Fifth Annual Wallowa Country Digital Photo Contest
Rules and Procedures for January 2012

Sponsored by:
Wallowa Valley Photo Club
Wallowa County Chieftain

Open to: All amateur photographers who live in Wallowa County either full-time or part-time, or who have ever vacationed in Wallowa County, are eligible. Exceptions: Members of the Wallowa Valley Photo Club, the staff of the Chieftain, and their immediate families may not submit entries. "Immediate family" includes only spouses, parents, and children. For the purpose of this contest, an amateur photographer is anyone for whom photography is not part of his or her regular job.

Divisions: Student (17 years old and younger) and Adult (18 years old and older)

Designated subject: None. Except as specified in the following paragraph, photos may be of any subject in any location, domestic or foreign, and taken at any time.

Photographs not eligible for the contest
   1. Photos that were contest winners in a previous year may not be entered in this year's contest. A contest winner is any photo that received 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or Honorable Mention in any division.
   2. The judges will disqualify photos which do not meet the standards of the Chieftain for presentation on its web site or for print publication. Disqualified photos will not appear on the Chieftain's web site and are not eligible for awards. The guiding principle is that the contest is a community event, open to both young and old.

Public display of photos: All submitted photos will be displayed as they are received on the Chieftain's web site. After judging, winning photos will be featured on the Chieftain's web site, and as many winning and non-winning photos as space allows will be featured in the Chieftain's print edition. Selected winning and non-winning photos may also appear in a single issue of the Wallowa Valley Photo Club's monthly newsletter and on the Photo Club's web site in the context of informing members of the Photo Club about the contest. In addition, winning and selected non-winning photographers will have the honor of having their photos publicly displayed on the screen of the OK Theatre before showtime for a month or so after the contest. Any photo so displayed will credit its original photographer.

Awards: There will be two categories of awards.
   1. The People's Choice awards for the most popular submitted photos, with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in each division. Everyone can vote by browsing to the Chieftain's contest web page and choosing their favorite photo. Prizes are $40, $20, and $10, plus certificates.
   2. Overall best photos, with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in each of the two divisions as determined by the judges. Prizes are $40, $20, and $10, plus certificates. Honorable Mentions may be awarded at the discretion of the judges. Prizes for honorable mentions will be certificates.
    The Wallowa Valley Photo Club is solely responsible for all awards.

Judging: Judging will be done by the Wallowa Valley Photo Club. Judges will base their decisions on artistic merit and technical quality. Decisions of the judges are final.

Tie votes: In case of a tie, winners with the same number of votes will each receive the same prize as if there had been no tie.

Timeline: Submissions to the contest may be made beginning Saturday, January 7, 2012 and will be accepted through Friday, January 27, 2012. Voting for the People's Choice award is from Saturday, January 28, 2012 through Sunday, February 12, 2012. Winners will be announced in the Thursday, February 23, 2012 issue of the Chieftain.

Number of photos per contestant: Each contestant may submit as many as five photos, with each photo being of a distinct subject.

Submission: All submissions must be digital – prints and slides are not accepted. However, prints and slides may be scanned and digital copies submitted.

Submission procedures: Digital photos may be submitted via the Chieftain's online submission form or emailed to WallowaPhoto@gmail.com. CDs may be mailed to The Wallowa Valley Photo Club, PO Box 1055, Joseph, OR 97846. CDs may also be dropped off at the Chieftain (209 NW 1st, Enterprise, Oregon). Include with submissions: (1) contact information (name, mailing address – street address or PO Box number, phone number, and email address, if you have one); (2) contest division (student or adult); and (3) your Wallowa County address (vacation rental location or permanent home).

Format of submitted files: Photo files must be JPEG, preferably of reasonably high quality.

Size and resolution of submitted files: From digital cameras, high-quality JPEG files of the size and resolution provided by the camera, with no size reduction, are preferred. Scanned photos should be of size and resolution suitable for print publication: at least 4 inches at 300 ppi. Files submitted by email must total 10 MBytes or less per email, so, if one is submitting more than 10 MBytes in total, more than one email will be required. There is no upper limit on the size of photos submitted on a CD. Photographs will be downsized as necessary by contest administrators for web site presentation, judging, and publication. When submitting entries, too large is better than too small.

Final disposition of submitted CDs: CDs submitted to the contest will be destroyed at the end of the contest. In no case will they be returned to the contestant.

Processing digital photographs: There are no restrictions. Photos are judged solely on artistic merit and technical quality. Make your photos as good as possible.

Legal: All submissions must be by the original photographer. By submitting a photograph to the contest, the photographer grants the contest administrators and judges the right to use the photo in any way necessary for the conduct of the contest, including, but not limited to, display on the Photo Club's and Chieftain's web sites, publication in the Chieftain and in the Photo Club newsletter as a contest winner or participant, and projection on the screen of the OK Theatre. The contest sponsors will not use a submitted photo outside the context of the contest, unless the consent of the photographer is first secured.

Privacy: Neither the Photo Club nor the Chieftain will transfer personal information provided by contestants to a third party.

Example: Occasionally, a member of the public requests a print of a photo in the contest photo galleries. In such a case, the contest administrator will pass the request to the original photographer and allow the original photographer to contact the interested party at his/her discretion.

Example: In case the Chieftain wishes to use a photo submitted to the contest in a context other than the contest, the Chieftain will first secure the permission of the photographer. Obtaining permission may include an offer of appropriate compensation.