OREANDA-NEWS. On 21 February 2008 Australian Embassy in Moscow announced an amateur digital photo competition “Australia. The Land Down Under” (from 15 February to 19 March 2008).

Robert Tyson, Australian Ambassador to Russia: “This will be the first time the Australian Embassy has mounted a photography contest, but we hope to make it a regular addition to our annual film festival. Through the contest, we hope to further promote Australia in Russia, and combat misperceptions of Australia as being too distant and too unknown”.

This photography competition is designed to support and advance a major cultural project – the 6th Australian Film Festival,held 2-6 April at Khudozhestvenny Cinema, Moscow, and 9-13 April at Dom Kino, St. Petersburg.

The Australian Film Festival is an annual event, featuring films from Australia – comedies, detective stories, psychological dramas, images of modern Australian society.

As a supplement to the Australian Film Festival 2008, “Australia. The Land Down Under” photography contest is the first event of its kind. We hope that this highlight of the Film Festival will bring contemporary Australia into the lives of Russian viewers and participants by displaying pictures from Russian travellers who have found their way Down Under. Photographs can capture Australia’s qualities not only as a holiday destination with golden beaches and superb diving, but also as a land of very modern cities, strikingly beautiful nature, mouth-watering food, exciting nightlife and truly diverse activities for any age.

This online event is designed for people of all ages, backgrounds and interests, to share their own unique Australian experiences, by simply sending photos.

Finalists’ pictures will be displayed in the cinema lobby during the 6th Australian Film Festival, and at the Australian Embassy, Moscow.

The Australian Ambassador and sponsors will judge the competition. Prizes will be awarded to the winners at the opening of the Australian Film Festival in Russia.

PRIZES:

Main Prize to the Winner, courtesy of Transaero Airlines: 2 TICKETS on Moscow – Sydney – Moscow (round trip, economy class).

More prizes: Australian Wine Jacob’s Creek

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Timing
Amateur Digital Photography Competition “AUSTRALIA. The Land Down Under” runs from 15 February to 19 March 2008. All photographs must be received by the Australian Embassy by 17:00 Moscow time, 19 March 2008. Entries received after the deadline will not be considered. The Embassy accepts no responsibility for entries not received by the deadline, whether due to any act or omission of the Embassy, or for any other reason. Finalists will be contacted by Tuesday 25 March, and results published on the Embassy website. The decision of the judges is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

2. Entrants
This competition is only open to residents of the Russian Federation. Employees of the Australian Embassy, sponsor organisations and their relatives are not eligible to enter the competition.

3. Entries
Entries must be submitted to the Embassy as digital files, by e-mail to foto@dfat.gov.au, in JPG format. Maximum file size is 1Mb. Following judging, finalists will be asked to supply a digital version not less than 300 dpi, and at least 1024 pixels on one side, for display at the finalists exhibition. If a finalist fails to supply high quality versions of his or her photos, the Australian Embassy reserves the right not to display the photograph at the finalists’ exhibition. Cropping is permitted. Compositing, multiple exposures, manipulation sandwich shots, double exposures, photographs which consist in any way of more than one separate image and images that have been digitally manipulated other than cropping are not eligible. Images not meeting these standards, in the opinion of the Australian Ambassador, will not be considered eligible for the competition.

A maximum of three unique photographs may be entered by each entrant. Each photograph should be accompanied by a caption, identification of the place the photo was taken, and the photographer’s contact details: full name, home address, telephone number and e-mail address. These details will only be used and, where necessary, disclosed to third parties, for the purposes of administering this competition.

The Embassy will not be responsible for any images lost or damaged during submission. It is the photographer's responsibility to maintain original copies of their work.

Your entry must be entirely your own original work. By entering your photograph in this competition, you declare that you are the sole author and owner of the copyright for all images entered, that your entry is entirely your own original work, and does not infringe the copyright or any other rights of a third party.

If your photograph features any person or people, they should be aware they were being photographed and permission for publication should be obtained from all involved.

All images submitted remain the property of the photographer. By entering the competition, you grant to the Australian Embassy a free-of-charge, non-exclusive licence to, in connection with the competition, display, copy, reproduce, publish and distribute the images in any printed and online media, as well as to sub-licence images to the press for publication as part of press coverage of the competition. Copyright remains the property of the photographer. No fee is offered for publication.

Entrants agree where possible to take part in any competition publicity if asked to do so, for example being photographed, interviewed and appearing at Embassy functions.

Photographs that, at the sole discretion of the Australian Embassy, contain obscene, defamatory or offensive material or content, or are otherwise judged unsuitable for display, are ineligible for entry.

In participating in the competition, entrants must not represent that they are employees, agents, partners or commercial associates of the Australian Embassy, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or the Australian Government. However, entrants are free to publicise their entry in the competition, including their selection as a finalist or winner.

4. Results
Results will be announced and prizes awarded in Moscow, on 2 April 2008, at the opening of the 6th Australian Film Festival. Results will also be published on the Embassy web-site.

Prizes are not transferable or exchangeable, may be taken only as stated, and cannot be taken as cash.

5. Legal Issues All submissions are accepted on the understanding that the photographer agrees to these terms and has obtained the required permissions.