State Parks and Reservoirs Photo Contest Continues in 2012
Take great pictures at a state park or reservoir, share them with other photographers on Flickr and be automatically entered to be a monthly winner and have your photo posted here. Check out the contest details below.
Click here to see recent winners
Official Rules
Indiana Department of Natural Resources is inviting photographers who are 18 years of age or older to participate in the "State Park and Reservoir" photography contest (the "Contest"), sponsored by The Indiana Department of Natural Resources ("Sponsor"). The contest is open only to participants who are legal U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents, so long as the laws of the entrant's jurisdiction allow participation, except employees, agents and suppliers of the Sponsors and individuals residing in the same household. Void where prohibited or restricted. We will refer to anyone entering, participating or eligible to win as "you" or "your" in these Official Rules.
Agreement to Official Rules: By entering the Contest, you fully and unconditionally agree to be bound by, comply with and accept these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsors, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Contest.
Your rights
You will retain all rights you have to any photograph you submit. By entering the contest, you hereby grant to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (i) a nonexclusive, unconditional, unrestricted, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license to reproduce, reformat, adapt, create derivative works, distribute, transmit, display, make available and perform the photographs you submit to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources in and/or through any and all medium or media, now known or hereinafter developed or discovered, and (ii) the right to use your name, city, and state in promotions and other publications. Sponsors' use of the submissions may include without limitation, advertising, promotion, and marketing.
What to enter
The Sponsor is looking for photos of plants, wildlife, scenic beauty, events, historic facilities and features, and individual or family outdoor recreation in Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs in all seasons. Photographs are accepted from locations listed on the State Parks and Reservoirs webpage ( http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/2392.htm).
The photos:
- must not contain material that involves or depicts the willful harassment of wildlife, nor damage to the environment;
- must not contain material that violates or infringes another's rights including, but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright infringement;
- must not contain brand names or trademarks;
- must not contain images or artwork not created by entrant;
- must not contain material that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene hateful, tortious, defamatory, slanderous or libelous;
- must not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age; and
- must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any jurisdiction where the image is created.
By submitting an entry and entering the Contest, you agree that you have obtained all necessary rights, permissions, consents, approvals and releases from any persons or commercial entities shown, involved in the creation, displayed or who does or may have any interest or rights in connection with the photograph submitted. Copies of any such permissions, consents approvals and/or releases must be provided to the Sponsors upon request.
All photographs must be your own original creation, and should accurately reflect the subject matter and the scene as it appeared. Photos that have been digitally altered which, in the sole determination of the Sponsors, go beyond standard optimization (removal of dust, cropping, reasonable adjustments to exposure, color and contrast, etc.) will be disqualified. Multiple exposures that have been combined to produce a single "High Dynamic Range" image are acceptable. Images that do not meet these requirements may be disqualified in the sole discretion and determination of the Sponsors.
Photo captions must accompany all submissions, and should include the subject(s) of the image, the location the image was taken, and the name of the photographer(s).
All photographs will be credited with the caption "© Person's Name." The Sponsors exclusively reserve all rights to determine the nature, amount, content, placement and other characteristics of any and all content, materials, text or other images that appear with or near any of the photos or that refers to the photos.
How to enter
Each photo must be submitted electronically:
- Via Flickr™ -- To submit your photos via Flickr™, use your Yahoo!® ID to login to http://www.flickr.com/. If you do not have an account, you can sign-up for free at http://www.flickr.com/. Flickr™ and Yahoo!® are trademarks of Yahoo!, Inc. After logging in, upload your images using the mechanism provided. If you are not already a member of The Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs group on Flickr™, join by clicking "Join this Group?" on the group's homepage - http://www.flickr.com/groups/indianadnr.
- Browse to the image you wish to submit for the contest, and use the "Send to Group" function to add your images to Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs Flickr Group photo pool. Once added to the group, tag each photo with "spr2012". If you do not upload your photo to Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs group on Flickr™, or do not tag your photo with an appropriate tag, it will not be considered for the Contest.
- you have trouble using Flickr™, please consult their online help files. The Sponsor are not responsible for any issues or problems you encounter while trying to upload a photo on Flickr™.
