Submission Guidelines: 2010 Activist Awards

Overview

PhotoPhilanthrophy believes in the power of photography to inspire hope and understanding and to connect people around the world. All subjects photographed should be treated with respect, compassion and dignity. PhotoPhilanthropy reserves the the right to reject any submission based on quality, content or theme. All submissions will be reviewed by the PhotoPhilanthropy team for accuracy of information. Written essays may be edited for clarity. 

Submitted photos must depict the work of a charitable organization (designated by 501c3 in the US, or international equivalent) and be presented as a photo essay. All photographs in the essay must have been taken within the last 3 years. Photographers may enter two essays in the same year. An essay entered in a previous year of the competition may not be re-entered.

For all submissions, collaboration with the charitable organization will be verified.  For this reason it is mandatory to submit a contact name and email of the person you worked with at the organization.

Upon completion of review, accepted photo essays will be posted on the PhotoPhilanthropy website.

Dates

Submissions are accepted from May 1, 2010 until October 1, 2010.

Activist Awards Prizes

The top photo essays will be awarded

• Professional Photographer: $15,000 Grand Prize
• Amateur Photographer: $2000 Grand Prize
• Student Photographer: $1000 Grand Prize
• Community-based Photography: $2000 Grand Prize

Two finalists in each category will also be announced.

Categories

Photo essays must be entered into one of four categories:

• Professional Photographer:  Any individual who earns the majority of their living from photography.
• Amateur Photographer:  Any individual who does not earn the majority of their income from photography. 
• Student Photographer:  Any current student 25 and under with less than two years of professional work including internships.
• Community-based Photography:  Given to a non-profit organization that teaches photography within a community and empowers the group to share their unique perspective through photography.

Submission Details - Professional

Submissions must be comprised of a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 12 photos. Each photo requires a caption of up to 150 characters. Your entry must also include two short written statements, both having a maximum of 250 words.

1. Please outline the work or cause of your featured organization. Tell us why you chose this particular organization and describe the emotional impact of working with them. You may include how your work has helped the non-profit and/or the larger community. This written statement will be published on the PhotoPhilanthropy website along with your photo essay. Please note that PhotoPhilanthropy reserves the right to edit all material posted to our site.
2. PhotoPhilanthropy is interested in how your work is being used by you and/or the non-profit to effect positive social change. Please describe how this work is currently being used and how you will continue to promote and distribute this body of work (see tips for ideas). You may also include an outline for a future project with this organization or with a new non-profit partner to demonstrate your committement to this kind of work. If applicable, please include links to sites where this work has been shown. However, your response to this question will be used only in the judging process and not posted on the PhotoPhilanthropy site.

Submission Details - Amateur and Student

Submissions must be comprised of a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 10 photos. Each photo requires a caption of up to 150 characters. Your entry must also include a short written statement, having a maximum of 250 words.

Please outline the work or cause of your featured organization. Tell us why you chose this particular organization and describe the emotional impact of working with them. You may include how your work has helped the non-profit and/or the larger community (see tips for ideas). This written statements will be published on the PhotoPhilanthropy website along with your photo essay. Please note that PhotoPhilanthropy reserves the right to edit all material posted to our site.

Submission Details - Community-based photography

Submissions must be comprised of up to 20 photographs and should represent the work of several students. Each photo requires a caption of up to 150 characters. Your entry must also include two short written statements, both having a maximum of 250 words.

1. What is the mission and history of your organization? How many students have participated in your program to date?
2. How is their work presented to the community? What has been the impact on the participants? What has been the impact on the larger community?

These written statements are very important, and will be published on the PhotoPhilanthropy website along with your photo essay. Please note that PhotoPhilanthropy reserves the right to edit all material posted to our site.

Judging

PhotoPhilanthropy is looking for photo essays that visually articulate the mission of a non-profit organization in a compelling manner. In order to be considered for acceptance to the PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Awards, all submissions will initially be reviewed for content and quality of imagery. PhotoPhilanthropy reserves the right to refuse any entry based on quality or content.

Once accepted, professional, amateur and student entries will be judged in two rounds. First, members of PhotoPhilanthropy and its advisors will review the essays and select the strongest to continue to a second round. In the second round, a panel of independent judges will review eligible entries and select the winners based upon the following criteria:

• Originality
• Innovative and compelling story telling
• Relevance in portraying the issues addressed by the organization
• Visual Impact (composition, emotional impact)
• Technical execution (focus, exposure)

The Community Activist Award will be judged by the entrants to this award, based on the answers to the essay questions and the images submitted. Voting will commence once the submissions period has ended. More information about this award can be found here.

The winners will be announced on November 7, 2010.

Photographic Requirements

Photographs must be in digital format and only those submitted using the Awards Submission Form on the PhotoPhilanthropy.org website will be accepted.

No print or film submissions will be accepted; scans of negatives, transparencies, or photographic prints are acceptable.  All images must be uploaded through our online submissions form.

Files must be in jpeg format and fit to exactly 1000 pixels on their longest side, at a resolution of 72 dpi. No file size should be more than 600KB. Each image must be submitted as a separate file (no Powerpoint or iPhoto presentations). Please save images as RGB, ICC profile Adobe RGB (1998) or Grayscale.

*If your images are an unconventional shape, please write to submissions@photophilanthropy.org for special uploading instructions.

Only minimally enhanced photographs are eligible for submission. Minor color correction is acceptable, as is cropping. High dynamic range images (HDRI) and stitched panoramas are acceptable only if the combined parts were all made at approximately the same time. Any other changes to the original photograph are not acceptable and will render the photo essay ineligible for a prize.

Copywriting of photography is encouraged: watermarking of photography is discouraged.

Every photo essay submitted must be comprised of photos that have been created exclusively by the entrant submitting the photo essay.

Model Releases

Model releases are required if photographs contain any elements that are not owned by the entrant and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the photograph, the entrant is responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the photographs by PhotoPhilanthropy.org and the subject of the photo essay without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any photograph is under 18 the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.

There is a large body of discussion about when to use model releases if you have identifiable portraits in your images. We encourage you to talk to your NGO, your teacher, or go to American Association of Media Photographers and make a decision about whether or not you need a model release. Sample Model releases are available on the ASMP website.

In submitting images to PhotoPhilanthropy, the photographer understands that all images may be placed on the web for public viewing, and the photographer assumes all responsibility for permission from the subject of the image.

Copyright and Content

We encourage all photographers to properly copyright their work.  Please look at the latest information on copyright on the ASMP website.

Photophilanthropy recognizes and respects copyright held material and photographers will retain full copyright to, and ownership of, their submitted photography.

Photophilanthropy is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting documentary photography and the work of non-profits.

Terms of Consent

Essays accepted into the competition will be posted on the PhotoPhilanthropy website. Entry constitutes permission for PhotoPhilanthropy to copy, publish and display all submitted materials in print or electronic form without compensation by PhotoPhilanthropy, for use in promoting PhotoPhilanthropy, the Activist Awards and the advancement of the goals and mission of PhotoPhilanthropy. The PhotoPhilanthropy credit, along with the photographer's credit and the name of the featured non-profit will always appear if the image is used for these purposes. No images will be redistributed or sold to third parties for re-use. Any inquiries for licensing of images will be redirected to the photographer.

If you are interested in licensing any images displayed on this website, we are happy to connect you with the photographer to obtain usage rights (email photos@photophilanthropy.org).