Terms and Conditions for the 2025 Provincial Photographic Competition

The theme for the 2025 Province of Yorkshire West Riding (PYWR) Calendar Photographic Competition is “Wildlife”. The theme is open to your personal interpretation but we are looking for stunning photographs of the Province’s wildlife, or our human interaction with the wildlife around us. It is really up to you how you interpret “Wildlife”. Photographs taken in previous years can be submitted. Please indicate when and where the photograph was taken.

 The twelve photographs selected by the judges will appear in the Province's Calendar for 2026, with a minimum donation of 70% from the sale of each calendar going to the 2028 Festival.

GENERAL RULES

1. The title for the PYWR Photographic Competition 2025 is Wildlife. The theme is open to your personal interpretation but we’re looking for beautiful photographs that show off the best of the Province's countryside, its wildlife (whether found in the countryside or in a more urban setting), agriculture and recreation.

Photos of pets and zoo animals are not permitted. Images of UK wildlife in captivity are also ineligible. That includes photographs of wildlife taken in cages, aquariums, tanks, enclosures, pens or in any situation where the animal has been captured or restrained. Any photographs of animals in the wild that have been captured using bird seed, fruit, nuts or any other means of attraction must be declared as such at the time of entry. The judge's decision as to the eligibility of individual photographs will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Entrants must not cause injury or do anything distress to any animal or damage its habitat, either deliberately or inadvertently, whilst trying to take a photograph. This includes the flying of drones, which should not be flown too close or too noisily to wildlife, or their habitats or nest sites.

Entrants – including those using drones – must have the necessary permits and licences for photographing wildlife, and should, where necessary, have permission from the landowners to be on their land. They should be ready to provide proof if asked to do so by the competition organisers.

2. Photographs entered must be taken within the Province of Yorkshire West Riding.

3. Entrants can submit up to three photos in total (in landscape orientation and as JPEGS) to the competition website.

4. The Province is aware that digital photography does allow for some image enhancement. You can enter images that have had spots, scratches or other blemishes removed. You can have worked on the colour or enhanced the image for the sake of the composition. You can also crop the image to improve composition. We will not accept composite images - entries that stitch two or more separate photographs together to make one image, or entries that superimpose elements photographed separately onto an image. We will not accept the use of AI during the creation, design or development of the images.

We want you to stay faithful to the spirit of the competition, and never deceive the viewer or misrepresent the aspect of nature being portrayed. The judges reserve the right to exclude any image they believe may have been excessively treated so as to alter its authenticity.

5. The competition is open to members of the Province of Yorkshire West Riding only.

6. The competition submission period closes at 10am on Thursday 21st July 2025. Entries received after this time will not be considered. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted and no feedback on any entry will be provided.

7.  All photographs will be judged on the following criteria:

• Composition

• Technical ability

• Originality

• Public appeal

• Is it on theme

• Suitability for inclusion in a Provincial calendar

8. The photographs will be judged through the following process:

Stage One

All entries will be assessed in the first instance by members of the Provincial Communications Team. From this initial process a maximum of 24 of the best photographs will be chosen to go forward for the final judging.

Stage Two

A second panel of judges will then review all the entries on the short-list and select the 12 best, based on the above criteria. The panel will also select their overall favourite.

The judging will take place within three weeks of the competition closing date.

9. All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party. The entrants must be the sole owner of copyright in all photographs entered and must have obtained permission of any people featured in the entries or their parents/guardians if children under 16 are featured. Where an individual or a residential or commercial property, belonging to someone other than the photographer is featured, or it has been taken on private land the photographer must seek permission and be prepared to provide written consent, when requested. Further, entrants must not have breached any laws when taking their photographs.

10. Entrants will retain copyright in the photographs that they submit to the competition. By entering the competition all entrants grant to the PYWR the right to publish and exhibit their photographs on the Calendar and on the Province’s website in perpetuity. No fees will be payable for any of the above uses.

11. By entering, entrants will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by these rules and the PYWR reserves the right to exclude any entry from the competition at any time and in its absolute discretion if the PYWR has reason to believe that an entrant has breached these rules, acted fraudulently in any way or brings the PYWR into disrepute. When an entry is submitted by a parent or guardian on behalf of an entrant, the parent and/or guardian shall be responsible for the entrant’s compliance with these rules.

12. The PYWR reserves the right to cancel this competition or alter any of the rules at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside of its control.

13. Please take your photos responsibly and always follow the Countryside Code.

Photographs must be taken responsibly adhering to all government guidelines across the British Isles. Respect must be given for local habitats, communities and business such as farmland and nature reserves where there may be local instructions in place for visitors, walkers and others enjoying the countryside.

We will only accept JPEGS to be uploaded to our competition website, we will not accept hard copies sent through the post.