- You acknowledge and agree that your use of Flickr™, Yahoo!® or any of these services, whether or not related to this Contest, subject you to their applicable terms and conditions, privacy policies and other agreements between you and them relating to your registration, participation or otherwise and the Sponsors are neither responsible, nor liable for anything related to your registration, participation or visitation of their websites or use of their services.
Eligibility and judging
To be eligible as a photo submission for the Contest, entries must have a resolution of 4 million pixels or greater (4 megapixels). Resolution can be calculated by multiplying the pixel width of the image with the pixel height. Images that do not meet this standard may be disqualified in the sole discretion and determination of the Sponsors.
Entries may have originated in any format -- including, but not limited to digital files, digital prints, color transparencies, color prints, or black and white prints -- so long as they are submitted electronically.
Images will be judged on originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact and artistic merit.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources shall determine winner eligibility. All decisions made by the judges are final.
Deadlines
Deadline for submitting entries is 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on December 31, 2012. Online entries can be uploaded starting 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 1, 2012. The IDNR Webmaster's computer is the official time-keeping device for the Contest and receipt by the Sponsors, as evidenced by the Webmaster's electronic records which shall be binding and conclusive. The Sponsor is not responsible for alterations, non-receipt, damage, loss of data, file corruption, delays or difficulties in transmission or any technical or other cause which may prevent or impair Sponsors' receipt of your entry and proof of submission shall not be, nor construed as, proof of receipt.
Entrants may be asked to submit one or two sentences about the story behind the photo anytime on or after January 1, 2012.
Winning photos
A winning photograph will be announced each month during the first week of the following month. The winning photographer each month will be awarded a prize from Mother Nature's Mercantile to be determined by the Sponsors, and these winning photographs will appear in the DNR's photo galleries on the web at http://www.dnr.in.gov/. The monthly winners will be judged at the end of the contest, and the grand prize winner will receive a $50 gift certificate from Indiana State Park Inns and a 2012 entrance pass for all state parks/reservoirs. Second and third place winners will receive 1-year subscription to Outdoor Indiana Magazine and a copy of the DVD "State Parks and Reservoirs: Treasures in Your Own Back Yard." Monthly and grand prize winners will be determined by a panel of judges selected by DNR staff. The Sponsors reserve the right to adjust any deadline(s), make modifications to these Official Rules, suspend, discontinue and/or terminate the Contest at any time for any reason or no reason, in their sole discretion and determination.
Monthly and Grand Prize Winners will be notified via email using the name associated with their Flickr™ accounts.
Indemnifaction
By entering, entrants agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Sponsor, and their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees, attorneys, agents and representatives, from any and all third party liability for any injuries, loss, claim, action, demand or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with the competition (collectively, "Losses") including, without limitation any third party claim for copyright infringement or a violation of an individual's right to privacy and/or publicity right.
Jurisdiction; Venue
You agree that any and all disputes that cannot be resolved with the Sponsors, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, before a court of competent jurisdiction located in Indiana, which court shall apply the laws of the State of Indiana without regard for rules of conflicts of law. YOU WAIVE ANY AND ALL OBJECTIONS TO JURISDICTION AND VENUE IN THESE COURTS AND HEREBY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THOSE COURTS.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY; WAIVER: IN ANY DISPUTE, ENTRANT WILL NOT BE ENTITLED TO ANY PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ATTORNEYS' FEES, OR ANY DAMAGES OTHER THAN ENTRANT'S ACTUAL OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES (IF ANY) ASSOCIATED WITH PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST, NOT TO EXCEED $100. YOU HEREBY WAIVE ANY RIGHTS TO HAVE DAMAGES MULTIPLIED OR INCREASED. The Contest and the Sponsors' websites are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied.
The Sponsors are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by website users or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest, or by any technical or human error that may occur in the processing of submissions to the photo competition, including but not limited to any misprints or typographical errors. The Sponsors assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries. The Sponsors are not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer equipment, servers, providers, computer on-line systems, software, or failure of email on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, including injury or damage to entrant's or to any other person's computer related to or resulting from participating or uploading images or information in the Contest.
If, for any reason, the Contest is not capable of completion as planned, including but not limited to, any reason of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of the Sponsors that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the Contest, the Sponsors reserve the right at their sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest.
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