VIPA Worldwide Photography Contest 2016

General rules

VIPA Worldwide Photography Contest is open to professional and non-professional photographers. The maximum possible prize for the potential winner, should s/he win the 6 Category Contests and the Photographer of the Year Award, is 17 000 euros!

Topics and Categories

The photographs have to be relevant to the following Categories and Topics:

PEOPLE AND PORTRAITS: men, women, children, portraits, other.
ARCHITECTURE: bridges, buildings, cityscape, industrial, interior, panorama, other.
FOOD: photographs focused on food.
BEST PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN BULGARIA: nature, historical sights, culture and art.
FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY
REPORTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY: otherwise known as documentary photography. Photos of events or people that tell a story.

Calendar of Events

Registration starting date: June 1st 2016
Entry deadline: December 31st 2016
1st Round: July 9th 2016 to January 9th 2017
2nd Round: January 10th – 31st 2017
Announcement of all jury members: October 9th 2016
Announcement of final rankings: February 1st 2017
Awards Ceremony: February 14th 2017
Exhibition: February 14th – 21st 2017
Payment of cash prizes to the winners: February 22nd – March 22nd 2017

Voting

VIPA 2016 will have 2 Rounds:

1st Round – voting by the jury team and users who rate the best 50 media in each category.
2nd Round – registered users rate the best 50 photographs from the 1st Round only through paid WINGS votes.
The recommended evaluation criteria are Originality (50%), Technique (30%), Creativity (10%), Description and completeness (10%).

Entry Fees

To take part in the Contest, you will need to have at least 20 WINGS (at the price of 9.60 euros) in your wallet per each photograph. VOUBS operates its own virtual currency, WINGS, which is added to your virtual wallet and which you use to cover Contest Entry Fees and purchase services offered by the platform.

Virtual currency is purchased mainly through PayPal.

In certain regions, WINGS can be bought via:

PayPal
Credit card
Bank transfer
SMS
Skrill
Neteller

Photograph submission

All materials are to be submitted online only. One and the same photograph cannot be entered into more than one Category. The size of each file cannot exceed 10 MB and may only be in a JPG/JPEG format. Computer generated media, photomontages, signed or watermarked photographs are not allowed.

The file title must be unique, relevant to the photograph and in English and may not contain invalid characters such as /?:? * "<> | '#, numbers or automatically generated camera numbers/titles.

Copyrights

Every contestant owns the copyright of submitted images. Participants are to verify sole ownership of their work. Contestants give permission to the Contest Organizers to use without payment a free licensing right to unlimited access to the submitted images for advertising and Contest-related purposes such as PR materials, catalogues, calendars and a website.

By entering the Contest, participants agree that their images will remain a part of its history and final Contest Ratings and may not be deleted.

Disqualification

Any medium that does not meet the Contest terms and conditions may be rejected by the Organizer;
In case the contestant uses more than one profile;
In case the contestant submits a medium that is not relevant to the Category of Contest Topic;
If there is suspicion of fake account being used for voting for a particular medium;
In case the contestant does not use their real name and personal information;
In case the contestant has submitted a medium owned by third parties;
The submitted medium has poor quality or description;
Disqualification is not subject to any appeals. Purchased WINGS are not returned.
Media Processing

The media may be digitally processed in order to optimize the image but key elements may not be removed. Brightness, contrast, colour balance can be adjusted. Dust spots, small items, etc. may be retouched. The Contest Supervisor has the right to reject any media which in their view has been manipulated or in case parts of the original image have been removed.

Only 1 media per contestant can make it into the 2nd Round (the one with the highest rating).

Jury Team

The media will be rated per Category by a jury team. The jury members will evaluate the visual effect, composition, originality, technique, and art contribution of the images, as well as their ability to deliver a message, sensation or emotion.

All media submitted in the VIPA Contest are evaluated online by the jury team which guarantees visibility of the images anywhere in the world. The best photographs in each Category are selected on the basis of their average rating. The best media with the highest ratings will make it into the Final Round. Each category will have 5 finalists.

The decisions by the jury are final and not subject to appeals. Anyone trying to undermine the credibility of the jury team will be disqualified and their access to the platform will be blocked.

Supervisor

The Contest has a professional supervisor who observes the application of the rules and is responsible for disqualifying ineligible contestants and arbitrating decisions.

The decisions made by the supervisor are not subject to appeals. Anyone trying to undermine the credibility of the supervisor will be disqualified and their access to the platform will be blocked.

Administrator

The Contest has one or more administrators who approve or reject all submitted photographs. Administrators monitor the description and contents of the media and their adherence to Contest Topics and ethical norms.

Prizes

The contestant with the highest rating in all Categories will be named 2016 VIPA Photographer of the Year and will receive an additional cash prize of 5000 euros.

The first 5 contestants with the highest ratings in each of the 6 Categories will be awarded the following prizes:

1st place – 2000 euros
2nd place – 1500 euros
3rd place – 1000 euros
4th place – 800 euros
5th place – 700 euros

From 6th to 20th place every qualified contestant will receive а consolation prize of 20 WINGS added to their VOUBS account.

Every contestant is eligible to be awarded, in case of a win, a maximum of 1 prize per Category, in addition to the chance for the Grand Prize of 5000 euro.

For example, if a contestant wins 5th place in all 6 Categories, s/he will receive 6 prizes of 700 euros each, or a total of 4200 euros, and, in addition, s/he will be eligible for the 5000-euro Grand Prize in case of being named Photographer of the Year. Thus the total prize amount will be 9200 euros.

The maximum possible prize for the potential winner, should s/he win the 6 Category Contests and the Photographer of the Year Award, is 17 000 euros

Organizer: Famozzo Group LTD

CEO: Vasko Vasilev

Email: info@voubs.com

For more information click "Further official information" below.

VIPA Worldwide Photography Contest 2016

Deadline:

January 15, 2017

Disciplines:

Photography