Rules & Regulations

2010 FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year Awards

Aims

The aim of the competition is to help promote the photographic profession and to raise the level of professional standards. It is also intended to give just recognition to those who work in this sector according to the highest levels of quality and professionalism. The competition is a non-profit event and all fees collected will be used to promote the FEP and the FEP member associations.
Entrants

For the first three years, the "FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year Awards" will be open to all professional photographers who are registered and resident in a European country, with no discrimination of sex, race, religion, nationality or ethnicity. After 2012, it will be open only to members of member organisations of the FEP.

Entrants who are member of a FEP member association will have to nominate the association of which they are member. Entrants, by accepting these rules, declare that they are registered professional photographers, self employed or employee, earning a living as a maker of still images. The FEP reserves the right to control and confirm these declarations before they present any award.

Entrants certify that the entire process of production and post-production of any photographs submitted has been carried out by the entrant or under his/her direction. It is not possible to submit two images of the same subject, unless the process of post-production results in two completely different images. Images not considered admissible may be disqualified at the discretion of the jury.
Categories

There are six categories plus one within the competition:

• Weddings (which will include traditional as well as modern and experimental wedding pictures)

• Portraits (conventional, unconventional, including nudes)

• Commercial (advertising, fashion, food, architecture, corporate etc.)

• Reportage (including social, press & travel reportage)

• Landscape ( including urban landscape, nature, wildlife).

• Illustrative (Including Pictorial Images)

There is also an INTERNATIONAL SECTION , OPEN TO INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS NOT RESIDENT IN EUROPE ( which will include every kind of pictures).
Awards

8 awards will be presented:

• FEP European Golden Camera 2010 for wedding pictures .

• FEP European Golden Camera 2010 for portrait pictures.

• FEP European Golden Camera 2010 for commercial pictures.

• FEP European Golden Camera 2010 for photo-reportage pictures.

• FEP European Golden Camera 2010 for landscape pictures.

• FEP European Golden Camera 2010 for illustrative pictures

• The overall FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year 2010

• FEP Golden Camera 2010 for International Photographers

How to enter the competition

The competition is totally Web based; the signup, hosting and the judging will all be carried out online.

To enter a session, photographers will have to complete an entry form on line by visiting www.europeanphotographers.eu and entering their images, approx. 2400 pixels at the longest side, saved as JPG (quality 10), maximum 2 MB per file.. Entrants must submit a set of 3 images of the same category. They may enter only one set of 3 images per category in each of the 6 categories, (18 images
maximuml). The images must be anonymous. Next closing date for receipt of entries is July 15th 2010, at 24.00 h.

In the case of images pertinent to advertising campaigns, they must not contain graphic elements, which are not part of the exposure itself. The images must all have been produced in the last 2 years..

Entrants certify that the entire process of production and post-production of any photographs submitted has been carried out by the entrant or under his/her direction. It is not possible to submit two images of the same subject, unless the process of post-production results in two completely different images. Images not considered admissible may be disqualified at the discretion of the jury.

Entry Fees

For the photographers who are members of the member organisations of the FEP an entry fee of 10 Euro for each series of 3 images is requested. For all other European photographers entering the competition, and for international photographers not resident in Europe,. an entry fee of 30 Euro is requested for each series of 3 images.

The winning pictures will be printed by Epson and exhibited at the Epson stand in the Photokina Exhibition 2010. The exhibition will then travel throughout major European countries.

Prizes

Each and all entered images will be evaluated by the international FEP jury with an online vote and will be awarded a score expressed in points out of 100. The author of an image who obtains a score of 70/100 will be presented with a Bronze Award Certificate, those obtaining a score of 80/100 will be presented with a Silver Award Certificate and finally those obtaining a score of 90/100 will be presented with a Gold Award Certificate by the FEP. The images and names of the photographers whose images obtain awards will also be published on the official FEP Web Site.

The ranking of the entrants (international category included) will be gained by adding the scores achieved by the 3 images submitted. The top 8 photographers in the ranking in each category will be claimed as "finalist", and the top of the ranking will be claimed as "the winner".

From the 6 European category winners the jury will then select an Overall Winner, who will be presented as the “FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year”.

The winners will be awarded at a special ceremony at the Epson stand in Photokina, Cologne, Germany, on September 22nd next. The awards will consist of certificates and a GOLDEN CAMERA award. The winners may use the title “Golden Camera winners” and “ FEP European Photographers of the Year”. Authors who gain second and third position IN EACH CATEGORY will be presented with a certificate and an official mention on the FEP Web Site. Epson will print the top 3 images per category for inclusion at the annual award ceremony.

All participants will receive the official results by e-mail.

Rights & Responsibilities

All rights relative to the images entered in the competition remain property of their owners. The competition's organisers reserve the right to reproduce images entered for the purposes of promoting FEP and its events or for educational reasons only, worldwide.

It is the responsibility of the entrants to obtain the necessary permits for all photographs entered, including model releases and permission of copyright holders (where an image is not the property of the photographer), in order to allow their participation in the competition and possible publication, within the limits described in the paragraph above.

The organisers of the competition and the chairman of the judging commission will interpret the correct application of these rules and will rule on any situations not expressly covered by them. The decision of the jury is final. However constructive criticism, suggestions and comments are welcome. The participants' personal information will be for internal organisational use only, in full respect of national and international privacy laws. All participants will receive the official results by e-mail.
Composition of the International Jury

- The judging panel will include 6 Master QEP photographers and qualified international experts, and a Chairman, nominated by the FEP board of Directors. Judgement will be made online.

- The names of the judges and the Chairman’ will be announced on the FEP Web Site before the competition.

Jury functions

The final score per each photograph is assigned through the sum of the expressed votes. The chairman of the jury, in co-operation with the FEP President, will keep track of the voting. He may also call on the jury to re-examine an image if he feels it necessary or if there is great difference in the scores awarded.

The FEP CEO will assist the chairman, record the scores and sign the official jury report, which will also be signed by the Chairman. If the score obtained for an image is close to the threshold of the awards (79 or 89 points), it will be left aside and voted on again at the end of the session. The outcome of this second vote will be considered final.

Judgement Criteria

The principal judgement criteria which the jury will award points for are: visual impact, composition, originality, technique, and creativity, ability to communicate a message, a feeling and an emotion.

Epson officially supports the "FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year Awards". Epson has the right to use the photos for promotional purposes for one year, publishing the name of the author and the event together with the winning images.