This year’s 2013 Grand Prize Winner will receive a brand new Canon 5D Mark III camera. Other prizes will include credit to Michael’s Store, prizes from B&H Photo, prizes from Joby Products, prizes from Think Tank Photo, amazing canvas prints from CGO Prints, and many more prizes TBA. The contest will run until December 31st, 2013.
Main Categories:-
Portraits –
Landscape / Cityscape/ Nature –
Sports-
Animals-
Abstract / Textures-
Macro-
All Winners will receive a PDF Certificate of their Achievement
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 Ill do my best to answer. All rules are subject to change at discretion of Michael The Maven
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, 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.
3. Entrants may submit up to 2 photographs in each category on the following condition; One image was taken in the last year (From the Period of September 15, 2012 to September 14, 2013 ) and a second image being taken during the duration of the contest submission dates, from September 15, 2013 – December 31st, 2013. The whole idea of the contest is to get everyone out shooting, but I also recognize you may have some great shots taken earlier in the year. Contestants may submit only one image from either of those periods if they choose. 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. No images from last years contest are allowed, and yes I will remember 😉
4. Each Email Entry should have the Category & photographer’s Name in the subject. This helps us keep track of each entry and will greatly help and speed up the process. (Please Do not use weird symbols like #$%^&(*). Dashes are ok. Also, please rename your files to include the category and your name: “Macro-2013-Michael-Andrew-4562.jpg”. I know this sounds like a pain, but it it really, really help us and is much easier to award prizes at the end.
5. Images should be JPG files, no larger than 5MB in file size. RAW, TIFF, GIF, and PNG files are not allowed.
6. Once your images(s) are submitted, these are your final entries. Contestants sending in multiple images, or changing submissions are disqualified. 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. 😉
7. 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 year and they were disqualified in the late stages of judging.
8. Images which have been submitted into other contests are not eligible.
9. 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. We also reserve the right to print your image to inspect image quality if necessary. Copyright remains property of photographer of course.
10. We reserve the right to expand the number of winners and make adjustments to the rules and prizes at our discretion.
11. You can use any type of camera, dSLR, Point and Shoot, Cell Phone etc. (Photoshopping is allowed, HDR is allowed, presets/actions are allowed, 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.
12. 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 judges, & Michael.
HOW TO ENTER
A. –> Entries must be submitted digitally as a JPEG image by email to [email protected]. All other formats (RAW, TIFF, PNG, ETC) will be disqualified. Be absolutely sure to include the Category and Your Name in the Subject. We are not accepting prints this year.
B. —> Very, very important: Remember please submit only one email with Per Category, with the year and Category division in the subject of the email. For example, if you are entering 2 Portrait Images, we would ask that you submit both together, and title the email “2013- Portrait . This allows us to organize submissions and greatly speeds things up.
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 about it. 
I cant wait this year is going to be good
is there a way we can have a rank of beginner and pro?
i have the concepts of a pro photographer but i don’t have the equipment like i shoot with the kit lens and a rebel. Images aren’t as sharp as others.
Great Job! I bought a few of your videos in the past, 50D and 7D plus 2 others.Your teacher and your messages are clear and easy to comprehend. I fact I talked to you as well. a couple years ago and your input was very helpful. Thanks and once again Great Job.
Thank you Michael for your great effort and for this great opportunity. So excited to see the entries and the results.
First time considering this competition. Is this competition opens internationally? So the prize would be offered to international competitors as well? Do we have to somehow be your customer of any of your products before in order to enter the competition?
To clarify, when I name a picture am I using 2012 or 2013. Thanks. I love the idea of this contest.
I think I finally stumbled upon a contest that looks fair and fun! Thanks!
Hi! I’m a professional, but I’d like to enter. I just noticed that one of my sports photos was a finalist last year, which I didn’t realize, so that’s cool.
I just read the rules about how we should only enter photos outside our specialty if we’re pros. I’m concerned that if I go take a photo in one of the other categories where I have no experience, but do a professional job and make a really top-shelf photo, that it will still be disqualified. How will you decide how professional is too professional? I’m a full-time product photographer, but I do sports and portrait photography for fun, and that work is very strong. So will I be disqualified for that work? I just don’t want to go out and make a killer set of animal photos if I’m just going to be disqualified for being too "professional."
Thanks,
Braxton
A couple of questions:
1. If we do not have a usable picture in the last year to submit to a category, can we submit 2 new ones from there current period?
