ART 1 - ORGANIZATION

The international photographic competition "ACQUA e..." is conceived, organized and promoted by the Po Delta Park.

ART 2 - DESCRIPTION

The competition is a tool to enhance the cultural and natural heritage of the Po Delta Park areas.

Since 2015, the Po Delta in the Veneto and Ferrara regions has been recognized UNESCO Biosphere Reserve under the MAB Program (Man and the Environment, Man and Biosphere).

A fact that underlines the cultural, landscape and economic value of this territory with a remarkable trait of exceptionality.

Place where land and water merge in a perfect union giving life to the different habitats that compose it, and which always have the water element as a common denominator, the basis for the life of all living beings, and present in the territory of the Po delta park, in the form of environments such as inland valleys, rivers, ditches, mace, wetlands close to the coast, salt marshes, the estuary of the various branches of the river Po, the coast.

From Ravenna to Venice, water is the basic element for a vast territory rich in culture and biodiversity.

The competition is open to amateur and professional photographers from all over the world who have reached the age of adultood (18 years). People (and their families) who are part of the organization and the jury cannot participate.

Each participant can submit a maximum of 5 images for each category (ABC).

The contest starts on 1 June 2023 and ends on 15 September 2023.

The competition is free to participate.

ART 3 - CATEGORIES

The competition has 3 different categories:

A) WATER and… PO DELTA

Natural life in the Po Delta territory, Animals, plants, environments.

Human presence is not accepted.

The water element, in any form (water, fog, rain, ice, etc.) must be present but not necessarily the protagonist.

B) WATER and… MAN

All human activities related to water.

Fishermen, working outdoors in the fields, a child drinking from a fountain, a bottle of water in the hands of an elderly person, anything can be WATER and…

The water element, in any form (water, fog, rain, ice, etc.) must be present but not necessarily the protagonist.

C) WATER and… WORLD

A theme that opens the doors to the world, to areas where there is fresh or salt water. Nature, man, environment, images in which, in all its forms, the water element is valued.

The water element, in any form (water, fog, rain, ice, etc.) must be present but not necessarily the protagonist.

There is a special prize:

D) PUBLIC AWARD

The most voted image by public. This judgment will be independent of the technical jury and will be decreed by online voting open to all (see ART8).

SPECIAL PRIZES:

E) BEST PHOTO OF BIRD

F) BEST REPORTAGE PHOTO

G) BEST PORTRAIT PHOTO

H) BEST BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO

ART 4 - PREPARATION OF FILES -

Images must be in JPEG format, sRGB color profile, with any aspect ratio (2:3, 4:3, square, panorama) having side dimensions greater than 2500px. and weight not exceeding 3 Mb.

If these limits are not respected, the system does not allow the upload of images.

The name of the file is not important, as to guarantee the complete anonymity of the images and the objectivity of judgment, at the time of uploading, the files are automatically renamed by the system, according to a random alphanumeric code, in order to make them completely anonymous also for the secretariat of the competition which evaluates the admissibility.

The identification data of the participant will be recovered only at the end of the vote by the jury and thus the paternity of the awarded works can be disclosed only following the decisions of the jury.

Images must not contain graphics such as frames, dates, names, logos, exif data or any other additional information. The presence of these elements will result in the exclusion of the image.

Digital post-processing applied to the image should be limited to saturation and exposure correction, with moderate unsharp masking and clipping no greater than 30%.

Hdr, B&W and panoramic photos (Photomerge) are allowed.

Images generated with AI (Artificial Intelligence) software will not be accepted

In case the jury finds post-production excesses or artifacts, the original unprocessed file (raw/jpeg sequence) will be requested

ART 5 - PARTICIPATE

Participation in the Competition is only possible ON-LINE by completing the appropriate form, accessible from the site http://www.podeltacontest.it , by clicking on " PARTICIPATE " the participation panel will open: select the section in which you want to participate and click on UPLOAD PHOTO.

At this point, select the photo you wish to insert, write the title and then click INSERT. A message will appear (which you must confirm) informing you of the correct upload of the photo, which is displayed. Under the image, the CANCEL button allows you to delete the image and load another one as a replacement. Continue with the loading/uploading up to a maximum of 5 photos for each ABC section, for a maximum of 15 total photos.

Fill in the "Participation Form", entering, Name and surname, e-mail, complete address and telephone number.
Pressing SEND the uploaded data and images are made definitive. IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO MODIFY THE IMAGES INSERTED.

ART 6 - VERIFICATION

The candidate images will be evaluated in advance by the organizing secretariat of the competition, and within 24-48 hours they will be visible ON-LINE on the site.

