Australian Country magazine Photography Competition – Entry Information and Terms
Entry Information and Terms & Conditions
for the Australian Country magazine Photography Competition
This is a competition that seeks to reward photography that captures the positive essence of the Australian Country.
The competition is hosted by Universal Media Co, publishers of Australian Country magazine.
For Photographers, we hope to create an opportunity to be showcased and recognized for narrative Australian photography.
Who can Enter?
Anyone based in Australia. Amateur and Professional Photographers are welcome.
Eligibility
You must have an Australian postal address. For the purposes of determining eligibility, we will use this address. You must not have been an employee or contractor to Universal Media Co since 1st January 2021.
Cost to Enter
Entry is Free
Categories
The categories have been created to give photographers an opportunity to showcase their capacities as image-makers and visual story-tellers.
The categories are:
- Country Vista – Landscapes
- Farm Life – Farming life
- Country Culture – Community events or home past-times
- Face of Country – People
- Country Home – Homes, homesteads and the lifestyles inside
- Recovered Country – Images that tell of success after drought/fire or any other challenge,
- Walk in Nature – Natural landscapes
- Grand Trophy Portfolio Prize – Overall Portfolio Prize
How To Enter
Enter a single image or a portfolio of up to 20 shots in any of our 7 categories.
Images in each category will be assessed on their own merits.
The Grand Trophy is for a portfolio of work i.e., a high standard of visual storytelling in a number of categories. Those in the running for the Grand Trophy will be featured as finalists in Australian Country Magazine progressively during the course of the competition.
Copyright
The entrant must be the creator of all elements in their submitted images, including any post-production.
Entrants retain copyright of their images. The entrant provides Australian Country Magazine a limited-use authorization to publish and distribute their photographs for the sole purpose of promoting the competition. If this happens then images will be credited with the name of the photographer on any such promotion.
Image Submissions
We accept colour, mono, infrared or drone photography, provided your images tell the story of the Australian Country.
Images must have been captured in the last decade i.e., since 1st July 2014.
Images must be JPEG, PNG or TIFF format and should be at least 2500 pixels on the longest side. Image size must be no larger than 10MB.
Remove any watermarks or logos from images. Also remove any unusual characters from your images as they can cause problems e.g., @, ©, # etc.
Images must be photographic in origin. Acceptable adjustments include cropping, sharpness, noise, highlights/shadows, contrast (incl dodging and burning). Cloning of spots, scratches and minor distractions is permitted.
Combination images such as stitched panoramas, focus stacks, and HDR where two images are combined to form a single image are permitted. Other composite images are not.
Third-party content such as stock backgrounds, borders or textures is not allowed.
The organisers reserve the right to request RAW files, and disqualify any image if they feel it lacks realness due to over-manipulation.
The Australian Country magazine Photography Competition supports the safe and legal operation of remotely piloted drones. This means any drone entries must comply with local rules and regulations. Any images suspected of being captured illegally will be disqualified. To be eligible for a prize entrants must be able to provide verifiable EXIF data including position and altitude. We reserve the right to disqualify any image that we suspect was captured illegally.
Awarding of Progressive Finalists and Deadlines
We will draw a finalist every 2 months, as each finalist will be given a Showcase Photo Essay in Australian Country Magazine.
The deadlines are:
- 5th January 2024
- 23rd February 2024
- 27th April 2024
- 29th June 2024
- 24th August 2024
- The 5th October 2024 is the absolute final date for entries into this competition.
Closing Date
The 5th October 2024 is the absolute final date for entries into this competition.
Judging
Judging is based on merit and will be conducted by the Editorial Team for Australian Country Magazine.
The judging panel will include Australian Country Lead Photographer Ken Brass, Australian Country Editor Kirsty McKenzie, and Publisher Universal Media Co Janice Williams.
In the event of a tie for first place in the Grand Trophy, the relevant images will be returned to the judges for an additional round of voting.
The judge’s decision will be final and no further correspondence will be entered into.
Final Announcement
The Final Category Winners and Overall Winner will be awarded on 5th December 2024. Winners will be notified via a statement on our website.
Certificates and the Grand Trophy will be shipped by 7th February 2024.
The winners will be awarded additional winner coverage in Australian Country Vol 28 No 1 which publishes in January 2025.
Promoter
The competition is hosted by Universal Media Co, publishers of Australian Country magazine, Private Bag 154, North Ryde, NSW 2113.
The sponsors of the competition are bound by the Terms and Conditions stated in this document.
