National Geographic Photo Contest 2015

About 

National Geographic Photo Contest invites online entries for their National Geographic Photo Contest 2015.

The contest is open for individuals who have reached the age of an adulthood as per the rules of their respective countries.

Conducted by

National Geographic

Eligibility Criteria

Age: The participants must be an adult as per the rules of their respective nations.

Nationality: The contest is open for participants of all nationalities except Cuba, Iran, New Jersey, North Korea, Sudan or Syria.

Application Mode and Process

Interested candidates have to submit their entries on the official website. The categories for entries are:

• People
• Places
• Nature

There is no limit on the number of entries per person

Specifications of the Photograph

The submitted photograph must comply with the following criteria:

• Format: The image need to be in digital format and must have .JPG or .JPEG format.
• Scanned images of negatives, transcripts or photographic prints are acceptable while submission of Print or film submission is not allowed.
• Size: The maximum size of the image should be less than 20 MB.
• Resolution: 1600 pixels wide and tall are acceptable.
• Time Duration: The photograph must not be taken prior to two years of the date of entry to the competition and should not have won any photo contest of National Geographic.
• Editing: Minor cropping, dodging, burning or color enhancements are acceptable along with stitched panoramas and High Dynamic Range images.
• Caption: The image being submitted need to have a caption that describes the circumstances under which the picture was taken.
• Original Work: The submitted image need to be the original work of the participant and any conflict arising because of any copyright etc. will be the sole responsibility of the participant.
• Not allowed: The image should not have watermark on it and should also not contain obscene, sexually explicit, objectionable or inappropriate content.
• Participation Fee: Each entry must be submitted with a participation fee of US$ 15.

Selection Process

The selection of the winners will be done by a judging panel consisting of photographic experts. The details of the selection process are as follow:

Judging Process: The process of judging will consists of three rounds of evaluation.

Round One: Each judge will select ten entries from all eligible entries received. Each entry will be evaluated and marked on the following bases:

• Creativity 34%
• Photographic quality 34%
• Genuineness and authenticity of the content 32%

Round Two: The entries selected in Round One will be judged collectively by complete panel and on the basis of Judging Criteria, the winner for each category will be finalized.

• Round Three: The Judges will select a Grand Prize Winner from among the First Place Winners based on the Judging Criteria

Notification to Winners: Winners will be chosen in December and will be notified by e-mail. Decisions of the Judges are final and binding

Result: The result of the contest will be declared on or about January 10, 2016 on the official website

Reward

• A first-place winner will be selected for each category:
  • People
  • Places
  • Nature
• The First Place Winner in each Category will receive US$2,500 and their winning photograph will be published in National Geographic magazine

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

One Grand Prize Winner will receive, in addition to the First Place prize:

• US$7,500
• A trip to the District of Columbia, USA from January 13 to January 15, 2016 to participate in the National Geographic Photography Seminar
• Trip includes
  • round-trip coach class air transportation between a major airport near Winner’s home and Washington, DC
  • three (3) nights’ hotel accommodations in Washington, DC
  • a behind-the-scenes tour of National Geographic headquarters

Last date to apply

November 16, 2015