01. THE CONTEST

Italian art association dotART promotes the 9th edition of URBAN 2018 Photo Awards contest.

02. THEMES AND SECTIONS

The competition is open to all and features two distinct sections, one for Themed photos, one for Projects & Portfolios. It is possible to participate in both sections.
The contest’s main theme is Urban Photography, that explores all photography forms set in the urban fabric. The star of the show: the City. Daily life in the city and in small villages, artistic views, architectural geometries, the fragments of colour that break the city greyness.

» SECTION #1 » THEMED PHOTOS

Section for single themed photos. The main theme is Urban Photography. Photos must be included in one of seven thematic areas:

Street Photography
The many aspects of the urban fabric and the lives that inhabit it: people, places and moments of aggregation, contrasts and contradictions, events, concerts, sports and culture.

Architecture & Urban Geometries
Urban spaces, buildings, streets, shapes and geometries, industrial archaeology and abandoned places.

Transport
Moving in the City.

Urban Art
The relationship between people and art in the City: monuments, churches, exhibitions, etc.

People
The human body, photographed posing or caught fleetingly on the road. Portraits, fashion, glam and kitch, conventional and unusual beauty. Photo editing and post-production are allowed.

Urban Animals
The animals in the City: far from their natural habitat but incredibly at home in our houses or along the city streets.

Creative Photography
Artistic, experimental, conceptual, visionary photos outside previous thematic areas (the main theme is always Urban Life). Photo editing and post-production are allowed.

Each participant may submit up to 9 works and to each of them one of the 7 thematic areas must be assigned (in the upload form). The author is free to decide with how many pictures to participate in each thematic area.

» SECTION #2 » PROJECTS & PORTFOLIOS

Section in which you can propose a set of photos with Urban Photography subject: thematic portfolios, photojournalism and storyboards (sequences of images that tell a story). The photographer is free to choose the topic, style, setting and subjects they prefer. Along with the photos, will have to write a brief description of its project (in English – you can use Google Translate).
Portfolios must be made of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 12 photos. Participants can run in both sections. Photo editing and post-production are allowed.

For both sections please follow these rules:

• We accept photos in colour or in black and white.
• Post production is allowed. Software corrections are to be kept to a minimum. Hard post production and photo editing are accepted only where explicitly indicated.
• Pictures with visible signatures from the photographer will not be accepted.
• We do not accept images or works with offensive content; decisions regarding content will be made by the jury and are to be considered final.

03. ENTRY

The competition runs from February 14th, 2018, until midnight of May 31, 2018 June 17, 2018 (CET) NEW DEADLINE!.

For the SECTION #1 » THEMED PHOTOS, in order for the first photo to be accepted, the fixed € 10 entry fee must be paid; further photos may be entered at a cost of € 5 per photo.

For the SECTION #2 » STORIES & PORTFOLIOS, entry fee is fixed with € 30 for portfolio, regardless of the number of photos that make up the portfolio (min 3 photos, no more than 12). Each participant can submit a maximum of 5 portfolios.

Entries may be made by completing the Themed Photos form or the Projects & Portfolios form, where you will also be able to upload the photos, and pay the submission fee (see Art. 7).

To avoid upload issues please respect the following guidelines:

• “.jpg” format. NOT “.JPG” NOR “.jpeg”.
• RGB colours
• Single photos: file dimension lesser than 7MB each photo;
• Projects: file dimension lesser than 5MB each photo;
• smallest side minimum 2000px / longest side no more than 6000px;
• No special characters in the “filename.jpg”;
• To make sure to have the right order of the portfolio, please add to your filename a sequence number (e.g. filename03.jpg, 08filename.jpg, …)
• If simultaneous upload of several images gives you an error message, please upload the images one at a time.
• Once the upload is completed, participant will receive an email with details to login into his reserved area http://www.urbanphotoawards.com/user-area, where he can check, add or delete his uploaded photos and/or Projects & Portfolios, change and delete pictures, modify the titles and descriptions before submitting the payment. Please, don’t worry if you don’t receive the email. The subscription is ok. You can check the “Spam” directory or ask to us your details at iscrizione@dotart.it

UNDER-25 STUDENTS PROMO. All students within 25 years of age (therefore born from 1993) who will apply in “Themed Photos” section will be entitled to upload 2 more photos for free, regardless of the number of photos for which they pay the registration fee. Just select the “Student” box in the registration form and upload the photos (*). In the event that the photo of a student is among the winners, dotART could verify the actual age of the author and his regular enrollment in a course of study.

