This year’s 2016 Grand Prize Winner will receive a $1000. Other prizes will be awarded in each category, see listed below.
The contest will run until From May 15 – July 15 2016.

If you are interested in entering, please read these rules very carefully as there is a “Second Chance Submission” opportunity, as well as failing to follow the rules may result in disqualification.

Main Categories:- 

Portraits
Landscape / Cityscape/ Nature / Astrophotography
Sports / Action
Animals / Pets
Abstract / Textures
Macro
Lifestyle / Street Photography

All Winners & Honorable Mentions will receive a PDF Certificate of their Achievement 

Grand Prize Winner: $1000 Cash!!

Each Category Winner Will Receive:

1st Place- $300 Gift Card to Michael The Maven’s Online Store
2nd Place- Think Tank Camera Bag, Most will Receive Suburban Disguise 30, Landscape and Animals Division will Receive: UltraLight Sprint 16L backpack (from MindShift Gear)
3rd Place Winners – (The Incredible) Cheetah Stand C8 (Seriously THE BEST light stands in Michael’s Opinion)
4th Place Winners- Paintballer Pro V2.0 (4 years in the making, never before released)
5th Place Winners- Michael’s Business Crash Course
6th Place Winners- Michael’s Lighting Crash Course
7th Place Winners- Maven Adapter or $65 Coupon to Michael’s Store
8th Place Winners- TBD
9th Place Winners- TBD
10th Place WInners- TBD

(Because this is an International Contest, Michael reserves the right to convert the value of each prize into an online gift card for his store in the event shipping costs, as well as import costs to the winners would be overly burdensome. Winners will have 2 weeks to claim their prize once posted on the blog. We will also reach out to each winner at their given email directly. If we do not receive an answer after 2 weeks the prize will be considered forfeited.)

HOW TO ENTER 

A. –> Entries must be submitted digitally as a JPEG image less than 5MB in size each by email to [email protected]. All other formats (RAW, TIFF, PNG, ETC) will be disqualified. Watermarks are fine, but are preferred on the edge of the image so we can clearly see your work. We recommend resizing and exporting for web instead of sending straight out of the camera images which can be very large.

B. Be absolutely sure to include the Category and Your Name in the Subject Header, as well as the re-name of the file itself, so we know it is yours, with an image number: Example: ‘Macro-2016-Michael-Andrew-4562.jpg”- (Please Do not use weird symbols like #$%^&(*), – This helps us keep track of each entry and will greatly help and speed up the judging process.

C. Send your “Second Chance Submissions” separately for each category, and please include at least 1 social media link to verify. (See Second Chance Entries Below)

Rules (Rules are subject to change) – READ THIS VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING! I realize there is a lot of info here, but it should answer nearly all of your questions. If you have more questions, please submit them below in the comments box and I’ll do my best to answer. All rules and prizes are subject to change at discretion of Michael The Maven and if so will be posted as updates here. Michael tries very hard to run a fair contest.

1. There are no entry fees, however this is a family friendly website and we reserve the right to disqualify any entry for any reason. This includes but is not limited to any image which may be deemed as inappropriate, offensive, pornographic, poor taste, cruel to animals, advertising, violent, spam etc. We are looking for fantastic imagery that inspires all of us to get out and shoot. 

2. If you are under 18, you must obtain your parents permission before entering. By entering the contest it is assumed you have your parents permission. We hope to have a youth contest later this year as well. If you enter without permission, we cannot accept your entry.

3. Entrants may submit up to 1 photograph in each of the 7 categories. Each of the images need to have been taken sometime during 2016. This is an honor rule (meaning we expect you to play fair on this), but if we have evidence to the contrary, we will have to disqualify the entry.

4. Once your images(s) are submitted, these are your final entries. Contestants sending in multiple images, or changing submissions are disqualified unless it is a Second Chance Submission. You should receive a confirmation email after submitting you first images. You will only get one notice. Note; do not wait until the last day, it crashed our email account last time. 😉 

5. “Second Chance Submissions” – Participants may enter an additional image in each category, if they actively promote the contest on their social media. The recognized hashtag for this years contest is #mavenphotocontest2016 – To be eligible participants must include the contest link of this contest page and include the hashtag on the post. The posts may be made on any social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube or even a blog post. If you are posting a blog article or other social media post that doesn’t recognize hashtags, please include the link in the comments below or with your submissions.

