Competition rules

ORGANIZER

The contest is organized by  Photo International Club Zurich, Limmattalstrasse 184, 8049 Zürich – SWITZERLAND.

THE COMPETITION

1. The competition is opened for online submissions only. Online registration page is available on contest.picz.ch.
2. Submissions will be accepted from the 1st day of the quarter (January, April, July or October) at 00:01am (Zurich time) or as soon as the topic is communicated on the Picz website. It will end on the last day of the quarter at 23:59 p.m. (Zurich time). No Submission made after the deadline will be accepted.
3. Participants must be individuals aged eighteen (18) years or over at the time of the Submission(s).
4. Jury members can not take part to the contest for the period they are acting as jury.

YOUR SUBMISSION

1. You may submit up to three (3) photos per quarter. You must provide a title and description for each Photo submitted.
2. Submitted Photo must be in JPEG format, with the high quality and resolution, the minimum of the longest edge should be no less than 1000 pixel and the quality to be suitable for publication. File size must not be higher than 5Mb.
3. All submitted Photo(s) must not contain any watermaks including any tag(s), signature(s), initial(s), frame, border(s), logo(s).
4. Picz reserve the rights to request the original Photo(s) (RAW) or the Photo(s) without any editing, and request proof of ownership of the shots.
5. Basic technical editing of the Photo(s) is acceptable, provided any such editing does not affect the authenticity and/or genuineness of the Photo(s).
6. Photo(s) that portrays or otherwise include inappropriate and/or offensive contents, including pornography, violence and/or any other contents not in accordance of the Swiss laws will be disqualified.

THE PRIZES

1. Two prices will be delivered per quarter
   • Picz Jury Prize: PICZ appointed judging panel will assess and determine the winning Photo(s) of the Picz Jury Prize.
   • Picz Public Prize: public voting will be opened for 15 days starting from the closing of the submission period. They are limited to 1 vote / per Picz website account / quarter. The photo that will gather the most votes will receive the Picz Public Prize
2. In the case of ex-aequo (pictures receiving the same number of votes), the picture submitted the earliest will win the contest
3. The winners will be officially announced at the following Picz Monthly Meeting and the result communicated on the contest.picz.ch website and will have 1 month to collect their prize.
4. PICZ’s judging panel has the right, at its absolute discretion, to turn down or reject any  Submission(s) without having to give any notice or explanation to the relevant Participant.
5. The decision of PICZ’s judging panel is final and binding on all Participants in respect to all matters relating to the Competition.
6. Prize will be announced through Picz website directly on quarterly competition page and during the first following quarter Picz monthly meeting.
7. The prizes are non-transferable and no cash alternative is available.
8. If a prize (or part of a prize) is unavailable, the PICZ, in its discretion, reserves the right to substitute the original prize (or that part of the prize) with an alternative prize to the equal monetary value and/or specification.

JURY

The PICZ jury will be composed of three experienced photographers. The name of the jury will be announced for each competition directly in the “Rules” section of the competition instances.

They will evaluate the submissions based  on 4 mains criteria:

• • Respect of the theme
  • Creativity
  • Message/Genuineness
  • Technical quality of the picture

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

1. Submitted Photo(s) must be a single work of original material created and/or taken by you, must not contain any materials owned or controlled by a third party for which you have not obtained a license, permission or approval to use, must not infringe the copyright, trademark, moral rights, rights of privacy/publicity or intellectual property rights of any person or entity.
2. You must be able to provide at your own cost and if requested to do so by PICZ, with any or all of the following:
   • A signed written license from the copyright owner of any sculpture, artwork, or other copyrighted material that appears in your submitted Photo(s).
   • A signed written license from the owner of any private property included in your submitted Photo(s) authorising PICZ to reproduce, distribute, display of the relevant entry(s).
   • A signed written consent, release and/or permission of each and every identifiable individual person(s) or its legal guardian if under the legal age, appearing in your submitted Photo(s), clearly authorizing you to use their picture. Please click here to download the draft of the Model Release Form.
3. Failure to provide such releases upon request may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner.
4. You grant Picz, a 24 months, royalty free, right to use, publish, reproduce, display, distribute, print, promote your submitted Photo(s), in whole or in part, in any form and in all media forms now or hereafter known, related to the Competition.

RIGHT TO CANCEL OR SUSPEND CONTEST

1. The organiser has the right for any reason he deemed necessary to  modify, suspend, terminate or cancel the Contest.
2. In case of a cancelation or early termination, PICZ will not retain any rights in the submitted photographs, and will return the fees to all paid participants.

DATA PRIVACY

1. Entrants understand and agree that personal data, including but not limited to name, adresses, email may be processed, shared, and otherwise used for the purposes and within the context of the Contest.
2. These data may also be used by PICZ in order to verify the participant’s identity and addresses, as well as to send some communication linked to PICZ activity.
3. Participants have the right to access, review, rectify, or request deletion of any personal data held by PICZ. Written request can be sent to Photo International Club Zurich, Nelkenstrasse 15, 8006 Zurich – Switzerland.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

1. All entrants agree to release, discharge, and hold harmless PICZ and its partners, affiliates, and representatives from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of their participation in this Contest or any Contest-related activities and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any prize awarded hereunder.
2. PICZ assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, or delay in operation or transmission; communications line failure; theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to Contest entries or entry forms; or alteration of entries or entry forms.

NOTICE TO INDIVIDUALS: REMOVAL FROM MAILING LIST:

You may elect to exclude your name and address from all lists used by PICZ. To do so, please submit a removal request in writing to: Photo International Club Zurich, Nelkenstrasse 15, 8006 Zurich – Switzerland or by email: contest@picz.ch