U.S. Mission to the African Union
Official Photo Contest Rules
Portraits of African Women in Action Photography Contest 2021
I. Contest Organizer
Portraits of African Women in Action Photography Contest 2021 is organized by the U.S. Mission to the African Union (USAU).
II. Description of the Contest Objectives
As part of celebrating Women’s History Month, the U.S. Mission to the African Union has organized a photography contest to show the challenges, contributions and achievements of African women, and to encourage Africans to share women’s stories in their communities through photography. We are seeking submissions of photographs that promote the empowerment of African women.
III. Platform(s)
Contest entry and administration will take place through e-mail. However, events from this contest may be announced and promoted on USAU’s website, Facebook, and Twitter in perpetuity for public viewing on online platforms.
IV. How to Enter
Produce an original photograph that reflects the theme of the contest, “African Women’s Achievements, Challenges, and Contributions” and include a brief description of the photo and how it sends a compelling message. Photos must be the original work of the contestants and must be shot in Africa within the past two years. A submission should be an original digital photograph taken by the contestant. This contest is open to all Africans residing in Africa. Once submitted, a photograph is considered a final submission and may not be modified, edited, or replaced. By submitting a photograph, contestants agree that the organizer has full permission to disseminate, distribute, and utilize the photographs on public platforms and at public or private events to include, but not limited to, social media, websites, and public screenings. Contestants may submit up to two photographs, but only one photograph per contestant will be eligible for a prize. Participation in this contest is automatically deemed as acceptance of these official contest rules.
a. Photograph Submission:
Submit your photograph entry(ies) via email to USAUPD@gmail.com with a subject: “Portraits of African Women in Action photo contest Entry”
Contestants are required to include in the email:
- Full name of submitter
- E-mail address
- Mobile number/s
- Age
- Country
- Number of photographs submitted
- Location where the photograph was shot
- A one-sentence caption in English highlighting the essence/message of the photograph
- Please include the following language in your email: “As the official photographer of this photograph, I acknowledge and agree to abide by the terms and conditions of the official rules of the USAU’s Portraits of African Women in Action Photography Contest 2021”
The contest commences on March 11, 2021. Entries may be submitted between March 11, 2021 and March 21, 2021. Submitted photographs will be displayed on USAU Facebook page for audience voting beginning on March 22 and ends on March 28, 2021. Photographs that receive large number of reactions (likes & share) on USAU Facebook page will be announced as winners on March 29.
V. Content Requirements
a. Submissions must not contain obscenity, explicit sexual material, nudity, profanity, graphic violence, calls or incitement to violence, commercial solicitation or commercial promotion. Submissions must conform to local law and must not contain content or images that could be considered abusive, inflammatory, denigrating, or disrespectful to any groups, individuals or institutions. Submissions must adhere both in appearance and in fact to the norms of civil discourse. In other words, the content of all submissions must be suitable for a global, public audience.
b. Submissions must be original content created by the contestant and must not contain any elements that are protected by someone else’s copyright or otherwise subject to third party intellectual property or proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights (except as expressly permitted below in (d)). USAU recognizes no allowance for “fair use” of copyrighted material, nor do USAU recognizes allowance for use of licensed materials created or owned by a third party.
c. USAU reserves the right to disqualify, at their sole and absolute discretion, any submission that does not adhere to these criteria and to the intent and substance of these Official Contest Rules.
d. In the event of any question or difference of views regarding compliance with, interpretation, or application of these content requirements or other provisions of these Official Contest Rules, USAU reserves the exclusive right to resolve such questions or differences of views in their sole discretion.
e. By submitting a photograph to the contest, the contestant affirms that he or she has obtained written consent from all individuals whose image or likeness appears in the photograph (or from the individuals’ parent/legal guardian if any such individuals are considered a minor in their country of residence), and that he or she has obtained the necessary rights, licenses, consents, and permissions to use all material such as images, text and other content in the submission. The contestant further affirms that he or she is prepared to provide reliable documentation of any and all such consents, licenses, etc., upon request. Failure to obtain such rights, license consents, and permissions may result in the disqualification of the photo submission at the USAU’s sole and absolute discretion.
f. Technical Format Requirements
Photo submissions must be in jpeg/jpg format, must be at least one (1) megabyte, and no smaller than 1920×1080 pixels. Submissions should not have any visible watermarks, signatures, or personally identifiable information. Limited artistic retouching of photos is permitted, including cropping, and modest darkening or lightening of parts of the image.
VI. Eligibility
a. Contestants must be citizens and residents of African countries.
b. The individual submitting the entry will be considered the contestant and will be the only individual eligible to compete for the prize. Organizations are not eligible to compete for the prize, either as an entity, or through representation by an individual.
c. Once a submission has been accepted for entry into the contest, the contestant’s name and country may be publicly identified at the sole discretion of the contestant.
