Terms
of entry

Terms of entry: 2018 fotoforum Award

All key information in overview.

Organisation - Organiser:

fotoforum – Deutschland – www.fotoforum.de
Chairman: Martin Breutmann (German Photographic Association, DGPh)
fotoforum Award • Ludwig-Wolker-Straße 37 • 48157 Münster
Fon: +49 (0)251 143930

Patronage:

  • fotoforum Architecture 2018: 2018/02
  • fotoforum Animals 2018: 2018/03
  • fotoforum Landscapes 2018: 2018/04
  • fotoforum People 2018: 2018/05
  • fotoforum Plants and Funghi 2018: 2018/06
  • fotoforum Special 2018: 2018/07

German Association for Photography
(DVF, Deutscher Verband für Fotografie e. V.)

  • fotoforum Architecture 2018: 2/2018
  • fotoforum Animals 2018: 2/2018
  • fotoforum Landscapes 2018: 2/2018
  • fotoforum People 2018: 2/2018
  • fotoforum Plants and Funghi 2018: 2/2018
  • fotoforum Special 2018: 2/2018


The 2018 fotoforum Award:
The 2018 fotoforum Award consists of six individual competitions with six themes. Competitors can upload their digital photos in up to four categories in each of the separate competitions. An ongoing leaderboard can be found on www.fotoforum-award.de, providing up-to-date information about the current status of the year's accomplishments.
 
Cash prizes:
Prize money worth €18,000 in total will be conferred as part of the 2018 fotoforum Award.
All four category winners in each of the six competitions can look forward to €300 each. The four runners-up will receive €200 each and for third place, the four winners will receive €100 each.
In an additional group ranking, a further €300 will be awarded to the group ranked first, €200 to the group ranked second and €100 to the group ranked third. The group ranking is made up of all four of the categories in a competition.

Donation:
Every cash prize winner has the option to support one of three charity projects chosen by fotoforum-Verlag. Therefore he can provide the entire cash prize or part of it. The decision is made by the competitor after he was informed about his 1st-3rd place. Every donor will be mentioned by name.

Non-cash prizes:
In addition to the cash prizes, attractive non-cash prizes await the winners of the annual ranking.

Distinctions and medals:
Every year, the fotoforum Award bestows...
24 FIAP gold medals for the category winners,
48 FIAP honourable mentions for runners-up and third place winners in the categories
6 FIAP blue badges for the six overall winners of all the competitions,
6 DVF gold medals for the six overall winners of all the competitions.

Jury:
The jury will comprise three jurors (photography, art and media experts) appointed by the organiser.
 
Judging:
Judging of the six individual competition rounds will take place a maximum of 21 days after the end of the upload period. The judging will take place live in one location. Each judging session will comprise three rounds. The organiser will not preselect any photos. Every category will be assessed individually.
During the first (preliminary) round, the jury members will view all of the photos submitted and make a majority decision as to whether each individual photo should move on to the second round.
During the second (intermediate) round, the jury will select favourite photos out of the ones remaining in each category, and these will go on to the third round.
During the third (final) round, the best photos will be reviewed and discussed by the jury. By unanimous jury decision, the first three places in all four categories will be determined.
From the four winning photos in each category, the jury members will select an overall winning photo for the competition.
The jury’s decision will be final.
 
Indididual points:
The individual points in the fotoforum annual ranking are scored as follows:
1st place: 8 points
2nd place: 7 points
3rd place: 6 points
Entries: 2 points
Special distinction: 1 point
Overall winner: 2 extra points
A list of the top photos will be published based on the scores of each competition.

Group ranking:
The best photographic performance by a group will be honoured in the group ranking.
The point distribution in the group ranking results from the individual points of the group members.
The group ranking will take place throughout the year and per competition.
Groups with any number of individual competitors (minimum of three) are able to take part. The prerequisites for participation in the group ranking: the group must be registered as a group in the fotoforum community and all of the group members whose photos should be considered in the group ranking must also be members of the group.
When individuals upload their photos, they can select the group they belong to for the group ranking. Individual competitors cannot be nominated retrospectively for the group ranking.
Each competitor automatically takes part in the individual ranking.
Each competitor can only enter on behalf of one group per competition.
Cash and non-cash prizes are awarded to the admin of the group chosen.
Competitors can find potential groups in the fotoforum community group overview.