(*) For example, if you pay € 10 you can upload up to 3 photos instead of 1 (2 free photos). If you upload 8 or 9 photos, please upload the remaining photos in a second phase, using the same personal data.

04. PRIZES (currently updating)

Prizes are divided as follows:

» SECTION #1 » THEMED PHOTOS

» URBAN 2018 WINNER OVERALL

• € 1,000 in Amazon vouchers
  
• 1 Innovatronix “Tronix Explorer Mini” portable battery pack (€ 300 value)
• 1 “Signature 10” Think Tank bag (€ 250 value)
• 3 nights in Trieste (€ 250 value*) for URBAN Photo Awards Final Ceremony during Trieste Photo Days 2018.
• 12 month Platinum online subscription to Silvershotz (USD $50 value)
• 1 Stroppa strap (€ 33 value)
• 1-year subscritpion to Street Photography Magazine web version (€ 20 value)
• 1 EyesOpen! magazine copy (€ 15 value)
• URBAN 2018 winner’s trophy and medal

* The prize value is 250 € and consists in a 3-night stay for 2 people only during Trieste Photo Days festival (last weekend of October 2018). On that weekend there will be URBAN Photo Awards Final Ceremony. If the winner is unable to come to Trieste he will not be able to redeem the prize differently.

3 winners for each of the 7 thematic areas: Street Photography | Architecture | Urban Art | Transport | People | Urban Animals | Creative Photography + Honourable mentions

SECTION #2 » PROJECTS & PORTFOLIOS

3 winners and Honourable mentions

* The prize value is 250 € and consists in a 3-night stay for 2 people only during Trieste Photo Days festival (last weekend of October 2018). On that weekend there will be URBAN Photo Awards Final Ceremony. If the winner is unable to come to Trieste he will not be able to redeem the prize differently.

» Exhibition in Poreč Museum, Croatia (€ 1.000 value)

3 ranked projects from the “Projects & Portfolios” section – selected directly by the curators of the museum – will be displayed in Zavičajni muzej Poreštine, in Porec, Istria (Croatia), in Summer 2018 (tourist peak averaging 120,000 people in the summer time). Moreover, the Museum will release an official certificate of exhibition.

Prizes will be awarded before the end of 2018 as Amazon vouchers, net of tax.

05. PRIZES: EXHIBITS

» Final exhibition and Award ceremony
The highest placing works with be published on the competition’s website and will be displayed in a collective exhibit on October/November 2018, in Trieste during Trieste Photo Days 2018 festival. The printing of the photos will be the responsibility of dotART. Some of the entered photos may in addition be selected for exhibits in Italy and abroad.

06. PRIZES: PUBLICATION

» URBAN website
A large selection of the ranked pictures will be published on the gallery page of this website.

» “URBAN unveils the City and its secrets – Vol. 04” photo book
Finalists (140 single themed pictures + 20 Projects & Portfolios + best pictures) will be admitted to the selection to realize the fourth edition of Urban unveils the City and its secrets. The photo book, edited in September, will be presented during Trieste Photo Days festival the last weekend of October, and distributed by Urban/dotART cultural association.

» Publication on Burn Magazine
Our partner Burn Magazine will publish those Projects & Portfolios that – upon magazine’s decision – will distinguish for personal vision, storytelling and authorship. Series of photographs able to transmit elements of imaginary and life experience of the author. Will be taken into consideration for publishing even short Portfolios that have a body cohesive and coherent.

» Publication on EyesOpen! Magazine
Our media partner EyesOpen! Magazine will publish a selection of the winning photos and portfolios.

» Publication on QUO Magazine
Our media partner Quo Magazine will publish a selection of URBAN 2018’s winning photos and portfolios.

