UN DAY 2012 PHOTO COMPETITION – TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Thank you for your interest in the “UN 4 U Asia-Pacific Photo Contest” photo competition organized by the United Nations to mark UN Day 2012. Please review the competition rules set out below. By entering the photo competition you are deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions.

ELIGIBILITY

This competition is open to anyone aged 18 years old and older by the contest closing date of 21 September 2012, resident in any Asia-Pacific country. Eligible countries are: Afghanistan, American Samoa, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Georgia, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russian Federation, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor Leste, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Viet Nam.

To be eligible, all photographs must be taken in Asia-Pacific, in one of the countries listed above. Photographs must have been taken within one year of the competition closing date.

There is no entry fee of any kind.

The competition is open to both amateur and professional photographers.

The competition is open to members of the public. It is also open to UN staff including interns, consultants, and fellows and their family members. UN staff and their dependents (spouse/partner, dependent children) will be judged in a separate category and the winner will be awarded a different prize than the non-staff winners.

The photographer must be the sole author of the entries and hold full rights to them.

The photographer must have received permission from the subject(s) for the image to be used in the competition. Photographs that violate the rights of those depicted or put people at risk will not be considered by the judges.

To enter the competition, all entrants must complete the official entry form and must submit their pictures via the competition website at www.un4uasia.org, according to the instructions. Photographs that are not accompanied by the official entry form will not be accepted. No responsibility can be taken by the organizers for entries that are incorrectly or incompletely submitted.

Entries will only be accepted in high resolution digital format. Image files should be in JPG format, with a file size up to 6 megabytes, at least 300 dpi resolution and minimum 8 megapixels.

Other than regular post production and color correction, entries must not be digitally altered or manipulated in any way, including digitally altering images to change content. Any entries deemed by the judges to have been changed will be disqualified.

No more than three (3) photographs may be submitted by any one person. All photos must be accompanied by a caption and descriptive information about each shot. This must include title, date and location where the photo was taken and caption. The caption must explain in English in 600 characters or less how the photo entry relates to one of the UN values: Freedom, such as freedom from want and freedom from fear; Dignity; Solidarity; Justice; Protection; Human Rights; Security; Empowerment; Sustainability; Progress; Equality; and Peace.

Pictures that have won awards in other photo competitions, or similar shots from the same sequence, are not eligible to enter. Images (or similar shots from the same sequence) previously published in magazines, newspapers, publications, websites, or other promotional materials are ineligible.

Entrants are responsible for the appearance of all images and the judges will make their decisions based on how the images appear on their screens.

The organizers reserve the right to remove and disqualify uploaded images which they, in their absolute discretion, consider may cause offence or may be unsuitable or inappropriate for this competition; for example, but not exclusively, because of their violent, criminal, religious, political, racial, sexual or exploitative content.

The contest opens at 9:00am Bangkok local time on Monday, 27 August 2012. The closing date for entries to the competition is 11:59pm Bangkok local time on Friday, 21 September 2012.

Due to the large volume of entries anticipated the organizers regret that only the winners will be contacted. Details of the winning entries will be available on the photo contest website no later than Monday, 1 October 2012.

JUDGING

A panel of judges will judge all entries. The judging criteria will include five categories:

1. Relevance: the photograph’s relevance to the UN Value that it should depict

2. Creativity: Is the subject matter pictured in a unique way? Is the image captured from an interesting point of view? Does the photo demonstrate originality?

3. Technical Quality: Is the photo in focus? Is lighting in balance? Is depth of field considered/used? Is there good use of colour, brightness, contrast and saturation?

4. Composition: Does the photograph tell a story? Does the photograph bring together the visual elements to express the purpose of the image? Can the viewer immediately identify the subject?

5. Caption: The caption provided with the entry clearly outlines the purpose of the image, how it is relevant to the theme and any other features or story related to the capturing of this photograph. The caption must be written in English in 600 words or less and we reserve the right to correct spelling and grammar mistakes.

Up to 20 points will be awarded in each category for a total of 100 points and the photo with the highest score will be awarded first place and so on for second and third place.

The winner of the viewers’ choice award will be the photo that receives the most “likes” on the contest’s Facebook page between 24 September and 12 October. www.facebook.com/un4uasia

The decision of the organizers and judges on all matters relating to the competition will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into at any stage.

The judging panel will make a selection of the photographs for exhibition. By entering the competition photographers are deemed to have agreed to the exhibition of their pictures, if selected.

COPYRIGHT

By entering the contest you agree to grant the UN, its agencies, funds, programs and sponsors full non-exclusive copyright for all photographs entered in the competition. The UN and sponsors reserve the right to use the photographs in not for profit advocacy and promotional materials such as magazines, reports, calendars, postcards, etc.

When photographs are used credit will also be given to the photographer, but no subsequent payments will be made.

The photos will also be added to the UN’s online photo galleries and Facebook pages and made available to any party the UN deems suitable, subject to appropriate crediting.

PRIZES

Prizes in the competition will be as follows:

- One Grand Prize – Nikon D7000

- Two Runner Up Prizes - Nikon Coolpix P310

- One Viewers’ Choice Award – a Lowepro camera bag

The prize for the UN staff winner will be a Lowepro camera bag and winning photos may be included in the 2013 UN ESCAP desk calendar.

The winners are responsible for paying any and all taxes due on prizes.

Finalists and prize winners agree to take part in post-competition publicity, if requested.

The UN accepts no liability for incorrect information supplied in the submission form. Any person(s) found to have provided false information will be excluded from the competition and should any of the winners be found to have provided false information the prize will be forfeit and returned to the UN.