6. Contest is open to all ranges of experience of photography, from beginners to amateurs, semi-pro or even professionals, however, we ask that semi pro and professional photographers do not submit images for the contest in the category in which they specialize. For example, if you are a wedding or portrait photographer, you may submit images in any category but ‘Portraits’. This is also an honor rule, please be fair. We had a number of ‘pros’ enter into the category of their specialty last time and they were disqualified in the late stages of judging. 

7. Images which have been submitted into other contests are not eligible. 

8. By submitting your images, you give Michael The Maven and its representatives, permission to reproduce & show on websites, social media or other materials for promotional purposes with respect to the contest. Copyright remains property of photographer of course. 

9. We reserve the right to expand the number of winners and make adjustments to the rules and prizes at our discretion. 

10. You can use any type of camera, dSLR, Point and Shoot, Cell Phone etc. (Photoshopping is allowed, HDR is allowed, presets/actions are allowed, very light compositing is ok, heavy compositing is NOT (this is where many images and components are assembled together into one image.) It should pretty much more or less look like a single image. 

121 There will be an initial selection process by Michael, which will narrow contestants down to 20 or 25 per category. The Final round of voting will be done by our TBA judges, & Michael.

13. Cheating – Unfortunately, each year we have cheating in various ways. Cheating will not be tolerated and in the event we have sufficient evidence, we will notify the proper copyright owners, provide them with all of the information we have and even publish these cheating attempts. Winners may be asked to verify they are the original creators of the image by submitting the full size resolution image as it was taken. We ask that everyone please respect the rules, as it is a tremendous amount of work to organize these contests and cheating ruins it for everyone.

Judging- Most of the Pre-Judging will be determined by Michael. Semi-Finalist Judging will be determined by a Panel of Judges who will rank in order their favorite images per category. Each rank has a point weight and each images total scores are then tallied. In the event of a tie (and is has happened several times), visitors votes are considered the tie breaker.

Judges- Michael Andrew (AKA Michael the Maven), Remaining judges to be determined and will be added here.

If you have questions, please ask below in the comments box and I will update with answers. 

Even if you are not interested in entering, please help me get the word out because I do all of the marketing for this on my own, sometimes people would love to enter and just don’t know about it. 

Thank you for all of your support!

This year’s 2016 Grand Prize Winner will receive a $1000. Other prizes will be awarded in each category, see listed below.
The contest will run until From May 15 – July 15 2016.

If you are interested in entering, please read these rules very carefully as there is a “Second Chance Submission” opportunity, as well as failing to follow the rules may result in disqualification.

Main Categories:- 

Portraits
Landscape / Cityscape/ Nature / Astrophotography
Sports / Action
Animals / Pets
Abstract / Textures
Macro
Lifestyle / Street Photography

All Winners & Honorable Mentions will receive a PDF Certificate of their Achievement 

Grand Prize Winner: $1000 Cash!!

Each Category Winner Will Receive:

1st Place- $300 Gift Card to Michael The Maven’s Online Store
2nd Place- Think Tank Camera Bag, Most will Receive Suburban Disguise 30, Landscape and Animals Division will Receive: UltraLight Sprint 16L backpack (from MindShift Gear)
3rd Place Winners – (The Incredible) Cheetah Stand C8 (Seriously THE BEST light stands in Michael’s Opinion)
4th Place Winners- Paintballer Pro V2.0 (4 years in the making, never before released)
5th Place Winners- Michael’s Business Crash Course
6th Place Winners- Michael’s Lighting Crash Course
7th Place Winners- Maven Adapter or $65 Coupon to Michael’s Store
8th Place Winners- TBD
9th Place Winners- TBD
10th Place WInners- TBD

(Because this is an International Contest, Michael reserves the right to convert the value of each prize into an online gift card for his store in the event shipping costs, as well as import costs to the winners would be overly burdensome. Winners will have 2 weeks to claim their prize once posted on the blog. We will also reach out to each winner at their given email directly. If we do not receive an answer after 2 weeks the prize will be considered forfeited.)

HOW TO ENTER 

A. –> Entries must be submitted digitally as a JPEG image less than 5MB in size each by email to [email protected]. All other formats (RAW, TIFF, PNG, ETC) will be disqualified. Watermarks are fine, but are preferred on the edge of the image so we can clearly see your work. We recommend resizing and exporting for web instead of sending straight out of the camera images which can be very large.

