Judging, Releases & Closing Dates

Judging

Somewhere on the contest website there should be notes about judging and judges. The Bill of Rights for Photography Competitions states that entrants should know who is judging the contest along with brief biographcal details about them. When the Bill of Rights was being drafted the view was that entrants should know if their images are being judged by people with appropriate experience.

There are two methods of satisfying this requirement. In method one the contest website lists the judges along with notes about their background and experience.

In method two, to ensure anonymity during the judging phase, the judges details are not disclosed on the contest website until after the winners of the contest are announced.  Either method complies with the Bill of Rights. Note that in the case of annual contests using method two when a contest is launched last years judges could be named from the outset.

Release Documents

If your competition terms and conditions require an entrant to sign a release document, or any other document at any stage as part of the competition process, then the documents concerned must either be displayed in full on the contest website for an entrant to view, or at least the full content of the terms and conditions from the documents be listed for entrants to read. Contestants should be able to read all the terms and conditions they may be subject to before they enter your contest.

Closing Date

Either in the terms and conditions, or somewhere on the contest website, a closing date/time for entries should be declared and this date/time must not be more than 16 monhs beyond the competition launch date.

Other Terms and Conditions

In addition to those detailed previously in this guide you will need many other terms and conditions for your competition.

These will cover such diverse subjects as which entrants are eligible (professional and/or amateurs), any age limits and/or age ranges for entrants, the countries the competition is open to, the format of the submitted photographs (e.g. slides, prints, digital formats), how to submit them, return arrangements (if any), the theme and subjects to be addressed by the photographs, entry fees if any, prizes, and so on. 

This guide was specifically written to address the main legal issues concerning rights and photography competitions but we may add further guidance on some of these other topics at a later date.