Awards & Photo Competition Guidelines
Photo competitions and design awards are great. They are a wonderful way to showcase the work of photographers, other image-makers and designers more generally. They provide a platform for excellence in photography as well as for recognition of strong design outcomes for those who commission photography of physical design work. However, many of our members have been noticing an unfortunate and growing trend for the terms and conditions of such competitions and awards programmes becoming so onerous and over-reaching that they are reluctant to permit use of their imagery in some competitions. The guidelines that follow seek to establish a way to recognise and establish fair, realistic and workable principles for those who are considering entering their work into design or photo competitions as well as for those organisations who run such competitions.
If you are a photographer who is considering entering a photo competition, or if you have been asked by your commissioning client to provide approval to enter your copyrighted work into a design award programme, then you should review the terms and conditions against the principles outlined below. This will help to ensure that your moral rights and copyright are adequately protected whilst avoiding overreach by competition organisers. In the event that the entry terms do not meet these principles then Image Makers Association Australia would suggest either not entering your work into such a programme or consulting with the organisers to request that they amend their terms of entry. If you are a member of Image Makers Association Australia we would be happy to reach out to the organiser to advocate on your behalf.
General Principles
A well-written set of competition or award terms and conditions should include the following:
the primary purpose of the competition / award programme,
the benefits to the entrant,
the benefits to the company or entity that is organising the competition / award programme,
the competition / award programme should not be exploitative of the commercial or any other rights of entrants or rights-holders,
all moral rights of the entrant, photographers and any other copyright owners are to be upheld,
use of entered works should be limited to the promotion and celebration of the competition / award programme,
award programmes that promote the work of designers who commission photography must ensure that the photographer and any other copyright holder provides their approval on the entry form, and
all terms and conditions of entry should always accompany the entry form.
Terms to Avoid
Generally speaking, we would discourage our members and other image-makers from providing their work for use in competitions or award programmes that include any of the following onerous entry terms:
poorly worded and vastly open-ended usage scenarios that extend well beyond promotion of the competition or award programme,
commercial use, dissemination or sub-licensing of imagery to any third-party organisations including competition sponsors,
complete re-assignment of rights to either the company organising the competition or to any of their sponsors, and
unworkable or onerous limitations upon liability.
Sample Awards Terms
A typical set of competition or award terms and conditions should clearly describe such things as entrant criteria, entry fees, timelines & deadlines, judging processes, prizes & awards, exhibition & display periods, etc. Terms around copyright, licensing and extended use, however, tend to be where some competitions can use over-reaching language that might curtail the attraction of the competition for some photographers. Competitions based on the principles outlined above and that adopt the example terms below would be much more likely to generate interest and submissions from a much broader range of professional photographers.
Copyright
Entrants to the competition must have explicit permission to enter from the copyright holder of each submitted copyrighted work. Permission is to take the form of signed approval by each copyright holder on the competition entry form. Title to and ownership of all copyrighted works inclusive of all reproductive, publication, communication, broadcast, distribution and sales rights remain the property of the copyright owner in perpetuity. Copyright is not transferred to the competition organiser nor to any competition sponsors or other third-party entities.
Moral Rights
The organisers will acknowledge and uphold the moral rights of the creator of each submitted image under the Australian Copyright Act 1968. These include the right:
to be attributed (or credited) for their work,
not to have their work falsely attributed; and
not to have their work treated in a derogatory way.
In each case of use, the creator of each copyrighted work will be clearly attributed (credited). The organiser shall ensure that the copyrighted works are not distorted, altered or included within any new work without the copyright owner’s prior written consent. The organiser is responsible for the proper attribution of any original artwork that is identifiable within the copyrighted work wherever the works are used by the organiser.
Usage Rights
Organisers will only display or reproduce prize-winning or commended entries in newspapers, magazines, television and internet media that specifically advertise, promote, acknowledge or celebrate the competition or award programme. Any other use, such as commercial or advertising use by the organiser or any sponsors of the competition, will be directly negotiated with the copyright owner outside of the terms of the competition.
Model & Property Releases
It is the entrant’s responsibility to obtain appropriate written permission from any recognisable people or owners of property that are identifiable in the submitted work. Such permission is to allow for use of the submitted images by the competition organiser for the purposes of promoting and celebrating the competition.