ART 7 – IMAGE GALLERY

The images submitted and admitted to participation (See ART 6), will become part of an ON-LINE gallery, visible on the PHOTOGALLERY page of the website. The images will appear divided by category. The order of appearance will be random and independent of the date of application: at each access the position of the photos will be different (RANDOM) to ensure equal visibility for all.

ART 8 - VOTE

PUBLIC AWARD. Through a special form, accessible by clicking on "VOTE PHOTO", the public will be able to express 3 preferences: 1 for each category.

All votes will have equal weight in the final ranking; it will not be up to the individual voter to establish a merit ranking (1st-2nd-3rd place), each vote assigned will have a value of 1 and will add up to the others received from the image. No partial rankings for images will be published in order not to influence voters.

The website has a control and guarantee system on the votes that can be cast from the same email address to prevent multiple repeated votes.
Participating photographers can also cast their votes under the same conditions as other voters.

ART 9 - JURY

The jury is made up of:

Massimiliano Costa Director of the Po Delta Park

Milko Marchetti Professional Photographer

Roberto Zaffi Naturalist Photographer

Sergio Stignani Naturalist Photographer

Vincenzo Tessarin Professional Photographer

Three prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for each of the 3 sections (ABC), for a total of 9 prizes, to which is added the "Public Prize" (D) and 4 further Special Prizes (E , F, G, H).

For each section, two additional images will be selected, deemed worthy by the jury and marked with OPERA REPORTED.

JUDGMENT CRITERIA

The jury will evaluate the images for visual impact, composition, originality, technique, creativity, the ability to communicate a message, a feeling or an emotion…

ART 10 - CALENDAR

Competition start 01 June 2023 at 00.01 AM (UTC + 1.00 h) Rome-Italy

Competition deadline 15 September 2023 at 11.59 PM(UTC + 1.00 h) Rome-Italy

Jury meeting 02 October 2023

Award ceremony 01 October 2023 at 16.00 PM(UTC + 1.00 h) Rome-Italy

ART 11 - AWARDS

Total prize money: over 5000 euros.

A) WATER and… PO DELTA

1st Prize:

Photo tripod brought to you by Gitzo

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

50×70 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

2nd Prize:

One night stay at B&B La Piazzetta – Comacchio offered by Mari Stationery

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

3rd Prize:

1 day at the beach (umbrella + 2 sunbeds + lunch voucher for 3 people)

offered by Patrizia beach

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

B) WATER and… MAN

1st Prize:

Photo tripod brought to you by MANFROTTO

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

50×70 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

2nd Prize:

One night stay at B&B&suite Villa Garibaldi offered by Mari Stationery

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

3rd Prize:

Photo tripod brought to you by Joby

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

C) WATER and… WORLD

1st Prize:

2-night stay in a holiday home or bungalow for up to 5 people

Powered by Holiday Village Florenz in Lido degli Scacchi (Comacchio)

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

2nd Prize:

Photographic material provided by Nicky Pennini

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

50×70 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

3rd Prize:

One night stay at B&B&suite Villa Garibaldi offered by Mari Stationery

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

D) PUBLIC AWARD

1st Prize:

Fotocult digital annual subscription offered by Photo cult

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

50×70 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

E) BEST PHOTO OF BIRD

Prize:

boat excursion for 2 people offered by  CARCANA

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

F) BEST REPORTAGE PHOTO

Prize:

Photographic material provided by MZ di Mattioli & C.

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

 G) BEST PORTRAIT PHOTO

Prize:

Photographic material provided by Marangoni optics

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

 h) BEST BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO

Prize:

Books offered by Rem

Annual subscription to OASIS extension

Gemstone bracelet offered by manufacturing

30×45 print on panel of the photo offered by Unicolor

ART 12 - AWARD GIVING

The awards ceremony will take place in Comacchio on Sunday 1 October, at the Manifattura dei Marinati, Comacchio.

On this occasion, the awarded works will be screened, reported and admitted to the competition.

ARTICLE 13 - COPYRIGHT

All rights relating to the images in the competition remain the property of their respective owners.

The organizers of the competition reserve the right to reproduce the images inserted, for the purpose of promoting the event (publication on the site www.deltaphotocontest.eu and on websites linked to the contest; projection in audiovisual format during promotional events; preparation of the exhibition dedicated to the competition, and for anything else that is necessary for the promotion of the competition.

The photos sent will not be returned, only the admitted and awarded works will become part of the photographic archive of the Po Delta Park, these photos can be used for promotional purposes of the non-profit Park, always quoting name and surname of the author.

The content of the images is the total responsibility of the participants (e.g. possession of the necessary permits for the entered photographs, including releases and authorization from the copyright holders - if different from the photographer).

By completing the registration form, the participants accept the complete regulation of the competition.

Participants' personal data will be for internal organizational use only, in compliance with national and international privacy laws.