» Publication on Street Photography Magazine
Our partner Street Photography Magazine will publish the photos of the winners in each category in a special edition of the magazine. SPM will also interview the winner of the Street Photography category and make him the featured photographer of the month in the first issue following the announcement of the contest winners. August or Spetember 2018 (this is dependent upon SPM being able to secure an interview with the winner in enough time to meet publishing deadline for that issue. Otherwise SPM will run the interview in the next issue following the completion of the interview.

» Publication on DOC! Photo Magazine
Our media partner DOC! Photo Magazine will publish a portfolios which they found intersting for the readers.

» Publication on Silvershotz
Our media partner Silvershotz will publish a selection of the winning photos and portfolios.

» Publication on Cities vol. 4
Our media partner Italian Street Photography will publish a selection of the winning photos and portfolios on Cities vol. 4.

» Interview on APF Magazine
Our media partnerAPF Magazine will interview the contest’s winners.

» Interview on Insomnia Collective
Our media partner Insomnia Collective will interview the contest’s winners.

07. EXHIBIT PREVIEWS

The best ranked pictures (usually, 30% of the Selected photos – see Art. 9) could be chosen for “travelling” exhibitions around the world.

08. JURY

The presented works will be selected by dotART and judged in a final manner by a prestigious Jury. Jury President Tatsuo Suzuki will personally choose and award URBAN 2018 Winner. The Jury and dotART reserve the right to award prizes to multiple works by the same author and change category to high ranked pictures.

09. TIMELINE

14 February – 12 June 2018
Submissions open.

End of June 2018
Selected photographers will be published on the website in alphabetical order (without ranking). They will have the opportunity to participate in exhibitions / summer previews.

End of July 2018
Finalists will be published on the website in alphabetical order (without ranking). Around 140 photos + 20/30 Projects & Portfolios.

End of September 2018
Winners will be published on the website in alphabetical order (without ranking): 35 photos + 5 Projects & Portfolios.

End of October 2018
Award ceremony and official announcement of Winners, Honorable Mentions and URBAN 2018 Winner chosen and awarded among other winners by Jury President at Trieste Photo Days 2018. Final ranking will be published on URBAN website and Facebook page.

10. PAYMENT

We accept these payment methods:

• PayPal to paypal@dotart.it or www.paypal.me/dotart. Go to Payment page.
• Bank transfer to dotART – IBAN IT43F0306909606100000010209 / BIC/SWIFT Code: BCITITMM (please add text: “Urban 2018”. IMPORTANT: include the email used in the upload form);
• Payment by hand at dotART, Via S. Francesco 6 – 2nd floor, Trieste, by appointment (info@dotart.it or Tel. 040 3720617)

Who participates in both SECTION #1 » THEMES PHOTOS and SECTION #2 » PROJECTS & PORTFOLIOS and wish to pay the subscription fee with PayPal will have to make two separate payments. If you wish to pay by bank transfer you can make a single payment specifying “Contribution to Urban Photo Contest 2018 section1 and section2 + Name + Email”.

11. COPYRIGHT

The participant, in regard to all of his/her ranked works, grants to dotART a complete, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to use. The association dotART reserves the right to use them within the scope of its own non-profit associational activities after sending an official communication to the author.

The Author, whose name will always be attributed to the work, maintains in any case his/her moral rights in regard to the work, in addition to the intellectual property rights to the same.

12. ACCEPTANCE OF THE RULES / MODEL RELEASE

By entering the competition, the Author accepts the present rules and declares that he/she is the owner of the intellectual property rights and of the rights of use of the submitted image and of any necessary release notes. Documentation of rights ownership must be presented to dotART upon request.

13. RIGHT TO CANCEL OR TO SUSPEND THE COMPETITION

If for any reason the Competition cannot be run as planned, due to infection by computer virus, bugs, worms, trojan horses, denial of service attacks, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other cause that corrupts or affects the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Competition, dotART reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual(s) seen to have tampered with the entry process and/or to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Competition. If dotART elects to cancel or terminate the Competition, it will not retain any rights to the submitted photographs and it will return all entry fees.
dotART is not responsible for the cancellation or modification of the prizes offered by the partners.