2014 Photo Contest Rules

1. The entrant's submission of material to this contest indicates s/he confirms acceptance of all the contest rules and regulations.
2. All entries must be received by June 30, 2014 at 6pm EST.

Eligibility

3. All entries must relate to meaningful travel.
4. All submissions must be previously unpublished. Any entry that has previously won a competition with a prize value of over $200, or been published other than on a personal web page, or sold to any party for reproduction, cannot be entered.
5. The contest is open to all Canadian residents and international Verge subscribers (magazine digital edition—NOT email newsletter subscribers). Entrants who are not current subscribers may subscribe at the time they enter the contest. Nationals of developing countries who are also resident in a developing country can be exempted from the subscription requirement upon request and approval by Verge Magazine (email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Directors and employees of Verge Magazine and any of the sponsoring companies or affiliated companies are not eligible to enter.
6. Only the creator of an image has the right to submit it. All entrants must ensure that they own the copyright. Prizes will be awarded to the entrants.
7. Participants may submit up to five entries to each category. All additional entries will be disqualified.
   
   

   Format

    
8. All entries must be submitted in digital form, as .jpg files, via the form on the Verge Magazine website (here).
9. The original, uninterpolated image size must be a minimum of 1500 x 2100 pixels or 3.1 megapixels.
10. You may use digital adjustments to optimize digital images. The following adjustments are allowed: levels, curves, brightness, contrast, shadow and highlight levels, saturation, sharpening and noise reduction, selected burning or shading. Any other techniques or filters, including combinations of images and compositional changes, are not acceptable.
11. Photographic entries must be accompanied by a title, a caption summarizing your entry, and a description of no longer than 200 words.
12. Electronic images must be labelled as per the instructions below (in rule #13).  Failure to name your file appropriately will result in disqualification.
13. Image files must be labelled with the photographer's name, category number(1-3) and submission number (1-5) as follows: category#-LASTNAME-INITIALS-submission#. For example, if Jane Courtney Smith submits two images in category 3, her image file names should be: 3-SMITH-JC-1.jpg and 3-SMITH-JC-2.jpg.
    
    

    Rights

14. Entrants’ names and submissions may be exhibited at selected venues, published in a future issue of Verge Magazine and published on the Verge Magazine website. Verge Magazine reserves the non-exclusive right to publish any entry and/or use any entry in related promotional material and related Verge Magazine products.
15. All copyright and title to all submissions remains with the entrant in its entirety. However, the entrant grants to organizers and the competition sponsors non-exclusive non-transferable rights to reproduction and exhibition of submissions. These rights include but are not limited to the following intended uses: publishing submissions in Verge Magazine in print and electronic form, exhibiting mounted versions of shortlisted images at venues across Canada and the United States including the Go Global Expos, use of the submission for contest promotional purposes, the right to use the entrant’s name in a credit alongside the submission. Images that are mounted for exhibition (maximum of one print per shortlisted image) may be auctioned off at a later date, and any proceeds will support this contest.
16. By submitting images for consideration, the entrant confirms that s/he is the creator and owns all rights to any submission entered in this contest. Accordingly, the entrant hereby agrees to compensate Verge Magazine fully regarding any claims arising out of the use of the submission(s).
17. The entrant consents to the entry of his/her submission and agrees to abide by the contest rules.
    
    

    Judging

18. Short-listed entries will be selected by a panel of judges appointed by Verge Magazine. Short-listed entrants will be notified by telephone or email by August 31, 2014.
19. The winning submissions in each category will be selected by a panel of judges appointed by Verge Magazine. Decision of the judges is final; no correspondence will be entered into. All winners will be notified by telephone or email on or before March 1, 2015.
    
    

    Prizes

20. Before being awarded a prize, short-listed entrants will be required to sign a statement declaring that (a) the photograph submitted is his/her original work and (b) the photograph has not been previously sold or published.
21. Prizes must be accepted as awarded and no alternative will be given.

Further Information