Sunday, September 28, 2014

Golden Turtle Photo Contest


The Golden Turtle includes various creative competitions aimed at identifying the best works and projects demonstrating the beauty and harmony of wild nature. Festival wildlife «Golden Turtle» representing the best works submitted to the contest, as well as other projects aimed at preserving wildlife annually held in Moscow. After completion of the Moscow Festival of competition are sent to an exhibition tour in Russia and other countries.

The first wildlife photo contest "Golden Turtle" was held in 2006, and in 2010 officially became an international photo contest. For the first time works were adopted on the contest of wildlife films "Golden Turtle" in 2011.

Contests art design and visual arts of the wilderness will be held in 2013 for the first time.
In January and February 2013 Wildlife Festival "Golden Turtle" was held at the Central House of Artists in Moscow, which gathered more than 120,000 visitors.

Award: The total prize fund 80,000 $

Categories:
- Mammals, Birds, Microcosm, The Underwater World, Other Animals, The Portrait of Animal, Harmony of Life, Magic of Plants, Landscape, Art of the Nature, The Nature and the Human, The Photostory.



RULES

ORGANIZERS, JURY AND PARTICIPANTS
The wildlife fund "FLORANIMAL" is the organizer and the legal owner of wildlife photo competition "Golden Turtle", exhibitions and everything related to this name. Judges and experts commission are constituted by the organizer and the final decision about the works, accepted by them, isn't subject to the appeal. Any author can be the participant of competition, except organizers of the competition, the announced judges if its works meet competition requirements. Open to all photographers worldwide. Official languages of competition are Russian and English.

Author (photographer) - the person made a photo and submitted it to a competition and subsequent exhibitions with whom further all organizational questions will be solved.

Photo (work, a picture, the image) – a picture made a camera, satisfying terms and being the property of the author.

The graphic editor – any computer program helping digital processing of a photo.
RAW — format RAW is understood that the data received directly from a matrix without processing. This format confirms authenticity and integrity of a picture. For the pictures made on the film technics, in case of hit in a semi-final additional procedure will be offered.


STAGES OF COMPETITION
1. Beginning of the competition. Registration of authors.

2. Registration works sent on competition.

3. The work of the expert commission presenting selection of works in a semi-final on the basis of voting.

4. Preliminary (remote) work of jury according to semifinal works.

5. Jury session for selection works of winners and finalists. Ending of the competition.

6. Announcement of results. The beginning of exhibition tour.

Stages 1-3 are spent during all period of reception of works. Ending of a stage 4 and the following stages are spent to specially appointed terms.

For application for participation in competition the author is registered yourself. Then author may his works register on a photo competition web-site "Golden Turtle" under the established form specified in item "Registration of authors and works" the present Rules.

After work registration, the author receives confirming letter, and work takes place on a site in the section of a corresponding nomination accessible only for a commission of experts.

Organizers can send special informational e-mails for all participators.

Experts lead selection of works in a semi-final all time of works reception. To authors of the works which have passed in a semi-final on the basis of work of a commission of experts, the special information letter is sent. Authors of such works are obliged to give photos under the form specified in point "Originals of works", not later than in 2 weeks after reception of the corresponding letter (the middle of November).

On occasion, members of a commission of experts causing questions, from authors explanations of conditions of shooting can be requested.
On the basis of the last semifinal selection and the received originals of works of jury chooses finalists, laureate and winners of competition. Owners of additional prizes can be defined by representatives of the companies giving prizes, from among finalists. Works-winners are announced at special ceremony where is also diplomas and prizes handed. The place and time of carrying out of ceremony will be announced additionally.


REGISTRATION OF AUTHORS AND WORKS
Registration of authors and works occurs on a competition web-site "Golden Turtle" in corresponding section, under specially established form.

At the first stage the author of works is registered then login and the password are sent to the author’s e-mail.

At the second stage the author has the right to begin process of registration his own works, their editing, deletion and loading of new works.

Primarily the author chooses a nomination to which represents work. Further, at input of own works, the author should consider technical requirements:

-File format – JPEG;
-The sizes: for horizontal works – 1400 pixels across; for vertical works – 1400 pixels on a vertical; file size – no larger than 600 kB;
-Works shouldn't have any author's, watermarks. You may not use any kind of frame or border. No heavily cropped photos.
-For participation in competition the works accompanied by the following information are accepted:
-Title for each image;
-The description of conditions of shooting (shooting idea, interesting features, the difficulties accompanying process of shooting, feature of behavior of object);
-The description of used technics (model of camera, a lens, in accordance with your desire it is possible to specify the name of other equipment);
-Shooting parameters (endurance, a diaphragm, a photosensitivity, etc.);
-Kind of the animal represented in a picture (is desirable).


