GUIDELINES OF THE HUMANITY PHOTO AWARDS 2015

Mission

We call upon responsible photographers who respect and love life to take their cameras, in the form of feature photography:

• to explore and rescue the endangered folk cultures of nationalities worldwide; 
• to record the changes and evolution of various folk cultures in a genuine, vivid and profound way;
• to record, spread and share the multi-cultures of the world with the aim of enhancing mutual understanding and exchanges of human beings and promoting the world peace and development;
• to contribute to the World Folklore Photo Museum with world culture records.

Organized by

THE CHINA FOLKLORE PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION (CFPA)

The UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)

Schedule

Photo Submission Period: September 16th, 2014—April 15th, 2015 (Beijing Time)

Selection: By mid July, 2015, all awards will come out after three rounds of evaluation. The results of Performance Awards, Nomination Awards will be published on http://www.hpa.org.cn.Winners of Jury’s Special Awards, Documentary Awards and Grand Awards will be announced at the Awards Ceremony.

Awards Ceremony: September 16th, 2015.

Categories

Entrants are required to submit photo stories/portfolios (8 to 14 photos for each set) according to the following categories:

Portrait & Costume

Portraits of people from different nationalities; costumes and adornments featuring diverse ethnic cultures, including everyday dress, ceremonial dress, hats and shoes, adornments and hairstyles, etc; the making of costumes and adornments; distinctive attire customs such as dressing etiquette and taboos.

Architecture

The construction process, structure, interior layout and furniture adornments of traditional dwellings, public facilities and special architecture (e.g. religious buildings); the influence of the surroundings reflected on features of the local architecture; dwelling habits of different ethnic groups.

Living Custom

The usual living habits, such as diet modes, food making, cleaning ways and related taboos; ecological consciousness, education forms and folk medicine in different regions; comprehensive and serial life customs of a specific region, a nationality or a tribe.

Production & Commerce

The traditional ways of production under certain ecological environments, such as fishing, hunting, farming, forestry, animal husbandry, etc.; materials processing such as handicrafts industry and folk crafts; services that make life easy; business activities such as products transportation and trade.

Festivities

Annual and seasonal festivals, festivals on production and recreation, religious ceremonies, temple fairs; traditional sports, recreational activities, music, dances and local dramas performed during festivals, especially showing their positive role in communications among local peoples and nations.

Traditional Rites

Birth rites, adult rites, weddings, funerals, morality etiquette, etiquette showing respect for the aged; celebrations for individuals and families, village and family rites, worshiping rites, taboo rites and folk religious rites.

Awards

^①Five awards will be offered in accordance with the judging criteria: Grand Awards (G), Documentary Awards (D), Jury’s Special Awards (S), Nomination Awards (N) and Performance Awards (P).

^②③All prize-winning photographers will be invited to attend the award ceremony and related events that last for 3 to 6 days.

^④Prize-winning photographers are required to buy the flight tickets by themselves. Based on the located region of the prize-winning photographers, the organizer will then determine the maximum transport allowance for award winners from each region according to the basic transport expenses for a roundtrip from the prize-winning photographers’ registered cities to the city where the awards ceremony will be held. Transport allowance will be given to the prize-winning photographers within the regulated period after they arrive at the event venue and submit the signed paper flight itinerary or train ticket (Specific policy will be issued when the attendees are confirmed).

^⑤One Grand Award for each category, vacancy allowed. Judging Criteria: excelling in all three aspects: photographic technique, documentary value and difficulty in photographing, and can best reveal the mission of the HPA photo contest.

^⑥⑦Jury’s Special Awards will be selected among the Nomination Awards based on the stories of the photo sets, interviews and editing skills of the photographers. The prize-winning photographers will be awarded transport allowance. The final number of Nomination Awards will be made clear by deducting the number of Jury’s Special Awards from the original 100.

^⑧As a way of encouragement for photographers in Arabic countries, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean region to record local cultures, Nomination Awards-winning photographers in those regions will have the chance of getting transport allowance.

• Transport allowance is only offered to those prize-winning photographers who attend the ceremony and related events. 
• Attendees are required to apply for the visa and pay for relevant fees by themselves. The organizer will offer possible help, but will not be responsible for any caused problems. 
• Winning photos have the opportunity of being included in the content of HPA promotion DVDs and publications. Prize-winning photographers attending the ceremony will be awarded a paper certificate and the publications of HPA2015. 
• Prize-winning photographers and entrants as well are required to download the electronic copy of award certificate and commemoration certificate of HPA 2015 before 16th September, 2015. 

Entry Rules(Please read carefully.)

Entrants

1.    Entries are required to be submitted online via the entry site http://2015.hpa.org.cn. Please sign up on the entry site and submit photos in accordance with relevant requirements. All information is required to be written in Chinese or English only.

2.    The entrant’s name in the Entry Form should be the same with that on his/her valid identity certificate. Fake name such as “professional name” and “pseudonym” are not accepted. 

3.    There are no restrictions on entrants in terms of profession, gender, age, nationality, country or region.

4.    The photos must be taken by the entrant himself/ herself, otherwise the entrant will be deprived of the right to win the prizes in the contest.

5.    Photos entered jointly by two or more than two entrants will not be accepted.

6.    All entrants will be deemed to have accepted the Guidelines of HPA 2015. Any legal responsibility relating to entries, such as copyright, right of reputation and portrait, right of privacy, right of trade mark, etc. will be borne by the entrants.

7.    The contest is open to everyone except the members of jury and the staff of HPA 2015work team.

Candidate Photos

8.    Photos that have won prizes in previous HPA contests are excluded from the HPA 2015; prize-winning photos in other contests or exhibitions are eligible for HPA 2015.

9.    There are no restrictions on countries or nationalities which are shown in the photos. (Entries can contain images of several ethnic groups in one country or of one nationality living in different countries and regions.)

10.  There is no limit on shooting time. Entries can be taken on one occasion or over a period of time.

11.  The category of the submitted photos must be specified by the entrants. The organizer and judges are not responsible for re-categorizing any entry.

12.  Photo stories/portfolios must consist of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 14 photos. Each entrant is allowed to submit no more than 3 sets. 

13.  Photos must be uploaded with .jpg format, size between 1MB and 4MB.

14.  Only the necessary retouching which will not change the original appearance of the photo is allowed. All photos are prohibited from synthesis, addition, deletion or major changes in color. Photos with frames, special backgrounds or other decorative effects will not be accepted. To keep the authenticity of the record, composite, splicing and trick photos will not be judged.

15.  Each photo must contain a caption.

Declaration of the Organizer

16.  No entry fee is required for this contest.

17.  To guarantee the fairness of the HPA 2015, personal information of the entrants should not be shown on the photo or in the caption. Otherwise, the entry will not be judged.

18.  With the guarantee of the right of signature for every author, the organizer has the right to repeatedly use the entries in related non-commercial activities for free, including publications, exhibitions, TV programs, Internet displays, electronic media, etc. The Organizer reserves the right to do probable editing of the entries.

19.  Photos must be submitted before April 15th, 2015 via the website above-mentioned. (The date when the photos of an entry set are completely submitted is deemed as its submission date.)

20.  CFPA reserves the right of final interpretation of the Guidelines of HPA 2015.

Contact Information

CHINAFOLKLORE PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION (CFPA)

E-mail: link@hpa.org.cn

Tel: 8610-62252175

Facebook: China Folklore Photographic Association