2. For the Sports category, for example, is a father and son playing hockey in the driveway count? How about someone doing a yoga pose? Or does it have to be competitive sports?
i am from india and i want to send birds photographs for competition and i have little bit of doubt , on which section i sould send on animal section or nature section ?this is the first time i am taking part .
Where can I take a glance of previous winners?
Can I upload one image in each category from earlier of the mentioned time or only one image for all category from earlier time.
Thanks
Hi guys! Michael’s assistant Kate here. I’m going to try to answer your questions. @ Arif – One image in each category from earlier in the year and one image in each category from Sep 15th – December 31st. @ Alex – All our previous contests are in the upper righthand corner under "contests". @ Amish – Birds would be animals. @ Denis – Only one picture from later in the year will be allowed. Competitive sports only. @ Braxton – We’re not going to fault you for great images. They just can’t be in a category where you make money. @ Dorothy – It’s 2013. I will fix the mistake. @ Max – The contest is international. No purchase necessary. @ Carrie – The contest is open to ALL skill levels. Even if you just have an iPhone.
I would like to submit a photo to the latest comp but cannot see a link to enter/submit.
actually i have two photos of different category and both images is totally eligible in this contest..so plz tell me can i send you two mail or include both category(portrait and landscape) in one mail.?
are panorama’s allowed under landscapes category?
Are there any definitions of categories and if I put image into "wrong" category, will you move into a more appropriate category i.e. my sheep picture should be animals rather than landscape?
I have a picture of a football player that I want to use under portraits because he is not actually doing any action and it is only of his face. Like he is on the sideline talking to others. Is this ok? Also, can pictures of a play, for example, Romeo and Juliet, be used under portraits?
I am not clear about how many emails can we send. Say, if I wanted to enter in three categories, 2 photos each, that makes 6 photos – 5 mb each, i.e. 30 mb. Some email systems, I think GMail is one of them, has limits on attachment sizes. So, if my entries cannot be sent with a single email, what do I have to do?
Where is the link to submit photo for contest
What is considered semi-pro?
do we have to give a description for each image in the email or just attach the images?
can any one participate from around the world ???
hello sir,
I am sending my entries for the competition in category ‘MACRO’.Please let me know whether I can enter in other categories also.There is a little confusion over this from your T&C.
sincerely yours,
subhash purohit,kolhapur.(M.S.-India)
Is this worldwide or US only?
Thanks.
Great initiative.
Essentially, it means a maximum total of 12 entries, right?
Thanks. Live long and prosper.
I sent 3 emails a week ago but haven’t received a confirmation email. How can I know if the images arrived?
Is there any prize???
Hey guys, Michael’s assistant Kate here. I’m noticing almost ALL of the answers to your questions are covered in the post. Please take a moment a read it over slowly. I just tested our auto responder email and it’s working. If you didn’t get one, you probably didn’t submit correctly. Please try submitting again. Panorama’s are OK to submit. Thank for participating everyone!
Ref para 4 of your rules; image naming, e.g. "Macro-2013-Michael-Andrew-4562.jpg" Does the ‘4562’ represent the image title which is to be inserted in this place?
Is an image of body parts considered as portrait? 🙂
Can i use photos that i took earlier than 2012?
I have a photo that I want to submit, but I am not sure what category it should be submitted to. It might be a landscape or an abstract photo depends on how you look at it. What is going to happen if I submit it to wrong category?
When is the closing date please?
Hello, can I submit one photo which was taken in 2009?
How big has the size to be of the submitted jpeg?
Hi Guys! I’m glad to see so many people interested. I’m noticing again that your questions are answered in the blog post above. I just kindly ask that you take a moment and carefully read it over. Thank you!
HI, I have submitted my entry to [email protected]. Will I get any response back as a confirmation that you have received the entries?
Hi, I am so eager to upload pictures. I want to submit two pictures in animal category. One is shot on 23rd September 2012 and the other on 7th November 2013. So can i submit these photos?
What should be the size of photo.
Hi, I have sent my entries to [email protected]. Will I get any acknowledgement response back to confirm that the entries have been received?
Hey guys! I have tested the auto responder and it is working. However, what I think is happening is that we’re getting so many emails it simply can’t keep up. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Hi Kate
In regards to your reply of the respond e mail….I have sent 3 for animals with no reply. All of my other entries have had a respond. I’m sorry if I have added to the mess. Just want to make sure my entry has made it for Animals.
Steve – I have received 6 email submissions from you. Does that sound correct? Thanks!
What is portrait (waist up? shoulders up or a person in a scene)
Nature: people?
Sorry if this sound dumb…
Entered a photo comp. and it was for portrait and a person riding a horse won it?
