COMPETITION RULES
- Everyone can be a participant, regardless of being a member or non-member of the association.
- To participate in the association's competitions, the photographer must have credits. Credits can be purchased at our store. If you are a paying member, the member is entitled to send 7 photos per contest, at no additional cost.
- Credits acquired through the annuity will be valid for one year and are not cumulative per contest. If you do not use the 5 credits in the current contest, they cannot be used in the next contest.
- Credits acquired on an individual basis will be valid for one year, and may be used in any contest within the validity period.
- Any credit purchased from the EPA Association, either through the annual fee or separately, is non-refundable.
- The winning images will be included in the award winning photo gallery on the EPA Association website containing the award badge and the name of the author of the photo, as well as wide share on our social networks.
- Images already awarded by the association cannot be re-submitted.
- The registration of images already awarded in other associations is allowed.
- Each winning photo will be published in its original category. The categories can vary between one contest and another and will have their specific rules.
- The association reserves the right to create new contests, rules and categories as needed.
- Only copyrighted photos (photos created by the photographer himself) will be accepted. Photos taken by a team photographer will be automatically excluded from the contest. Photos produced during workshops will not be accepted, even if created by the photographer himself.
- A member of the jury committee can only participate in a contest which is not part of the examining board.
- Photos MUST be resized to 2000 px on the largest side and with 72 DPI.
- Photos cannot contain the photographer's logo. The author is responsible for the right to use the images. PHOTOS WITH LOGO WILL BE DISCLAIMED AND REMOVED FROM THE COMPETITION AUTOMATICALLY AND WITHOUT NOTICE. DISQUALIFIED PHOTOS WILL NOT BE REFUNDED.
- The responsibility for having the Image Usage Right rests with the participating photographer. If the person portrayed the photographer legally for improper use of his image, the EPA Association is exempt from any future judicial or extra judicial charges for an unlimited time.
- In the event of a complaint about a plagiarized image (or very similar to that of another photographer), the image will undergo a thorough analysis by those responsible for the association and may be disqualified from the contests if they perceive a lack of originality in the material created.
- Color, black and white and edited photos can be submitted (depending on the category. Read each category rule).
- The judges will evaluate the photos taking into account the originality, the composition, the creativity, the direction, the light, the technique, the artistic expressions, the message transmitted and or the visual impact presented in the image.
- The judges will evaluate the works submitted without the author's knowledge, increasing the impartiality of the judgment.
- The member (associate) when signing up for the association and uploading his images, fully agrees with all the rules of the regulation, our Privacy Policy, the rules of the competitions and the categories he chose to participate.
ENTRY GUIDELINES:
Entry must not violate or infringe any third-party copyright, trademark, trade dress, or other proprietary right of any entity or person (living or deceased), including but not limited to rights of privacy, publicity or portrayal in a false light.
Entry must not make reference to any commercial/corporate advertising, including but not limited to corporate logos, brand names, slogans, political, or religious statements, or be otherwiseobjectionable, as determined in Sponsor/Administrator's sole discretion.
Any Entry deemed inappropriate or unsuitable, in Sponsor’s/Epa’sole discretion, will be disqualified and removed from the competition.
Entry must not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
Entry cannot defame, misrepresent or contain disparaging remarks about Sponsor/EPA or any other entity associated with the Contest, or their respective products and services, or other people, products or companies.
Scores:
Supreme award (100 points)
Perfect photo.
Platinum award (95-99 points)
Outstanding photo. Approaching the highest level of imagination, creativity and technique.
Gold Award (90-94 points)
Excellent Photo. Exhibiting outstanding skills in all areas and originality.
Silver Award (85 - 89 points)
Above Average photo. Excellent use of imagination, skill and technique.
Bronze Award (80 - 84 points)
Standard Practice photo. Above average skill and technique in most areas.
No award (79 points or less)
Below Standard photo. Good saleable work consistent with standard professional practice.
EPA Association AWARDS:
The main objective of the program is to continuously encourage, teach and motivate photographers to remain committed to their craft.
FIRST PLACE: is awarded to the photographer who obtains the most points in a competition. The points will be the sum of all scores obtained in all photos sent to the contest. For example, if a photographer submits 2 photos to the contest and obtains scores 85 and 88, respectively, he will add up to a total of 173 points, which will be his final score in the rank. The photographer who obtains the highest number of points, in the sum of the scores, will receive 5 credits for the next contest.
Points received in previous competitions will not be considered for these awards.
Credits will only be valid for the next contest, and are not cumulative.
SECOND PLACE: is awarded to the photographer who obtains the second highest number of points in a competition. The photographer who obtains the second highest number of points, in the sum of the scores, will receive 3 credits for the next contest.
Points received in previous competitions will not be considered for these awards.
Credits will only be valid for the next contest, and are not cumulative.
THIRD PLACE: is awarded to the photographer who obtains the third highest number of points in a competition. The photographer who obtains the third highest number of points, in the sum of the scores, will receive 1 credit for the next contest.
