The Mark Gunter Photography Awards Rules

Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Rules

Competition Information

–    The Competition is the Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards by CyclingTips.

–    The Competition Organisers and Promoters are CyclingTips and Mark Gunter Photography.

–    The 2016 Competition begins on 2nd December, 2016 at 11am Sydney, Australia DST and ends on 9th January, 2017 11am Sydney, Australia DST.

–     All dollar amounts hereafter are in AUD currency.

Who May Enter

–    Entry is open to any person, from any country.

–    Entry is not open to directors and direct employees of CyclingTips and Mark Gunter Photography.  Photographers who have contributed to CyclingTips are allowed to enter provided they meet all other requirements.

–    Entry into the DSLR or Smartphone / Action Camera category is not open to anyone who earns more than AUD$25,000 per year from their photography relating to cycling (i.e. professional photographers with other specialties are allowed).

–      Entry into the Professional Cycling Photographer category is permitted to anyone who earns a living from his or her cycling photography.

How to Enter

–    Entries can only be submitted online at https://live-cycling-tips-v4.pantheonsite.io/the-2016-mark-gunter-photographer-of-the-year-awards/

–    Each photo must have been taken between 1st January 2015 and 9th January 2017.

–    There are three categories to enter photos into:

–       (1) DSLR

–       (2) Smartphone / Action Camera

–       (3) Professional Cycling Photographer

–    All photos will be judged for the Mark Gunter Photographer of the Year Awards and photos entered in the DLSR and the Smartphone / Action Camera categories will also be eligible for the People’s Choice Award.

Entry Fees

–    The entry fee is $15 for up to 3 photos.

–    All 3 photos must be entered in either; the DSLR category, the Smartphone / Action Camera category, or the Professional category; they cannot be a combination of categories.

–    Entrants can enter multiple times at a cost of $15 per entry.

–    The $15 entry fee has been waived for the Professional category in the first year of the competition. This is to help promotion the competition and encourage high standard of photography. Thus, there are no prizes of significant value to the winners Professional category except for prestige and recognition.

Photo Submission Rules

–    The competition is skills based, and chance does not play a part in determining the winners.

–    Each photo must relate to road cycling in some way (cyclocross, track, gravel riding are permitted). For example; road racing, a simple community ride, pave, road art, cycling landscape scenery.

–     By submitting each photo, the entrant affirms that the photo is of original material taken by the entrant, the entrant is the owner of the copyright, and that the photo does not infringe any third party rights.

–    By submitting at least one photo, the entrant accepts the Rules and confirms that their entry complies with the Rules.

–    The Judges or Competition Organisers reserve the right to disqualify any entrant who is suspected of not adhering to the Rules.

–    Only photographs will be accepted. Video or video screenshots will not be accepted.

–    A caption must be included with each photo submitted (500 characters maximum).

–    No watermarks permitted.

–    Only minor editing is acceptable (burning, dodging, color correction).

–    HDR and stitched panoramas are acceptable.

–    All digital files must not exceed 5MB.

–    For DSLR entries, all metadata (EXIF data) must be provided.

–    The DSLR category is a term being generically referring to for high-end cameras. Mirrorless, film, compact, and other cameras are permitted.

–    The SmartPhone and Action Cam category refers to still photos taken on devices such as iPhones, Android, Windows Mobile, etc as well as still photos from devices such as GoPro, Shimano Sports Cam, Garmin VIRB, etc.

–    Competition organisers have the right to accept or reject entries from devices which may have not considered outside of these specific devices.

–    Drone photo stills are accepted if the camera device meets the criteria above.

Judging

–    Only compliant entries will be eligible for judging.

–    Each category will be judged by no fewer than 3 judges, which will be selected by CyclingTips and Mark Gunter Photography.

–    The Judges decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

–    Winners will be announced on 16th January, 2017.

–    For both the DSLR and the Smartphone / Action Camera categories, Judging consists of two rounds of evaluation.  In round one, the Judges will each select up to ten photos per category, from all eligible photos.

–    The Judges will consider the following criteria: capturing the emotion of the image, drawing in the viewer’s attention, creativity, quality, composition, and even sometimes breaking the rules of photography.

–    The photos selected in round one will proceed to round two, whereby the Judges will collectively select the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes for each category.

–    In addition to the prizes above, a People’s Choice Award will be voted on by the viewers, for photos entered into either the DSLR or the Smartphone / Action Camera categories.

–    Anyone except directors and direct employees of CyclingTips and Mark Gunter Photography, who visit the CyclingTips gallery can vote for the People’s Choice Award.

–    The photo with the highest number of votes recorded will be awarded the People’s Choice Award prize.

–    The People’s Choice Award photo can also have won a prize in either the DSLR or Smartphone / Action Camera categories.

Prizes

– Prize winners are responsible for any personal taxes, duties, and unanticipated costs incurred. Shipping will be provided.

– If rules of the competition are broken or suspected of being broken, or if the spirit of the competition has been violated, Mark Gunter Photography and CyclingTips.com has the right to refuse the prize being awarded and shall request the judges pick a new winner.

– Airfare not included in the Tour de France trip prize. Winner is responsible for getting to and from the start and finish points of the tour as instructed by BikeStyle Tours.

Donation Recipients

–    The donation recipients and amounts will be announced on www.cyclingtips.com by 31st January, 2017.  

–    The donations awarded are final and no correspondence will be entered into.

–    CyclingTips, nor Mark Gunter Photography, are liable for any taxes (personal, company or otherwise) resulting from these donations.

–    The donation recipients may change from year to year.

–    In future years; the recipients and the proportions of entry fees allocated to each donor recipient may change, and some or all of the costs incurred, in developing and promoting the competition, may be funded by the entry fees.

–    In 2016, the entry fees will be donated to three recipients:

–       A minimum of 40% to Young Cyclists in $1,000 allotments,

–       Up to 35% to Tour de Cure Ltd,

–       Up to 25% to  the Lucas Gunter Education Fund.

– The award distribution percentages are approximate and may change slightly as round-up / round-down methodology will be applied.

–    The selection of the Young Cyclists will be at the discretion of Mark Gunter Photography, following a request for nominees and an evaluation process.

Usage Rights

–    Copyright and all other rights remain that of the photographer.

–    Entrants consent to CyclingTips and Mark Gunter Photography to reproduce, exhibit, publish and communicate their photo for the purpose of marketing and promoting the Competition (including but not limited to, online, social media, print; and without any or additional monetary compensation), unless otherwise agreed upon with the photographer.

–    Entrants consent to the prize sponsors to publish their photo on their website and social media pages, for the purpose of marketing and promoting the Competition only.  No other commercial usage is permitted.

–    Any photograph used by CyclingTips, Mark Gunter Photography, or the prize sponsors, shall carry the photographer’s credit line.

–    Any other commercial usage will be agreed upon with the photographer prior to use.