Official rules

LIFE’s Work—The Eyes of Experience photo contest and exhibition, 2010.

Eligibility

Except for the judges, this photo contest is open to all residents of Ontario who will be 50 or older on March 31, 2010, and to members of the Canadian Forces normally resident in Ontario and who, otherwise, fit the criteria for eligibility.

Categories

1. Amateur photographers: This category is open to people who have never made their living as a professional photographer. The occasional sale of photographs does not constitute professionalism. Photographs submitted by amateur photographers will be judged in the following four categories:
   1. Colour: Colour photographs will be judged in the following sub-categories:
      1. Landscape
      2. Nature
      3. Children
      4. Portraiture
      5. Animals
      6. Sports
      7. Architecture
      8. Urban scene
      9. Other
   2. Monochrome: This category has no sub-categories and includes monochrome photos of any subject. It includes continuous-tone black-and white-prints or slides, sepia, and other tones.
   3. Photo-manipulation: This is a single category and includes photographs of any subject that have been altered through a major colour change, the application of art medium, digital alterations, and so on. Such changes must be the work of the submitting photographer. We may ask to see the camera original as well as the altered image.
   4. Snap shot: This category includes any informal photograph, taken quickly using a hand-held camera, up to 4 x 6 inches. This must be sent by Canada Post, with a stamped, self-addressed return envelope included. There are no prizes for this section.
2. Professional photographers: This category is open to people who worked, are working, or are retired from the profession. Photographs must not have been taken for commercial purposes. Photographs submitted by professional photographers will be judged in the following four categories:
   1. Colour: Colour photographs will be judged in the following sub-categories:
      1. Landscape
      2. Nature
      3. Children
      4. Portraiture
      5. Animals
      6. Sports
      7. Architecture
      8. Urban scene
      9. Other
   2. Monochrome: This category has no sub-categories and includes monochrome photos of any subject. It includes continuous-tone black-and white-prints or slides, sepia, and other tones.
   3. Photo-manipulation: This is a single category and includes photographs of any subject that have been altered through a major colour change, the application of art medium, digital alterations, and so on. Such changes must be the work of the submitting photographer. We may ask to see the camera original as well as the altered image.
   4. Snap shot: This category includes any informal photograph, taken quickly using a hand-held camera, up to 4 x 6 inches. This must be sent by Canada Post, with a stamped, self-addressed return envelope included. There are no prizes for this section.

Note: Photographs considered by the judges to be outside the above criteria may be removed from consideration.

Entries

LIFE prefers that photographs be sent in digital format, but we will accept 35mm slides and 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 prints. If you wish, you may crop digital photographs on your computer, place cropping marks on slide mounts, and indicate the cropping of prints with a short note, or crop marks on the back of the print. Slides are to be submitted in glassless slide mounts.

• Digital photographs are to be in JPG format, with a maximum file size of 2MB, and should be approximately 1000 pixels in the largest dimension.
• Prints should be unmounted, and may be colour, black and white, or toned monochrome.
• Slides may be colour, black and white, or toned images.

Each entry:

• Must be an original photograph that was taken by the contestant, either on film or digitally.
• Must have been taken for personal and private use; that is, not for commercial use.
• Must not be a photograph that has been copied or reproduced from a third-party source.

Unacceptable photo manipulation

No photo-manipulation is permitted, except within the Photo-manipulation category. However, this does not apply to cropping an image, adjusting its intensity, or removing artifacts such as dust marks or evidence of fingerprints on the negatives, and so on. Also, toning of a black and white photograph is permitted within the Monochrome category.

For more information, refer to Digital Guidelines in the side bar at the top of this page.

How to enter

Each entrant may submit up to three photographs. The entry fee is $20.00 for one photograph, $25.00 for two, and $30.00 for three.

Digital photographs are to be submitted using the entry page on our website at www.lifeswork.ca/entry. Slides and prints are to be mailed to the following address:

The Eyes of Experience
LIFE Institute
The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education
Ryerson University
350 Victoria Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5B 2K3
 

Entrants can pay their entry fee on-line through PayPal or by cheque or money order made out to LIFE Institute, Ryerson University and marked “Eyes of Experience.”

To enter using our website

You can use the entry form on our website to enter the contest and to submit any combination of digital photographs, prints, or slides. To submit a photograph, follow these steps:

• Access the entry form on our website: www.lifeswork.ca/entry
• Enter all the required information on the form. Incomplete entry forms may be disqualified.
• Attach all digital photo files as indicated on the entry form.
• Submit your payment through PayPal as directed on our website, or mail in your payment by cheque or money order payable as set out above, and we will match your payment to your entry.
• If there are any prints or slides in your entry, mail them in, together with a printed copy of your online receipt. Digital photos are automatically uploaded to our server and do not need to be mailed in.

To enter the contest by mail

• Access our website, locate the entry form and either print it directly from the website or download it as a PDF file and print it.
• Fill out the form as directed. Incomplete entry forms will be disqualified.
• Mail the entry form together with your prints and/or slides to the address above. Important: Do not place any identifying information on the photograph, front or back.
• Enclose your payment by cheque or money order; or, if you wish to pay by credit card, use the PayPal form on our website at www.lifeswork.ca/paypal and include a printed copy of your PayPal receipt with your entry.

Note: We cannot accept photographs on any digital medium through the mail: you must mail in physical prints and/or slides.

Entry deadline

Online entries must be completed and submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time, Wednesday, March 31, 2010. Posted entries must be postmarked no later than March 31, 2010.

Judging criteria

Entries will be pre-screened and selected contestants will be asked to submit exhibition-quality prints for the final judging. All photographs entered will be evaluated by a panel of judges, all of whom will be professionals in some aspect of the graphic arts.

The photographs will be judged on:

• Originality and creativity
• Composition
• General photographic quality

Disclaimer

The LIFE Institute is not responsible or liable for any erroneous, damaged, destroyed, lost, late, incomplete, illegible, corrupted, incorrectly addressed or misdirected submissions or any damage or loss arising from, or connected with the Photograph Contest. Submissions that do not comply with the complete rules stated may not be eligible to win. All submissions become the property of The LIFE Institute.

By submitting photographs to this contest you are declaring your understanding of the rules of the contest. All decisions of the Committee and the Judges will be final and not appealable, nor will reasons be given.

Privacy/use of personal information

By participating in the Contest, the entrant:

1. Grants to the Sponsors and the LIFE Institute the right to use his/her name, mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address (Personal Information) for the purpose of administering the Contest, including but not limited to contacting and announcing the Winners;
2. Grants to the Sponsors and the LIFE Institute the right to use his/her Personal Information for publicity and promotional purposes relating to the Contest, in any and all media now known or hereafter devised, without further compensation unless prohibited by law;
3. Acknowledges that the Sponsors and the LIFE Institute may disclose his/her Personal Information to third-party agents and service providers of any of the Sponsors and the LIFE Institute in connection with any of the activities listed in (a) and (b) above;
4. Grants to the Sponsors and the LIFE Institute the right to use her/his entry in publicity both before and after the contest and also the right to reproduce the entry in a catalogue of the final show should the Sponsors and the LIFE Institute choose to produce one. All other rights remain with the entrant.

The Sponsors and the LIFE Institute will use the entrant’s Personal Information only for identified purposes, and protect the entrant’s Personal Information in a manner that is consistent with the law in the Province of Ontario.

Sales

Any entrant may designate the LIFE Institute as her/his agent for the sale of copies of the entry at a price to be set by the entrant. LIFE will complete the sale and forward the proceeds to the entrant after deducting a commission of 30%.