Participation requirements:
Anyone can take part in the fotoforum Award. Employees of the fotoforum publishing company, fotoforum writers, fotoforum Award jury members and any individuals directly involved in the organisation and execution of this event are excluded from participating.
 
Photo formats:
A maximum of four digital photos may be submitted per participant and competition. These four photos can be distributed among the four categories of a competition as required.
The longer side of the photo must have a minimum of 2,500 pixels.
Each photo may be a maximum of 10 MB in size.
Only files in the JPEG format (colour space sRGB) will be accepted.
The file name is arbitrary. The photos will be automatically renamed during the upload through the competition portal.
Analogue photos can also be submitted in a digitalised format.
 
Photo editing:
The editing of photos is permitted. However, please note that the fotoforum Award is a competition that honours photographers for their photographic ideas and the realisation of these. The fotoforum Award is not a graphic design and/or photo editing competition.
The following additions are not allowed: signatures, logos, text on the photos (e.g. photographer or website names)!
 
Submissions:
Submissions are to be made exclusively by the photographer (author) via the upload portal on www.fotoforum-award.eu. To participate, photographers must be registered with the fotoforum community. Pseudonyms are not permitted.
Under no circumstances is fotoforum liable for the loss of image files, and it does not guarantee their storage. It will not be possible to return submitted files. Competitors are personally responsible for the storage of their image files.
 
Unauthorised photographs:
The organiser is permitted to exclude photos from the competition that:
… do not meet the terms of entry
… do not fulfil the technical requirements for presentation of the competition outcomes in a sufficiently high quality
… violate applicable law and/or are contrary to moral standards
... depict and/or glorify violence
… could damage a person's dignity.
 Nude shots are not permitted.

Exclusivity: The submitted photos may not have previously been placed or rewarded with an entry or special distinction in the fotoforum Award. Repeated submissions of previously placed or rewarded pictures will be disqualified. A repeated submission is recognized:
- if an identical picture is submitted
- if a submission has the same origin as a previously submitted picture
- if a submission shows an identical or mostly identical motif
Repeated disregard of this principle may result in blocking further submissons from a user.



FIAP Rules:
The fotoforum Award takes place under the patronage of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP, www.fiap.net, Fédération Internationale de l‘Art Photographique), the international umbrella organisation for international photography associations. FIAP patronage is a particular honour for international competitions (salons) in the field of photographic and is bestowed in consideration of the results of earlier events. The FIAP definitions also apply for FIAP assessment.

Participation fee:

A fee of 20 euros per competitor is levied per competition (max. four photos). The participation fee covers the costs of running the competition and producing the fotoforum magazine with the winning photos, which every competitor will receive free of charge. Payment can be made my direct debit or through PayPal. Participation in the competition is free for fotoforum magazine subscribers.

Images rights:

By submitting a photo, the competitor declares that...
...they are the original creator of any works submitted in their name and that all parts of the photograph were taken by them personally,
... all submitted photos are devoid of third-party rights. The sender will meet any claims by third parties.

Notifications:
The competitor will be notified by e-mail about the individual phases of the competition and the publication of the results. These can be viewed in their user profile. These mails are mandatory.

Publication of results and catalogue:
The results will be published immediately and without delay on www.fotoforum-award.de.
For each of the six individual competitions of the fotoforum Award, we will publish a catalogue in PDF format that can be downloaded by competitors.
Additionally, every competitor will receive a complementary copy of the fotoforum magazine containing all the winning images as well as a selection of the photos submitted.
 
Presentation:
Publication of the photos is free of charge exclusively within the scope of reporting and self-marketing via and for the fotoforum Award, the fotoforum magazine and its online media, in the competition catalogue, exhibitions and audiovisual presentations on the fotoforum Award. No other publication will take place unless by agreement with the photographer(s) concerned.

Award ceremony and exhibition:
The Award ceremony will take place as part of the fotoforum Impulse 2018 event (19/10/2018 - 21/10/2018) in Cloppenburg. The exhibition can be viewed there from 19/10/2018 to 30/11/2018.   

Personal details:
fotoforum compiles, saves and uses personal information according to the provisions of the data protection laws. With submission, the sender confirms that fotoforum is permitted to publish the information that they have provided about themselves, their group and photos (e.g. photo captions, technical information).

Process of appeal:
The jury’s decision will be final.

Consent:
By submitting their photographs, the competitor declares that they accept these conditions of participation in every particular.