VII. Selection of Winners
a. All photos are subject to pre-screening by USAU to ensure compliance with these Official Contest Rules. Any photos out of compliance will not be eligible for voting. USAU reserves the right in their sole and absolute discretion to verify in the final analysis whether a potential finalist or potential winning photo submission has fully complied with these Official Contest Rules before voting, awarding prize, recognizing a winner, etc.
b. Judges: Photographs will be judged by an online audience.
c. Judging Criteria: The photographs will be judged by USAU online audience where winners will be identified based on the number of engagement a photography received.
d. Winners: Winning photographs will be announced online on USAU Facebook page.
e. Winner(s) will be contacted via e-mail at the e-mail address provided at the time of submission.
VIII. Prize(s)
a. Prizes will be awarded for the top five winning photographs. Prizes will include tablets.
b. Winning photographs will be displayed on USAU’s website and social media properties, and may be used for various USAU programming events.
c. Winners will receive their prize via the U.S. Embassy in their countries.
IX. Liability and Rights
a. USAU does not endorse any submissions or messages expressed therein, and USAU expressly disclaim any and all liability in connection with the submitted photos including disputes between collaborators related to a submission.
b. USAU does not permit copyright infringing activities or infringement of any other intellectual property rights, and USAU reserves the right to remove and disqualify any submission they deem to be in violation of another party’s copyright or other intellectual property rights.
c. Contestants retain sole ownership of their original work. The submission remains the intellectual property of the contestant, and the USAU makes no claim of copyright as to the work of any individual who enters the contest. Contestant specifically agrees to give USAU permission to use all content submitted for purposes of judging the contest. Finalists and/or winners will be required to grant USAU, with proper attribution through whatever means they deem appropriate, a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, and/or display the submission in any media formats and through any media channels in perpetuity in connection with the activities and operations of the contest.
d. Contestant assumes sole responsibility for the contest submission and the material contained in it, and for any consequences of submitting or posting it.
e. USAU reserves the right at any time to verify the validity of entries and of contestants and to disqualify any contestant or entry deemed not in compliance with these Official Contest Rules.
f. If a prize or any portion thereof is unavailable, USAU, in their sole discretion, reserve the right to substitute the prize with another prize of equal or greater value and/or specification.
g. USAU reserves the right, at any time and in their sole discretion, to disqualify and/or deem ineligible any individual who they reasonably believe (i) has violated the Official Contest Rules; (ii) has violated the terms of use of platform, or (iii) is acting in a bad faith, or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person.
h. USAU reserves the right to modify, suspend, terminate or cancel the contest at their discretion for any reason.
i. Contestant agrees to indemnify and hold harmless USAU, their parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, officers, directors, employees, interns, and agents, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debts, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees) arising from (i) violation of these Official Contest Rules; (ii) violation of any third party right, including without limitation any copyright, trademark, intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other proprietary right in connection with the contest; or (iii) any claim that a contest submission caused any harm, including financial, to any third party. These indemnifications and hold-harmless obligations will survive indefinitely beyond the conclusion of the contest.
j. USAU and the U.S. Government will take reasonable measures to protect privacy data, personally identifiable information, and other sensitive data of contestants. Contact information provided by contestants may be stored by USAU and may be used to contact contestants for other purposes in the future.
k. USAU assume no liability or responsibility for any loss or harm resulting from any user’s participation in or attempt to participate in the contest or ability or inability to upload, download, or otherwise access any information in connection with participating in the contest. USAU assume no responsibility or liability for technical problems, or technical malfunctions arising in connection with the operation of the contest, including: hardware or software errors; faulty computer, telephone, cable, satellite, network, electronic, wireless or Internet connectivity, or other online communication problems; errors or limitations of any Internet service providers, servers, hosts or providers; garbled, jumbled or faulty data transmissions; failure of any email transmissions to be sent or received; lost, late, delayed or intercepted email transmissions; inaccessibility of the contest site in whole or in part for any reason; traffic congestion on the Internet or the contest site; unauthorized human or non-human intervention in the operation of the contest, including without limitation, unauthorized tampering, hacking, theft, virus, bugs, worms; or destruction of any aspect of the contest, or loss, miscount, misdirection, inaccessibility or unavailability of an email account used in connection with the contest.
l. USAU is not responsible for any personal injury, property damage, equipment damage, or losses of any kind which may be sustained resulting from participation in the contest. By participating in the contest, the contestant releases USAU from any and all claims arising from or relating to such contestant’s participation in the contest, whether directly or indirectly.
m. USAU are not liable in the event that any portion of the contest is cancelled or delayed due to weather, fire, strike, acts of war or terrorism, or any other reason.