Points received in previous competitions will not be considered for these awards.
Credits will only be valid for the next contest, and are not cumulative.
The EPA organizes 4 competitions per year; Two in the first semester and two in the second semester. In each competition, photographers will receive the Excellence Award points, which will be used to define the ranking of the best photographer of the year, the best photographer of the year by category and the best country of the year. After these 4 competitions, the winners will be elected to receive the EPA Association Award trophy, which will be sent 40 days after the end of the competitions. Make sure your address is correct on your profile, otherwise we won't be able to send you your trophy.
The Excellence Award points will be given according to the table below:
* Photos with Bronze badge: 0.5 points;
* Photos with Silver badge: 1 points;
* Photos with Gold badge: 1.5 points;
* Photos with Platinum badge: 2 points;
* Photos with Supreme badge: 3 points;
The Best of EPA Award is limited to the top three photographers who achieve the most points overall (not by category) in all competitions and will receive a trophy.
The trophies will be delivered in February of the following year.
The three best photographer, by category, will receive a special badge at the end of the year.
In addition to the trophy, the member also accumulates Excellence Award points to become a Master of EPA ! For this, the member must accumulate the points according to the table below:
* Associate: 5 points
* Expert: 10 points
* Master: 20 points
* Double Master: 35 points
* Triple Master: 50 points
The points for becoming a Master of EPA is cumulative and does not expire.
Can I share my badges on my website?
You can download your badges from your EPA profile and write your name on it. Also, you can copy the html code on your profile and share it on your website if you wish.
How many photos can I submit?
You can send as many photos as you want.
Can purchased credits be refunded?
No. However, you can use it in any competition within one year from the date of purchase of the credits.
How to participate?
Login or create a new account in order to purchase your credits. Once the registration process is completed, just follow the instructions to upload your photos.
Should I watermark my images?
No. If you do so, your watermarked photo will be removed from the competition. We will appropriately credit all winning photographers.
Will my images be sold?
No. You retain copyright to your photograph and the Sponsors may not sell your photos. All entries may be posted online so that viewers may view all competing entries. And winning entries may be used in connection with the competition and promotion of the competition for a period of 24 months without any notice but the credits will be given to all photographers owning the photo.
EPA Association
We at the EPA - Expression Photography Awards are committed to safeguarding your privacy. The purpose of this document is to clarify what information is collected from the users of our website https://www.epaassociation.com/ and respective services, and how this data is handled and used.
To offer our services, the EPA (meaning Expression Photography Awards), through its website collects data and information from the photography professional, aiming, above all, to provide an increasingly better experience for our associate members. EPA recognizes that the privacy of your data is very important, so we take all possible measures to protect it. Accordingly, the Privacy Policy (“Policy”) aims to inform you how your information and data will be collected, used, shared and stored through our website and the respective services offered.
This document was written in a simple and accessible way, precisely so that you can read and understand the way we use your data to offer you a safe and comfortable experience when using the services we offer you.
The acceptance of our Privacy Policy will be made when you register on our platform to enjoy our services. This will indicate that you are aware of and in full agreement with how we will use your information and data.
In case of disagreement with our policy, do not continue with registration, just simply withdraw the application. Please give your feedback for us to develop, we are more than happy to take your concerns into consideration.
This Privacy Policy is divided as follows to facilitate its understanding of:
Data collection
The use of your personal data
Data sharing
Disconnecting a user (EPA member) / deleting personal information
Changes to the Privacy Policy
Applicable law
Any doubts regarding our privacy policy can be clarified by contacting us at hello@epaassociation.com
About data collection
Information provided by you - We collect personally identifiable information - such as name, phone, email, and website - by completing electronic forms on our website. Eventually, the request for some information can be made through direct contact of the EPA team with users via email or phone.
Site navigation information - When you visit our site, a 'cookie' is inserted in your browser using the Google Analytics software, to identify how many times you return to our address. Information such as IP address, geographic location, source of reference, type of browser, duration of visit and pages visited are collected.
Contact history - Here at EPA we store information about all the registrations already made with our users, such as content downloaded from our pages and interactions via e-mail.
Data generated when using our services - If you use any of our services, we will also collect other information from you. In this case, we will collect contact details such as your name, email and phone number, data such as country, city, and state where the associate member works most often.
Images on Instagram, YouTube, and website- When we publish an authorial photo (on Instagram) taken by a certain associate member, we will inform the name of the author and his country of origin. The author is responsible for and authorizes EPA for the right to use the image of the photos sent to EPA, published on the website, YouTube and on Instagram according to the association's internal regulations. Each member's gallery is identified by the member's artistic name respectively.
About the use of your personal data
All the data we collect is used to provide our services, and it is worth remembering, we highly appreciate your privacy. For this reason, all data and information about you are treated as confidential, and we will only use it for the purposes described and authorized by you, mainly so that you can fully use our services, publicize your portfolio, always aiming to improve your experience as an EPA user. In addition, your data can also be used to create new services, products, and features that can always benefit you.
