International Photography Awards

RULES

Who may enter?
This competition is FREE to enter and open to all nationalities over 18. There is a Junior Category for UAE residents under 18.

How to enter
Images must be submitted through our online awards platform at XPOSURE AWARDS for the photography categories. The images should be suitable for public display, printing, and publication in the Xposure Year Book. The JPG file format should be used, and the preferred resolution is 300 dpi, preferably in a ratio of 3:2 with exception to the Mobile Phone Category (if applicable) where the aspect ratio may differ from phone to phone. IMPORTANT: Image and film filenames for upload should only use normal Western characters and numbers. Special characters or symbols may prevent a successful upload.

More detail for photo submissions

• The preferred image size should be 5,000 pixels on the longer dimension. We accept images not captured at this resolution as long as they are over 2,700 pixels on the long dimension. (check for alternative variations in category descriptions) For more information on electronic submission guidelines see our FAQ.
• To enter electronically, you must first register online. Once the registration process has been completed, you will receive an e-mail confirmation. Log into the competition and follow the instructions to upload images from your computer. Digital images should have a long dimension of at minimum 2,700 pixels and be saved at 300 dpi as a jpeg file.  We can accept images up to 6 megabytes uncompressed if you cannot downsize the pictures. (Uncompressed means the size you see in Photoshop’s “Image Size” display, which represents the number of pixels in the image. It is not the file size on your computer’s hard drive viewable on your desktop.) Images may be colour profiled in sRGB, Adobe-1998, or not colour-managed.
• You may enter up to ten (10) images or films per user distributed in any ratio across the awards categories and each entry must be allocated to the category selected from the drop-down selection box. (see categories). To enable entrants to submit across multiple categories only one image may be uploaded at a time.
• Your photographs or films must have been taken or produced in the past three years to qualify.
• A Photo entry consists of one photo or film and the completed Title, Caption, and Place Taken. In the case of Short Films, you do not enter Place Taken or Caption.
• Each submitted photograph must be a single work of original material taken by the competition entrant. By entering the contest, the entrant represents, acknowledges, and warrants that he or she has full power and authority to enter the photograph and that the photograph does not infringe any copyright or violate any other intellectual property rights. The entrant agrees to indemnify Sharjah Government Media Bureau from any third-party claims arising from the photograph.
• Unless in a category specifically designed for photo manipulation, entries should not include adding or removing content or staging a photograph to mislead the viewer. Adjustments of levels, colour, contrast, and brightness are permitted.
• Photographs that include sculptures, statues, paintings, and other works of art will be accepted if they do not constitute copyright infringement or fraud, provided that entrants are prepared to submit a release form described below in “Third Party Releases/Licenses.” When photographing the work of others, it must be as an object in its environment and not a full-frame close-up of another person’s art.
• Photographs with a watermark or name that is not part of the original image capture will be disqualified.
• The nominated finalists will be notified and asked to submit High-Resolution TIFF and RAW files. These files will be used for verification before the winners’ names are announced.
  • For AI and Photomanipulation entries where a RAW file is not applicable, nominees must provide the layered working file with all layers and embedded assets preserved, for example, PSD or PSB, plus a simple parameter export from the tool showing prompts, seed, model and version.
• Short film entries can be in any language, but if they are submitted in a language other than the spoken English language, English subtitles should be present.
• The running time of film entries must be at least 4 minutes and no greater than 18 minutes. Entries that are less than 3 minutes will be excluded from judging.
• The entries will be judged according to the Judging Criteria defined in the judging and awards. In the sole and unfettered discretion of the Sponsors, the photograph or film must not contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, sexually explicit, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content. Photographs deemed inappropriate will be disqualified without notice.
• Online entries must be made by a user registered online at our awards platform and by the authorised account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. “Authorised account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, internet domain owner, or other person or organisation (e.g., business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.