Rules (contest)
These are the rules governing the International Black and White Photography awards. Information on this page supersedes all other information.
Eligibilty
The IBWPA competition is open to all professional, amateur and student photographers 18 years of age or older. Professional photographers will be judged against other professional photographers and non-professionals will be judged against other non-professionals except for the Reader’s Choice Award.
Employees of 256 Photography, IBWPA, E-Presse.com and their associated companies, and employees of any company sponsoring the competition are ineligible to enter.
Image Submission Guidelines
All photographers must submit their work online at the following website: www.ibwfa.org carefully following the onscreen directions. Only digital files are accepted. All Entrants who do not fulfill these eligibility criteria will be deemed ineligible and disqualified without the right to appeal.
Digital images submitted must be in .jpg format
– file format should be sRGB or Adobe98
– file size cannot exceed 4 MB per file.
– No watermark, Copyright symbol or other identifying mark is allowed anywhere on the entry
– No image borders
Winning artists must be able to provide a high-resolution digital file; with a minimum of 2400px @300dpi on the longest edge. This file will be used to prove the ownership of the image and may be used for advertising and promotion of the contest, as set forth below in Use and Ownership of images.
All entries must be the original work of the artist and must not infringe on the rights of any other party. The artist must be the sole copyright owner of all photographs entered and must have obtained the permission of any people featured in the entries (or their parents/guardians if children under 16 are featured). Further, the entrant must not have breached any laws when taking their photographs.
Entry Fees
All entries must include the appropriate entry fee in U.S. currency. Please click here to see entry fees.
Am I a professional?
Photographers are considered to be professionals if they earn, or have earned, some or all of their living from photography, and/or are a member of a professional photographic association or organization.
Can I enter as an Amateur?
If you have earned some or all of your living as a photographer or are a member of a professional photographic organization, then you must submit as a professional. All winning entrants in the amateur category will be vetted to ensure that they are amateurs. All Entrants failing the vetting process will be deemed ineligible and disqualified without the right to appeal.
Categories
You may enter your work in as many categories as you wish at the time of submission. Once the submission fee is paid, you will not be able to edit, change, or add new categories.
Copyright and all other rights of authorship remain with the photographer. Any photograph used by the International Black and White Photography Awards will be properly accredited to l carry the photographer in the credit line. Use may include publication in any International Black and White Photography Awards media sponsor publication. All entrants understand that any image submitted to the competition may be used by International Black and White Photography Awards for marketing and promotional purposes including in any media such as exhibitions, print and digital media directly related to the IBWPA competition, though there may not be monetary compensation. By winning or placing in the competition you are agreeing to be included in the winners’ annual.
Neither International Black and White Photography Awards, IBWFA, Shades of Grey magazine, 256 Photography LLC, nor their associates, affiliates, or partners assume any responsibility for photos submitted in violation of competition rules, or for those which violate copyright regulations. International Black and White Photography Awards will investigate claims of copyright infringement to the best of its ability and will remove and disqualify images that are clearly demonstrated to violate copyright and/or competition policies. IBWPA will act to maintain the integrity of the competition and its affiliated entities but is not responsible for any damages resulting from images submitted in violation with rules and regulations.
Exhibition of Images
Up to 50 images will be chosen from all the winners who have received a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd prize in the competition, from both professional and amateur categories, which will be shown in an exhibition that opens during the International Black and White Photographers Gala in Paris. By submitting an entry, you are agreeing to have prints of your photographs shown in this exclusive exhibition and you agree that you will not receive pecuniary compensation.
Your Responsibilities
International Black and White Photography Awards reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify and remove any entry that does not comply with the following requirements. In respect to each Entry submitted by you, you warrant that:
- You are the copyright holder and creator of each Entry
- You have the right to submit the Entry to the Competition
- Each Entry does not contain personally identifiable information about any person, including you.
- Each Entry does not contain any libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, abusive, threatening, harassing, misleading, false, inflammatory, infringing, profane or pornographic content.
- Each Entry does not contain material that encourages conduct considered to be a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise, violate any law
- Entries which contain any commercial content that promotes any product or service other than that of the International Black and White Photography Awards
- No animals were harmed in the making of the image
- Each Entry does not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks or any other intellectual property rights of any third person or entity including:
– trademarks owned by third parties
– copyrighted materials owned by third parties
– any celebrity or other public figures, living or dead
You agree to fully indemnify the International Black and White Photography Awards in respect of all royalties, fees and any other monies owing to any person by reason of Your breaching any of the foregoing.
You confirm that each person depicted in the Entry has granted permission to be portrayed as shown. You must have all relevant permissions to use materials, props, and locations shown in each Entry.