Photo Competition Terms

Blenheim Palace Photographic Competition Rules 2010

The subject for the Blenheim Palace Photographic Competition 2010 is ‘Summer at Blenheim Palace’. The theme is open to individual interpretation and we are looking for your photographs showing the best parts of your visit during the Summer months. Photographs of people are not permitted instead we are looking for images of the grounds, features and building.
Entries must be taken at Blenheim Palace in the UK.
Entrants can submit up to four photos via facebook.com/blenheimpalace, in colour or black and white.
Images may be digitally enhanced to remove spots or scratches, but not manipulated. Entrants can enhance the picture to make it brighter, clearer etc, but not manipulate the content. Blenheim Palace and the judges reserve the right to exclude any image they believe may have been excessively treated so as to alter its authenticity.
The competition is open to anyone from any country. Employees of Blenheim Palace, as well as their immediate families are not eligible to enter. Entrants under the age of 12 years need to have parent or guardian consent to enter.
Entrants must not be professional photographers and, for the purposes of this competition, a professional photographer will be considered to be someone who makes more than half their annual income from the sale of their photographs.
Each entry should be associated with a facebook account at which you may be contacted.
Entries should be uploaded to the facebook competition gallery at facebook.com/blenheimpalace
The competition closes at midnight on Thursday 30 September 2010.
No entries can be returned and proof of posting is not proof of receipt. The organisers accept no responsibility for entries lost, damaged or delayed in the post.
All entries will be judged by a panel of judges. The judges will select a shortlist of twelve photographs (the 'Finalists') which, in their opinion, best illustrate the theme of the competition. They will consider a range of factors including composition, technical ability, originality, interpretation of the brief and the commercial appeal of the photographs. Viewers will be invited to vote for the Finalist they like the best. That winner will receive a prize of £500 gift voucher to redeem at Morrisphotographic.com , the winning photograph will be developed into a product for the Blenheim Palace Gift Shops. The Finalists together with a further fourteen runners up photographs to be selected from the entrants by the judges and/or Blenheim Palace shall appear on the Blenheim Palace Website. The prize is as stated. There is no cash alternative and it cannot be sold or transferred. Runners up will receive a Blenheim Palace Annual Pass and a Blenheim Palace ‘goodie bag’.
In the event of a technical problem or evidence of impropriety with regard to the viewers' vote, the judges shall have the final decision. If the viewers' vote results in a tie, the judges shall have the casting vote. The judges' decisions will be final and no correspondence can be entered into.
All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party. The entrants must be the sole owner of copyright in all photographs entered. Further, entrants must not have breached any laws when taking their photographs.
Prior to submission, entrants must not have offered any of their entries for sale, been paid for any publication of any of their entries or won or been a runner up in any other photographic competition with any of their entries.
Entrants will retain copyright in the photographs that they submit to Blenheim Palace. By entering the competition all entrants grant to Blenheim Palace the right to publish and exhibit their photographs on Blenheim Palace’s websites and any other associated promotional and marketing material. Entrants whose photographs are one of the Finalists or selected to appear in Blenheim Palace’s marketing channels including web and print pursuant to paragraph 11 above grant to Blenheim Palace (including other publishers authorised by Blenheim Palace) the further rights to publish and exhibit their photographs in print, on their respective websites or in any other media. No fees will be payable for any of the above uses. Entrants whose photographs are one of the finalists also agree to take part in post-competition publicity. While we make every effort to credit photographers, including in printed reproductions of their work, we cannot guarantee that every broadcast use of the photographs will include photographers' names.
By entering, entrants will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by these rules and Blenheim Palace reserves the right to exclude any entry from the competition at any time and in its absolute discretion if Blenheim Palace has reason to believe that an entrant has breached these rules.
Blenheim Palace reserves the right to cancel this competition or alter any of the rules at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of its control.
If the winner is unable to be contacted after reasonable attempts have been made, Blenheim Palace reserves the right to either offer the prize to a runner up or to re-offer the prize in any future competition.
These rules are governed by the laws of England and Wales. This competition is administered by Blenheim Palace