Hi Kate;
Yes it does and i’m very sorry for that. You will have a few copies of my Animals submissions then.
Hi, will the grand price winner be the one who have the best images in ALL the categories or is it just the best image (of all categories)? In other words: Can you win when you submit only 1 image.
THx
Hi, when will you announce the winner of the contest?
Hi Kate, I just went to the "contest" tab and noticed that there are no links to last year’s winners except for the sports category. All the other links under last year’s contest are to the Finalist videos. Where did the links to the winners go please? Thank you!
Are there any specific dates the contest will announce the winners?
Also, as set in 8th point – Images which have been submitted into other contests are not eligible. So, till when the participants are not allowed to submit their images to other contests?
I wish to take part in the contest. I just need a clarification-
Suppose I have shortlisted one potent entry for animals and two for landscape. Am I allowed to send one entry under animals section and two under landscape, or am I eligible for any one of both. Please reply.
Hi kate, is toned photo for portrait is allowed?
(like sepia color,etc)
Thanks
hello, i’m form Poland. Can i send my photo for this contest? Mayby its a contest only for a USA-photographer? Best regards
I just send my entries in two of the categories – Portrait & Cityscape. But now when I check my sent items I can’t see the mail. Have you received any entry by the name of Soumya Mukherji ? Should I send it again
I have just been reading the rules for the contest, and was wondering about the part where you want permission to use the photo’s for different promotion. My question is: does the photographers name and web appear on the photo’s in that kind of usage? In my oppinion that would be the right thing to do. What do you think. Best regards, Birgitte Mejer.
Here I am again:). Forgot to put a note regarding the photographers name on the photo’s that are being distributed on social media’s. Many! of the professional part of photographers are getting the chills with these social sites, as people download and spread like crazy, and our work end up on coffee mugs and what not, and the rules some if not by now – all these social sites are simply claiming peoples photo’s as soon as they are uploaded. that is why many of us either: plaster the photo’s with watermarks or simply just put up links that send people to our web sites. What are your stand on that, to protect the photographers copyrights? I would like to send in a few photo’s, but would like to know a bit about how the photo’s are safe from copyright infringement when/if you upload them, as I could not find it in the contestant rules. Best regards, and Happy New Year to all on the team. Birgitte Mejer
Regarding size of image- I read and understand the rule about jpg format and 5 MB size limit. However is there a limit on pixels per longest side and is there a recommended resolution? Should entries be submitted at 300 dpi or at a lower dpi for web viewing?
Hi, can we submit two photos from Sept-Dec 2013 or just one? If the purpose of the contest is to get people out shooting, it could make sense to allow 2 "new" shoots (while only one "old")
Dear Michael – Should I resend my pictures if I manage to mess with the title of email (put the category before the year) or it will be ok? I just realize my mistake after sending the last entry ;/
I see in comment list many incompetent questions PLEASE READ the above text many ( manyyyy) times before posting your question 🙂
Hi , I have send 2 photos on each category one from before sept and one later made ! Hope is all ok arrived 12 all together . Happy New Year to all
I have submitted for five categories and only received one confirmation. At first you wrote to re-submit, but then you said the confirmation system can’t keep up. Does that mean we should keep re-submitting or not? Thanks.
Hi, I’m hoping that since I didn’t get a response email, that my images were still submitted? Did your auto respond ever get itself caught up? 🙂 I hope so..
A few days before the end of your photo contest, I submitted 7 photos for the contest. I wonder if you have received them. I e-mailed them to the e-mail address at: [email protected]. I do not know if I was supposed to receive an response for each photo that I sent. I hope you will let me know whether you have received them. Thanks. Della O’Malley
Hi was wondering when submissions will be ready for looking at.
Hi Guys,
When would the 1st shortlist and when would the final results be published?
Prateek
hello, where you can see pictures from the competition Michael’s 5th Annual International Photography Contest
When will the Contest ends and where to see the entries and the winners?
when will the winner announced ? thx
Hi I entered the 5th Annual International Photography Contest A while ago. I’ve been looking and waiting to see the results, but there has been nothing about the contest in recent posts. When will the winners be announced?
We have had many questions about when the results will be posted. It is impossible to predict. Michael is working extremely hard to go through each of them, and it takes a significant amount of time to do a good job on it. We will post the nominees here and announce it on Michael’s Facebook Fan page. If you do not see any posts, it means the preliminary judging is not finished, last year took nearly a month to go through the 6,000+ images submitted. Thank you!
Hi Michael! Do you know when you will be announcing the winners?