1. ELIGIBILITY

1.1 The “Wildlife (including Birds)” and “Street Photography” categories are open to all.

1.2 “The Magnificent Seven and Sikkim” ( The MaSS) is open to 1) people of the states of NE India and Sikkim, and 2) anyone currently living in NE India and Sikkim for any reason (e.g. employment, study, business, etc.)

1.3 The family members and close relatives of the organizers will not be eligible for participation.

2. SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES

Warning: Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated images are not allowed.
Please do not submit any such image.

2.1 Submission of Image(s)

Images are to be uploaded directly to our website after registering.

File size should be between 1MB to 10MB. Entries smaller or larger than this range will be rejected by the software.

You have only one chance to upload all images and submit them. When you click the submit button, the system will be locked, and you can't update or delete any image. Be careful before clicking the submit button!

2.2 Uploading images to the Facebook group page or through email is NOT allowed for competition participation. You must submit the images through the website registration page.

2.3 Photographs for competition must be submitted within the deadline. No submission will be accepted after the closing of the submission timeframe.

2.4 Submitted images should be in JPEG format. No other format is accepted.

2.5 In each category where a photographer is qualified to submit, a maximum of 3 images per category can be submitted. An eligible competitor can submit a maximum of 9 images.

2.6 Digital manipulation that distorts the reality of the images will NOT be allowed. Only basic enhancements such as sharpening, contrast/brightness adjustment, or simple cropping are allowed. Saturation/vibrancy adjustment may be allowed to a very small degree. Any addition or subtraction (cloning in or out - except dust spots removal) will immediately disqualify an image.

2.7 Digital framing should NOT be done.

2.8 Scanned pictures/slides are acceptable. Scratches and dust spots can be removed by software during scanning but NOT by cloning afterwards.

2.9 Exposure bracketed or focus stacked images are eligible, but composites of multiple pictures are not eligible. Simple stitched panoramas are permitted.

2.10 The organizers reserve the right to reject images with incomplete details required under the photo submission rules described earlier. 

2.11 All submitted images become the property of the APCMPC organization. The organization reserves the right to use the image for future publicity/promotion. They will never be sold to anyone for a profit without the copyright owner’s written permission.

2.12 The participant should be able to send the original high resolution/RAW image upon request.

2.13 The submissions will open on Nov. 1st, 2024 at 12:00:01 AM (Indian Standard Time - IST) and will close on Dec. 1st, 2024 at 11:59:59 PM (IST). The organizers reserve the right to change that deadline if deemed necessary due to public demand.

2.14 Photographers submitting from other countries (in different time zones) should pay attention to the deadline date and time as mentioned above.

2.15 There must not be any copyright information or signature on the image. Images with copyright marks or signatures will not be accepted.

3. COPYRIGHT/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

3.1 Each image submitted must be the original work of the participant who must also be its copyright owner. Any dispute arising out of a copyright issue will have to be handled by the participant. The organizers will not be responsible or liable for any copyright infringement.

Images that include paintings, statues, sculptures and other works of art will be accepted as long as they do not infringe copyrights or commit fraud. Individuals should be prepared to provide judges with a release form and/or a model release if asked. The image must be an original image taken by the competition entrant.

By entering the competition, the entrant acknowledges, represents and warrants that the image is an original work created only by the entrant and the image does not infringe or misappropriate any copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy/publicity or other intellectual property or proprietary rights. Images that are obscene, sexually explicit, or otherwise inappropriate will not be accepted. The organizing committee’s decision in this regard will be final and binding and will be ineligible for contest in a court of law.

3.2 The participant will retain copyright to the image entered for the competition.

3.3 By submitting an image for the competition, the participant will be regarded as having granted the organizer the right to use the image in print, broadcast and/or electronic media without any fee payment, for the purposes of promoting the competition.

3.4 Images received by the organizer through the competition will not be used by the organizer for commercial purposes without the participant’s written consent.

4. PRIZES

4.1 Award money will be directly deposited to the bank accounts of winners.

4.2 The organizers reserve the right to change or replace the competition prizes and/or modify the rules and regulations of the competition as and when deemed necessary, without prior notice.

4.3 The winner of the prizes will be solely responsible for paying taxes (if any) on the prize money.

4.4 The APCMS body will not be held responsible if incorrect bank transfer information is provided by any winner, resulting in non-receipt of the award money.

5. JUDGING AND RESULTS

5.1 The images will be selected by a panel of judges appointed by the organizers and their decisions will be final and binding. No correspondence pertaining to the selection process and decision will be entertained. No person will be able to challenge the decisions of the judges in a court of law.

5.2 The panel of judges will evaluate the images individually and create a result sheet. Defined aspects of the picture will be looked at, scored, and averaged.

5.4 The judging panel reserves the right not to award any prize if the images submitted do not meet the standards set by them previously.

5.5 Results of the competition will be posted online on a previously announced date.

5.6 No personal communication in any form with the judges will be entertained, and any solicitation/backing will immediately disqualify the participant.

6. ACCEPTANCE OF RULES AND REGULATIONS

6.1 By submitting an image for the competition, the participant will be regarded as having accepted and agreed to be bound by the rules and regulations of the competition.

6.2 While the organizers will exercise due care during the collection, selection and storage of images, they will not be liable for any loss, theft or destruction of the images during transmission or subsequently.

6.3 If any conflicting issue arises subsequently, the APCMPS organizers reserve the right to add/delete/modify/change rules and regulations at their sole discretion.

6.4 None of the decisions/changes made by the APCMPC organizers can be challenged in a court of law.

6.5 The APCMPC organizers will have the right to cancel the competition, if deemed necessary, without giving any reason.

6.6 Photographs submitted will not be returned in any form.

7. Representations and Warranties

By submitting a Contest Entry or accepting any prize, you represent, warrant and covenant the following:

(a) you will not submit content that infringes or otherwise violates any copyrights, trademarks, trade secret rights or other intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to post the content and to grant APCMPC all of the rights granted therein;

(b) you will not publish falsehoods or misrepresentations that could damage the reputation of APCMPC organizers (APCMS);

(c) you will not submit content that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, or is otherwise inappropriate or destructive to APCMPC or APCMS’s goodwill;

(d) you will not post advertisements or solicitations of business;

(e) APCMS will not be obligated to pay any compensation to, or permit any participation by, any third party in connection with the use, reproduction, modification, publication, display or other exploitation of any of the content that you submit; and

(f) the content submitted by you does not contain any viruses, Trojan horses, worms or other disabling devices or harmful code including but not limited to spyware, malware etc..

8.About the Organizers:

The APCMPC organizers are the immediate family members of the founder of APCMPC - Dr. Swapan Chaudhuri, MD - and a group of passionate photographers who are dedicated to advancing the art of photography in Tripura.