B. Be absolutely sure to include the Category and Your Name in the Subject Header, as well as the re-name of the file itself, so we know it is yours, with an image number: Example: ‘Macro-2016-Michael-Andrew-4562.jpg”- (Please Do not use weird symbols like #$%^&(*), – This helps us keep track of each entry and will greatly help and speed up the judging process.

C. Send your “Second Chance Submissions” separately for each category, and please include at least 1 social media link to verify. (See Second Chance Entries Below)

Rules (Rules are subject to change) – READ THIS VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING! I realize there is a lot of info here, but it should answer nearly all of your questions. If you have more questions, please submit them below in the comments box and I’ll do my best to answer. All rules and prizes are subject to change at discretion of Michael The Maven and if so will be posted as updates here. Michael tries very hard to run a fair contest.

1. There are no entry fees, however this is a family friendly website and we reserve the right to disqualify any entry for any reason. This includes but is not limited to any image which may be deemed as inappropriate, offensive, pornographic, poor taste, cruel to animals, advertising, violent, spam etc. We are looking for fantastic imagery that inspires all of us to get out and shoot. 

2. If you are under 18, you must obtain your parents permission before entering. By entering the contest it is assumed you have your parents permission. We hope to have a youth contest later this year as well. If you enter without permission, we cannot accept your entry.

3. Entrants may submit up to 1 photograph in each of the 7 categories. Each of the images need to have been taken sometime during 2016. This is an honor rule (meaning we expect you to play fair on this), but if we have evidence to the contrary, we will have to disqualify the entry.

4. Once your images(s) are submitted, these are your final entries. Contestants sending in multiple images, or changing submissions are disqualified unless it is a Second Chance Submission. You should receive a confirmation email after submitting you first images. You will only get one notice. Note; do not wait until the last day, it crashed our email account last time. 😉 

5. “Second Chance Submissions” – Participants may enter an additional image in each category, if they actively promote the contest on their social media. The recognized hashtag for this years contest is #mavenphotocontest2016 – To be eligible participants must include the contest link of this contest page and include the hashtag on the post. The posts may be made on any social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube or even a blog post. If you are posting a blog article or other social media post that doesn’t recognize hashtags, please include the link in the comments below or with your submissions.

6. Contest is open to all ranges of experience of photography, from beginners to amateurs, semi-pro or even professionals, however, we ask that semi pro and professional photographers do not submit images for the contest in the category in which they specialize. For example, if you are a wedding or portrait photographer, you may submit images in any category but ‘Portraits’. This is also an honor rule, please be fair. We had a number of ‘pros’ enter into the category of their specialty last time and they were disqualified in the late stages of judging. 

7. Images which have been submitted into other contests are not eligible. 

8. By submitting your images, you give Michael The Maven and its representatives, permission to reproduce & show on websites, social media or other materials for promotional purposes with respect to the contest. Copyright remains property of photographer of course. 

9. We reserve the right to expand the number of winners and make adjustments to the rules and prizes at our discretion. 

10. You can use any type of camera, dSLR, Point and Shoot, Cell Phone etc. (Photoshopping is allowed, HDR is allowed, presets/actions are allowed, very light compositing is ok, heavy compositing is NOT (this is where many images and components are assembled together into one image.) It should pretty much more or less look like a single image. 

121 There will be an initial selection process by Michael, which will narrow contestants down to 20 or 25 per category. The Final round of voting will be done by our TBA judges, & Michael.

13. Cheating – Unfortunately, each year we have cheating in various ways. Cheating will not be tolerated and in the event we have sufficient evidence, we will notify the proper copyright owners, provide them with all of the information we have and even publish these cheating attempts. Winners may be asked to verify they are the original creators of the image by submitting the full size resolution image as it was taken. We ask that everyone please respect the rules, as it is a tremendous amount of work to organize these contests and cheating ruins it for everyone.

Judging- Most of the Pre-Judging will be determined by Michael. Semi-Finalist Judging will be determined by a Panel of Judges who will rank in order their favorite images per category. Each rank has a point weight and each images total scores are then tallied. In the event of a tie (and is has happened several times), visitors votes are considered the tie breaker.

Judges- Michael Andrew (AKA Michael the Maven), Remaining judges to be determined and will be added here.

If you have questions, please ask below in the comments box and I will update with answers. 

Even if you are not interested in entering, please help me get the word out because I do all of the marketing for this on my own, sometimes people would love to enter and just don’t know about it. 

Thank you for all of your support!