         Images that have won any other photo contest will be rejected.
2.11         Photos submitted may have been taken at any time - they do not need to be made during the year of this contest.

3. Entries

3.1         Images shall be digitized images in a JPEG (.jpg) file format, in sRGB color space.
3.2         We will only accept for judging images of at least 1,200 pixels at their longest side
3.3         We at Nikonians, may digitally manipulate the posted images in terms of size and borders if selected for web or print publication; however, no alteration will be made as to their brilliance, contrast, gamma, hue and sharpness as received.
3.4         The Nikonians Galleries create thumbnails and a medium size image for easier viewing.

4. Prints & Transparencies or slides

4.1         Nikonians will not accept prints or transparencies for the contest.
4.2         Only digitized images entries submitted to the Nikonians Galleries server will be eligible.

5. Procedure

Contestants must follow this procedure for consideration.

5.1         Nikonians and its agents will not be responsible for file corruption or loss of entries, whether in uploading transmission or from our data base.
If you are entering into the contest an image already in your gallery, we request you make a copy with a different image file name; that way if you later decide to eliminate it from your own member gallery, it will not disappear from the contest entries.

5.2         Photographs will be received only as direct digitized image file uploads into the contest galleries.

5.3         
You must explicitly fill the following data for each photograph to be able to participate, not relying on EXIF data being attached to the image:
a) Camera
b) Lens
c) Location

5.4         To fulfill the purpose of the community, share, learn, inspire, the author must include in the comments section a description of how they came about to make the picture, what it's for, noteworthy solved technical aspects, and any problems for which they may still be looking for solutions. This requirement is now compulsory from 2011.

5.5         It would be nice to have shutter speed, aperture, ISO, filters used and any other complementary comments such as date -even if approximate- but these are not compulsory for admission to the contest.

5.6         Members posting images for the Contest in the Challenges category must insert in the comment what challenge or assignment the image won, and provide the URL to the announcement post of such win.

6. Categories

6.1         Entrants categorize their photos by posting. This year there will be 4 categories, as explained below.

6.2         Current theme categories are as follows:
          
Submissions Period (This is outdated information)
July 22nd to November 15, 2011
Categories description
I.
 Challenges    
 Winning images of the forums Online Assignments and Challenges
 From January 1st to November 15, 2011

II.
 Nature    
 Open to any subject found in nature
 Animals, Landscapes, Seascapes, Skyscapes

III.
 Black & White    
 Open to any subject except Nudes
 Images made in B&W film or digitally converted to grayscale

IV.
 HDR    
 Open to any subject except Nudes
 Images must include HDR post processing

6.3         Images can be color or Black & White (including sepia, duo tone and similar essentially monochrome treatments) or as specifically required by the category description.

7. Awards

7.1         Per Category
                    First Place and two Honorable Mention winners per category will be selected among the entries for each and all categories and the winning pictures will be published at the Nikonians Galleries web site in the Photo Contest Winners Gallery. All winners images will also be displayed prominently elsewhere and in the Nikonians Contest forum. Winners are expected to share there comments to such posts with the community.
The top-rated 10 images from each category will automatically become finalists, eligible for the Finals' Contest with their category entry.

7.2         Category Wins Acknowledgements
                    Category winners will be announced and prizes awarded in the second half of November, 2011. Category winners who fail to acknowledge and reply to their win announcement email within 3 weeks will not receive their category Contest prize(s) and loose their eligibility for the Finals' Contest. All participants are therefore strongly encouraged to keep their email address current via the My User Menu facility and visit regularly the Nikonians Contest forum.

7.3         Finals of the Contest
                    All photographers whose photos are selected to be in the 10 top-rated of each category, automatically participate in the Nikonians Best - 2011 Images Photo Contest with their entry. The finals' winners, a Grand Prize Winner and 2 (two) Honorable Mentions, will be announced no later than December 16, 2011 and will receive the Certificate of Nikonians High Photographic Achievement, a winners page will be built at this community site. In addition, the winner(s) will receive photography related prizes from our contest sponsors, and a one-year Nikonians Gold Membership.

7.4         Winning images
                    Winners by category and overall finals winners must send our Chief Editor, Tom Bone, an 1800 by 1200 pixels image version. Email reminders of this requirement will be sent to the winners when the time comes. These images should be received before sending the winners their prizes and awards.

7.5         
Finals Wins Acknowledgements
The finals' winners who fail to acknowledge and reply to their win announcement email within three weeks will not receive their prizes. All participants are therefore strongly encouraged to keep their email address current via the My User Menu facility and regularly visit the Nikonians Contest forum.

7.6         Contest maximum number of prizes per photographer
                    Nikonians has decided to grant 1st Place and two Honorable Mentions in each category and in the finals; however, no photographer will be eligible for more than two finals place prizes.
This contest is becoming a very prestigious one among Nikonians and the photography world.
If you have any questions regarding our contest, please send us a note.