In order to provide our services, we will cross-check the data we collect with others we have about the same holder in our databases and thus we will always aim to bring the associated member a special experience with us.
Eventually, we may use data for purposes not provided for in this privacy policy, but these will be within your legitimate expectations. Any use of your data for purposes that do not comply with this prerogative will be done with your prior authorization.
In addition to the above, we will use your data for the following purposes:
Your e-mail is used for the operation of sending the material or information you requested to the EPA team. It can also be used to send Newsletters, always related to association matters. The e-mail will also be used to communicate the launch of new materials or new products from EPA and partnerships. However, the user can cancel the subscription at any time.
The download data may be disclosed as research and statistics, with no personal information being disclosed openly unless explicitly authorized.
Employees of the EPA team will eventually be able to contact you via email or phone to do research or present products, services, news, and new partners.
For the user (associate member) to enjoy the EPA quality we will always be working on the items listed below and will use their registration to:
We send whenever necessary messages regarding support or service, such as alerts, notifications, and updates from our platform;
We communicate with you about products, services, promotions, partnerships, news, exclusive content in the area of knowledge, updates, events, competitions, new partners and other subjects that you may be interested in;
Conduct targeted advertising according to your tastes and interests;
Customize the service to suit your tastes and interests more and more;
For any purpose that you authorize at the time of data collection;
Comply with legal obligations.
EPA reserves the right to monitor the entire platform, mainly to ensure that the rules described in our regulation are being observed, or that there is no violation or abuse of applicable laws. Therefore, EPA reserves the right to exclude a particular member (user), regardless of the type, if this Policy is not respected.
About the use of your personal data:
Only EPA employees and the judges of each photo contest competition will be able to see your personal information, and among these, only those with the necessary authorization. Eventually, if the insertion of your information occurs in actions created via partnerships, the partners explicitly identified will also have access to the information. No personal data may be publicly disclosed.
All your data is confidential and your use must always be in compliance with this Policy. EPA will use reasonable efforts to ensure the security of our systems and your data.
All your information will be, whenever possible, encrypted, in case they do not prevent its use by the EPA. At any time you can request a copy of your data stored in our database. We will maintain data and information only until such time as is necessary or relevant for the purposes described in this Policy, or in the case of periods predetermined by law, or until such time as is necessary for the maintenance of EPA's legitimate interests.
EPA considers your privacy to be extremely important and will do everything in its power to protect it. However, we cannot completely guarantee that all data, images of your authorship and information about you on our platform will be free from unauthorized access. The user undertakes to notify the EPA immediately, through secure means, regarding any unauthorized use of their data, as well as unauthorized access by third parties to this policy.
About data sharing:
As an online platform, EPA will be able to operate together with other companies in a wide range of activities, including providing the products and services of advertisers, sponsors, and business partners. Accordingly, we reserve the right to share your information, including registration and interest data, with our partners and advertisers, whenever possible, anonymously, in order to preserve your privacy. You hereby expressly authorize such shares.
The EPA allows other companies, partners and ad networks to advertise on our platform using different technologies. Therefore, you may be able to directly receive ads, content, and links displayed in a personalized way, according to your interests and behavior on our platform or other services with which you interact. To that end, data can be shared between EPA and these other companies or partners. You hereby expressly authorize such shares.
However, EPA is not responsible for the acts, advertisements, and content generated by our business partners and ad networks, and this policy does not apply to them, as the EPA does not control them.
All data, information, and content about you can be considered active in the case of negotiations in which EPA is part of. Therefore, we reserve the right to include your data among the company's assets if it is to be sold, acquired or has its capital involved in a merger with another company. By means of this Policy, you agree and are aware of this possibility.
EPA reserves the right to provide your data and information about you, including your interactions, if legally required to do so, which is necessary for the company to comply with national laws, or if you expressly authorize it.
About disconnecting a user (EPA member) / deleting personal information
You can choose to no longer receive any type of email from EPA. Request this procedure or your disconnection from the EPA through the email: hello@epaassociation.com
When requesting your termination from the EPA (the annual fee will not be refunded). We will review your termination request, and then your member profile will be automatically deleted from our database.
It is important to mention that when filling in any form again, the re-insertion of your e-mail to the EPA list will be characterized. Therefore, the cancellation request must be made again if it is in your interest.
All collected data will be deleted from our servers (database) when you request it or when it is no longer necessary or relevant to offer you our services, unless there is any other reason for its maintenance, such as a legal obligation to retention of data or the need to preserve it to safeguard EPA rights. To change your personal information or delete it from our database, just send an email to expressionphotographyawards@gmail.com
Changes to the Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may undergo updates. Therefore, we recommend visiting this page periodically so that you are aware of the changes. If relevant changes are made that give rise to new authorizations from you, we will publish a new Privacy Policy.
Before using information for purposes other than those defined in this Privacy Policy, we will ask for your prior authorization.