2023 International Canopy Awards
Terms & Conditions
Please note that this English Language Version of The Canopy Awards Terms & Conditions (‘Terms & Conditions’) is binding.
- ABOUT THE COMPETITION
The objective of the Canopy Awards is to enhance and promote the art and practice of rainforest photography, and to help raise awareness about the nature and culture of rainforest habitats, and to encourage their protection.
1.1 For the purposes of The Canopy Awards, the term “Rainforest/s” means places that:
- Are located in tropical, subtropical or temperate regions of the world
- Experience high levels of rainfall (greater than 900mm per annum)
- Consist of dense, evergreen and sometimes semi-deciduous vegetation
- Have a continuous canopy with greater than 70% cover
All Finalists will be reviewed to ensure supporting location information (data and captions) indicate that the photographs were captured in places that are in the spirit of the competition’s definition of a rainforest.
1.2 The Canopy Awards (‘the Competition’) is owned by Photo Competitions ABN 30 259 787 226 (‘the Owners’)
1.3 The Competition comprises a competitively judged competition open to all photographers. Any contact with the Owners regarding the Competition (unless specified otherwise below) should be via the email address:
support@photo-competitions.com.au
1.4 Selected entries to the Competition may or may not be displayed in a Touring Exhibition format, featured online, in an Awards Book and in publicity materials relating to the Competition and Touring Exhibition.
- CONDITIONS OF ENTRY TO THE COMPETITION
2.1 Entries must be received by 8:00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT +10:00) on Monday May 15, 2023. (‘the Closing Date’). Entries will come into effect only upon receipt by The Owner of a fully completed Registration Form. The Owners reserve the right to amend the Closing Date for any reason..
2.2 The Competition is open to anyone except individuals (and their partners and family) involved in its organisation or judging or employees of the Owners or any official partners, supporters, or sponsors of the Competition.
2.3 By entering the Competition, the entrant agrees to maintain the highest standards in all matters relating to the Competition and not to do or say anything that does or might damage the reputation of the Owners, the Competition, the other entrants, or the official partners, supporters, or sponsors of the Competition, the Exhibition, or the Touring Exhibition. The entrant acknowledges that entry into the Competition does not grant any rights in any intellectual property rights of the Competition and/or the Owners, and agrees not to use any names, logos, or other intellectual property rights of any of them or to make any public statement regarding any of them without the prior written consent of the Owners.
2.4 It is the responsibility of each entrant into the Competition to ensure that they have read and will abide by these Terms & Conditions. By submitting an entry, each entrant agrees to the Terms & Conditions, that their entry complies with the Terms & Conditions, and that they will be liable to the Owners and their licensees in respect of any damages or losses incurred as a breach of the Terms & Conditions by the entrant.
2.5 Entrants must submit images that are associated with nominated Categories.
2.6 Entries must not have been awarded any Placing or been listed as a Finalist in any other competition before the date that Competition Entries close.
2.7 Entries must meet the Image Specifications as outlined in 5. IMAGE SPECIFICATION
2.8 For the HABITATS, CHARACTERS and HIDDEN GEMS Categories, Entrants are NOT PERMITTED to submit images that:
2.8.1 Feature farm animals, family pets, and/or cultivated plants, aquarium or zoo exhibits;
2.8.2 Portray captive or restrained animals; animal models; and/or any other animal being exploited or affected for profit or gain UNLESS for the purposes of reporting on a specific issue regarding the treatment of animals by a third party.
2.8.3 Have been captured using live baiting or baiting or other attraction methods designed to habituate the subject (see 4.2.6);
2.8.4 Feature Rehabilitated animals, rescued animals, or animals or that are in human care which should instead be entered in the REPORTAGE Category.
2.8.5 All Entrants should familiarise themselves with section 4. LEGAL REQUIREMENTS and PHOTOGRAPHY ETHICS FRAMEWORK
2.9 Any entry found not to comply with the Terms & Conditions at any stage of the Competition may be disqualified, and no refunds or allowances will be made in the event of disqualification and any prizes will be forfeited. The decision of the Owners on all matters relating to the Competition is final and binding. No negotiation will be considered. The Owners reserve the right to amend the Terms & Conditions and to waive breach of the Terms & Conditions at their sole discretion, acting reasonably.
2.10 The Jury may request the original capture file at any time to aid in upholding the Competition’s Terms & Conditions, aims, and values and ethical framework.
2.11 The Jury’s and Competition Owner’s decisions on all matters pertaining to the Competition are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
- SUBMITTING ENTRIES TO THE COMPETITION
3.1 Entry can only be made via the Canopy Awards on-line entry portal on the photo-competitions.com.au website
3.2 A one-off non-refundable entry of AUD$25 per image, up to a maximum of $150 when entering 6 images is payable by the entrant at the time of submission.
3.3 AUD$5 out of the Entry Fee for each Entry will go directly to Rainforest Rescue. At Point of Entry, Entrants may choose to make an additional contribution, 100% of that additional contribution will go to Rainforest Rescue.
