The Atlanta Audubon Society invites amateur photographers to enter its 2007 Photography Competition. Please read the following rules carefully before submitting any photos!

The competition is open to ALL amateur photographers, except employees of the Atlanta Audubon Society and the immediate family members. By amateur photographer, we mean any beginning, amateur, or experienced photographers who do not receive a significant part of their income from nature photography.

Images can be submitted in one of three categories...

Birds no man-made elements, unless natural behavior (i.e. perching on a fence)
Animals all living creatures, other than birds; no man-made elements
Habitats flora and fauna in their natural environments, landscapes, or panoramas

Images will be judged on...

Originality Overall impact Composition Technique Presentation

Judge’s decisions will be final.

For inclusion in this photo contest, photos entries...

Must be taken either in Calendar Year 2006 or in the period in 2007 up to March 16, 2007, the deadline for submission
Must be submitted in digital format. Printed photographs will not be accepted.
Should not exceed 3 megapixels per image (the 2006 Grand Prize Winner was less than one tenth that size).
Submitted as jpg images.
Include a caption for each digital photo.
Are permitted to have had minor digital enhancements for cropping, filters, and corrective functions, but images that have been judged to be significantly altered will be disqualified.
Must be assigned to a category by the contestant and can only be entered into one category.
There will be a fee of $2.00 per picture (see Payment section below).

All submissions and payment must be submitted no later than 11:59 PM (EST) on Friday, March 16th, 2007. Contestants may request verification by email that their photos were received. READ THE DETAILED SUBMISSION (INSTRUCTIONS BELOW) BEFORE SENDING PHOTOS!

Winners will be announced and awards presented at a special meeting of the Atlanta Audubon Society on Sunday, April 15, 2007. All contestants will also be notified by email shortly afterwards.

The Fine Print Your entry to the contest constitutes your agreement to allow your photographs - and your name, city and state of residence - to be published as selected award winners on the website owned by the Atlanta Audubon Society. Entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of their photographs. Atlanta Audubon shall have the right to verify, in its sole judgment, winner eligibility. Please do not include photographs of pets or domestic animals. Images of captive animals photographed in game farms will be disqualified. Clearly label animals as wild in digital caption information. Previously published material for which non-exclusive rights were granted may be entered as long as you still warrant full rights. You must disclose when and where the photo appeared previously upon submission. Entrants must not infringe on the rights of any other photographer or person or submit images that involve the willful harassment of wildlife or damage to the environment by the photographer. All photographs should accurately reflect the subject matter and the scene as it appeared. Photos that have been digitally altered beyond standard optimization (removal of dust, cropping, adjustments to color and contrast, etc.) will be disqualified.

Detailed Submission Instructions...

Only submissions that include pictures in the proper format, tracking information (see Entry Form, Microsoft Word format or PDF format), and payment will be eligible. All submissions must be postmarked or transmitted no later than 11:59 PM (EST) on Friday, March 16th, 2007. Contestants may request verification by email that their photos, forms, and payment were received.

The following are procedures to be followed using either method.

Each attached JPG file must be in the form of:
##-<last name>_<first initial>_<category>.JPG.
For example: 01Smith_J_Birds.JPG or 09_Jones_S_Habitat.JPG

Up to a total of twelve photos are permitted per entrant for 2007.

All submissions must include a copy of the Entry Form (Microsoft Word format or PDF format). Full contact information must be entered unless otherwise specified.

Name
Full Address
Email to be contacted
Phone (optional)
Amount of payment to be sent

Following this, each submitted picture should be listed in the Form.

File name (see above)
Category (Birds, Animals, Habitats)
Caption

There are three methods to submit pictures, forms and payment. Be aware that currently there is no provision to send funds electronically.

Method I. Send Images on CD with Payment and Form by U.S. mail (snail mail).

Place up to 12 images and the Entry Form on a CD. Enclose the CD in a CD mailer. Also enclose payment in the mailer. Send to:

Michael Clifford
3212 Saybrook Drive
Atlanta, GA 30319

This is the most “goof proof” approach, but one that requires access to a CD burner.  Please write your name on the CD, using a felt tipped pen.

Method II. Send images and the Entry From (Microsoft Word format or PDF format) using the DropLoad utility. Send payment and a (paper) copy of the Entry Form by U.S. mail.

This is a free web service (http://www.dropload.com) that mails single massively sized files. Zip (or pkzip) all the photo images and the Entry From into a single file. This utility will assist with the upload, notify Audubon, and notify you when Audubon has retreived the zip file.

You will need to establish a dropload account, which is free and painless.
See Using Dropload to Transfer Audubon Files.

  Method III. Send images and the Entry Form by email. Send payment and a (paper) copy of the Entry Form by U.S. mail.

Send up to 12 photo images as attachments with an Entry Form to mjclifford@hotmail.com.

Each emailed photo must be submitted as an attachment. DO NOT PASTE THE PHOTO INTO THE BODY OF THE EMAIL!

Multiple photos may be zipped into a single attachment, but be aware of file size limitations imposed by your email carrier. NOTE! At this time, the hotmail account destination does not permit a single email transmission be larger than 10 Megabytes. Thus, you may need to send multiple submissions. Each submission should include a copy of the Entry Form.

The subject line should be “Atlanta Audubon 2007 Contest”.

Photos for which payment has not been received are disqualified from judging, which occurs between March 16th and April 12, 2007.

Send payment and a paper copy of the Entry Form to the same address specified in Method I.

Payment...

The fee to enter each image is $2.00, cash or check. Photos for which payment has not been received are disqualified from judging. Please make checks payable to the Atlanta Audubon Society.

For further information, contact Michael Clifford, mjclifford@hotmail.com