SELECTION AND JURY ASSESSMENT OF WORKS
Preliminary selection and assessment of works is spent during all term of reception of works. Preliminary selection is spent by experts. They are specially invited specialist in photography. Each expert has the right to vote for unlimited quantity of photos. There is a semifinal selection of works on the sum of the voices received from experts.

On occasion at occurrence of questions on definite works the administration can invite in addition experts for an expert estimation of conditions of shooting and postprocessing degree.

The following stage represents distant work of the jury which are looking through all works which have been selected by experts in a semi-final, and vote for them. In case at least one of judges has voted for work, it gets on final session of jury in a corresponding nomination.

After reception of originals of photos, check of authenticity of works and their conformity to competitive requirements, organizers print the pictures for the final session of jury. The size of prints will be equal. Pictures also will be shown on the special monitor. All judges work simultaneously. The quantity of estimated juries of works isn't limited and depends on the general level of the works participating in competition and the past preliminary stages of selection.


SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Total number of the photos sent by the author on competition, can’t be more than 20. In a nomination "Landscape" - no more than 5 photos. No image may be entered in more than one nomination.

Photos must be get in last three years.

In case the photo is made by a digital camera without the demountable technics, the quantity of pixels of a matrix of the camera should be not less than 8 million (8 Mpix).

The photographers participating in youth nomination, have no right to participate in others.

EDITING OF IMAGES BY GRAPHIC EDITORS
Image cropping, but no more than on 50 % from the original area is supposed. Editing of images in any graphic editor is supposed. Any editing of the image contribute to it truthful is supposed.


DISQUALIFICATION
Work isn't accepted to participation in competition "Golden Turtle", if
• work doesn't correspond to the requirements specified in different points of the present Rules;
• organizers will suspect that the picture has been made by means of cruel and unethical methods of the reference with animals;
• use of obscene words in the description of picture;
• the shot represents compilation from several shots;
• frame was made in a zoo or other similar establishments (except for a nomination "Man and the nature");
• images that have been awarded in any national or international competition at the time of entry.
House pupils (cats, dogs, mice, rabbits, sheep, horses, etc.) aren't representatives of the wild nature, therefore their images aren't accepted for participation in competition.
Organizers of competition reserve the right not to accept to participation the works which do not meet the guidelines of the competition and a technological level, without assigning any reasons.


COPYRIGHT
The photographer must be the sole author and owner of the copyright of all submitted pictures. By participating in this competition, the photographer agrees that his/her pictures may be used, free of charge, by "Golden Turtle", in exhibitions and publications of the organizers and in any purposes connected with carrying out of the competition.

Organizers of competition have the right:

• inclusion within the Website of competition "Golden Turtle" and official groups in social networks;
• to give in unpacked or a digital form of work for estimation of jury;
• to use works of finalists in unpacked or a digital form at competition exhibitions "Golden Turtle";
• to use works of finalists in any printing and electronic mass-media for informing of the public on carrying out of competition and its results;
• to use works of finalists for preparation of photo albums, information booklets, digital carriers and other production which is accompanying competition and exhibitions and being an integral part of their carrying out;
• to use works of finalists in the future for marketing and promotional purposes of the event devoted to popularization of competition;
• to offer authors different variants of commercial use of their photos.
Founders of competition oblige to specify a name of the author of work if it’s used in any kind.

Any commercial use is possible only by the consent of the author.
The exhibition copies printed at the expense of means of organizers of competition "Golden Turtle" for demonstration at an exhibition, remain with organizers and can be used them within the limits of activity of wildlife fund "FLORANIMAL".
Granting of originals of works automatically is the consent with rules of competition and the above-stated conditions.


ORIGINALS OF WORKS
In case of work hit in a semi-final the author should give a RAW-file, and also specially prepared for the press of the big format the file corresponding to work sent earlier on competition. Term of granting of files – two weeks after reception of the corresponding letter. After letter reception on the electronic address specified at registration, informing on an exit in a semi-final, the author gives to organizers files through the special form which is in a private office of the author.

Are given:

1) RAW files;
2) the images prepared for printing corresponding to following requirements:
Format – JPEG or TIFF;
Definition – 300 dpi;

Work framing should be the same, as in a web-variant presented for participation in competition and estimated by experts and jury.

The name of the file containing the image, should correspond to the work name (for example work "Flying bird", instead of IMG_1274.jpg).

In case of impossibility of preparation of the qualitative image for an exhibition work remove from display, without deleting it from among finalists.

Originals of works will be used in the several purposes:
For prints of photos of juries necessary for work;
For preparation of a total photo album (each author, whose work are presented in a photo album, receive on an album copy);
For preparation of exhibition copies of works;
For preparing archive of finalists of competition «Golden turtle».


TERMS
Photo Competition “Golden Turtle 9”
Photo Competition submission begins on May 31, 2014
Photo Competition submission ends on October 31, 2014
Announcement of results, the beginning of exhibition tour – spring 2015.

Official Website