To learn more about Rainforest Rescue visit www.rainforestrescue.org.au
3.4 Each entrant is allowed a maximum of Six (6) entries into the Competition, such total to include any entries into the multiple image Categories listed below.
3.5 CATEGORIES
- Habitats –Landscapes & Scenes taken in or of Rainforest
- Characters –Wildlife taken in, or on the margins of Rainforest
- Hidden Gems – Plants; details &; abstractions taken in, or of Rainforest
Reportage – A factual, journalistic presentation of threats, activism and/or actions relating to the the rainforest environment.
3.6 Entries will consist solely of a single still image file, created by a camera, without any insertion of text, watermark, comment, or a frame.
3.7 A single image may be submitted in multiple categories. Each submission equals one (1) entry i.e. If the Entrant wishes to submit the same image into three (3) categories, this will equal three (3) entries.
3.8 The Owners may run a PEOPLE’S CHOICE public vote using a pool of some, or all, Shortlisted and Finalist entries.
- LEGAL REQUIREMENTS and PHOTOGRAPHY ETHICS FRAMEWORK
4.1 Entrants are responsible for ensuring full compliance with any applicable national or international legislation and for securing any relevant permits (including drone permits) that may be required (which, in the case of human subjects, will include the subject’s permission) and which must be made available on request by the Owners.
4.2 A breach of the Competition’s Nature and Wildlife Photography Ethics Framework will constitute a breach of the Terms & Conditions. The Competition’s Nature and Wildlife Photography Ethics Framework is contained in 4.3 – 4.8
4.3 Entrants are required to report on the natural world in a way that is both creative and honest;
4.4 Entries must not deceive the viewer or attempt to disguise and/or misrepresent the reality of nature;
4.5 Caption information supplied must be complete, true, and accurate.
4.6 Entrants must not do anything to injure or distress an animal or damage its habitat to secure an image. This includes flying (or flying a drone) too low or noisily over an animal – an animal’s welfare must come first.
4.7 Live baiting is not permitted, neither is any means of baiting that may put an animal in danger or adversely affect its behaviour, either directly or through irresponsible habituation. Any other means of attraction, including birdseed or scent, must be declared in the caption for the Jury and Owners to review.
4.8 If the Owners suspect that an entry has been achieved through cruel or unethical practices, including the use of live or irresponsible baiting, the entry will be disqualified, and the Owners reserve the right to report the entrant to the applicable authorities.
- IMAGE SPECIFICATIONS
5.1 Submissions must be in digital format, but the original entry does not need to have been taken on a digital camera. High-quality scans of transparencies or negatives are also acceptable.
5.2 For all categories, digital files must be submitted as JPEGs, saved at high or maximum quality setting, and be sized to 3600 pixels along the longest dimension. No borders, watermarks, or signatures should be included. The maximum size for each JPEG file is 5MB.
5.3 A unique and anonymous Filename will be generated for each entry upon upload.
5.4 Any entry that cannot be authenticated or is not of acceptable quality will be disqualified. The Owners reserve the right to ask any entrant to supply the original file and or a range of ‘before’ and ‘after’ original files for any image that requires further authentication.
5.5 Allowable Digital Adjustments
5.5.1 Digital adjustments including globalised colour, saturation, tone, and contrast; local adjustments to colour, saturation, tone and contrast (burning, dodging); cropping; sharpening; noise reduction; minor cleaning work (including but not limited to removal of sensor dust or scratches on transparencies/scans, removal of chromatic aberration. Minor cleaning is permitted but not to the extent that it alters the authenticity of the photograph.
5.5.2 The following digital adjustments – but not limited to these – are not allowed: adding, moving, or removing objects, animals or parts of animals, plants, people, structures, or other elements; composites using more than one of the same or different original files; digital painting.
5.5.3 HDR images, stitched panoramas, and focus stacked images, CAN be entered, but must be noted in the Description.
5.5.4 Caption information must be complete, true, and accurate, and provide a simple description of what is depicted in the photograph, including the location it was photographed.
5.5.5 Entrants should not include their name in the caption or on the image itself. EXIF details should be kept intact (e.g. camera, lens, exposure etc). Simple descriptions accompanying images should be no more than twenty-five (25) words to inform the Jury of the intended purpose or details of the image.
- JUDGING, AWARDS, PRIZES
6.1 An independent panel of experts comprising a chair, scorers, and judges (‘the Jury’) will be appointed by the Owners to select and Award the Shortlisted entries, Finalists and Winners in each of the Categories.
6.2 During judging, and with the express agreement of the Owners, the Jury reserves the right to:
6.2.1 Move entries from one category to another where applicable and appropriate.
6.2.2 Not award any entry within a category
6.2.3 Remove a category in its entirety.
6.3 From those entries selected by the Jury from the Competition, the following awards MAY or MAY NOT be given in each Category.
6.3.1 Shortlisted Entry
6.3.2 Finalist
6.3.3 Category Winner
6.4 Successful entrants will be notified in strict confidence. It is a condition of entry that the entrant does not disclose the details of any shortlisted, finalist, or winning entries to any third party prior to the Public Announcement of the Awards.
6.5 Prizes: One Prize will be provided to each entrant whose entry is identified by the Jury as a winner in each of the 3 competition Categories.
6.5.1 The Jury may or may not Award one entry as the “Grand Prize Winner”.
6.5.2 A Prize may be awarded to the entry that receives the highest tally in a People’s Choice vote.
6.5.3 Other special prizes in addition to category winners may be offered at the Owner’s discretion.
6.6 Prizes and prize values may be changed at organisers discretion due to circumstances beyond organisers control. Prizes that include Goods and/or Services are NOT transferable to cash.
6.7 Judges decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
- PUBLICITY
7.1 All entrants agree that, if their entry is selected by the Jury, they will participate in related publicity and agree to the use of their name and likeness for the purposes of advertising, promotion, and publicity of this and future variants of the Competition and/or the Exhibition and Touring Exhibition without additional compensation.
- INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
8.1 Each entry must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party.
8.2 The entrant must either be the sole owner of the copyright in the entry(s) submitted or have secured the written permission of the copyright owner or any joint owners of the copyright to submit the entry(s) into the Competition. A copy of any such written permission must be supplied to the Owners on request.
8.3 In the event that an entrant is not the sole copyright owner of the entry(s), the entrant agrees to notify the Owners at the date of submission, providing the names.
8.4 Ownership of the copyright in any entry submitted to the Competition will remain with the copyright owner(s). The photographer will be credited (eg © photographer’s name) and credits may include details of an Entry’s award level or association with the competition. The photographer agrees that the Owners will not be liable to the photographer in the event of inadvertent omission of the credit by the Owner or third parties.
8.5 By entering the Competition, the entrant grants to the Owners a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to reproduce, publish, exhibit, and communicate to the public, by any means, and in all media throughout the world. This license is granted for use in relation to current and future photo competition run by the owners, Exhibition/s, and Touring Exhibition/s, which shall include (with the right to sub-license where necessary) – but will not be limited to – any of the following uses:
8.5.1 The process of judging the Competition (including a possible public vote);
8.5.2 Display during the Awards ceremony, Exhibition, Book and Touring Exhibition.
8.5.3 Publication in magazines, e-magazines, media websites or print media which the Owners (or their official partners, supporters, or sponsors) may endorse.
8.5.4 Publication on relevant parts of the Owners’ website, including within interactive elements available for viewing or download.
8.5.5 In publicity materials (including social media) associated with the Competition.
8.5.6 Awarded submissions may be used by the Owners for the purposes of promoting the Competition, Exhibition, and/or Touring Exhibition from the date of notification of awarded submissions. Thereafter the Owners may keep the awarded submissions within an archive (electronic or otherwise) and reproduce them to promote the competition for the period of five (5) years following the notification of awarded submissions.
8.5.7 Prints of The Canopy Awards entries made for any Travelling Exhibiting will be kept as a collection for possible exhibitions at other venues but may be disposed of without notification to the entrant.
8.5.8 Any request by The Owner for use of images outside those uses described herein will be negotiated separately with the Entrant.
- LIABILITY
9.1 Proof of electronic submission is not proof of receipt by the Owners.
9.2 The Owners cannot be held responsible for emails that do not arrive due to an entrant’s email security settings or restrictions placed by their Internet Service Provider. Entrants must ensure that their settings accept emails from The Owners.
9.3 The Owners regret that they cannot accept liability for any loss of or damage to any entry submitted into the Competition how so ever caused or for any other loss or damage as a result.
9.4 The Owners regret that they cannot accept liability for the misuse of images and/or failure of any third party to comply with the Competition’s credit guidelines.
9.5 Except where expressly stated elsewhere in the Terms & Conditions, the Owners regret that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, they cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered by any entrant in relation to the Competition or the use of any prize.
- DATA PROTECTION
10.1 The personal data of entrants will be managed by the Owners in accordance with data protection legislation.
10.2 The Owners will collect personal data about entrants (and the entrant’s parent/guardian where applicable) at the time of registration, and as otherwise provided, in order to administer the Competition and/or all associated activities.
10.3 Entrants will be asked at the time of registration if they would like to join the mailing list administered by the Owners to receive Photo-Competition and related information from the Owners, Sponsors and Partners. The contact details supplied will be used accordingly. Entrants can unsubscribe from these mailing lists at any time.
10.4 Entrants may contact the Owners at any time to update their details and/or preferences regarding the permitted use of their personal data.
10.5 The Privacy Policy is available at the www.photo-competitions.com.au website
- COMPLAINTS
The Owners cannot be held responsible if, owing to force majeure or any other cause outside its control, changes are made to dates or even if the competition is altered or cancelled.
Should you have any complaints or compliments please contact us.
support@photo-competitions.com.au