COMPETITION OBJECTIVES

1. Presentation of the mineral wealth and diversity of Central Asia’s mining and metals industry by amateur photographers working in the region;
2. Offering amateur photographers an open platform for exhibiting their works to wide international audiences and receiving peer recognition;
3. Increasing public awareness of the mining industry’s increasing role in Central Asia’s socio-economic development and sustaining environmental balance

VERIFICATION, SELECTION AND WINNER SELECTION 

Stage 1 – Competition entry and verification (from 11 January to 30 March)
Stage 2 – Winners’ awards presentation (19 April at Gala Dinner)

RULES OF THE “PROSPECTOR. MINER. METALLURGIST” AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

1. Amateur photography competition “Prospector. Miner. Metallurgist” is organised alongside MINEX Central Asia Mining and Exploration Forum.

2. Participation in the competition is open free of charge to amateur local and international amateur photographers.

3. Deadline for entering the Competition: 30 March

4. The winners will be invited to receive the Awards at the MINEX Central Asia Gala Dinner organised on 19 April at the Radisson Astana Hotel in Kazakhstan. Organising committee cannot reimburse travel and accommodation expenses of the competition winners wishing to attend the Awards presentation ceremony. Where winner cannot attend the Awards presentation ceremony, his/her nominee diploma and Award will be posted by to the address indicated in the Application form submitted with the photographs.

5. When required, photographers must seek company’s approval when submitting photographs of the mines and facilities operated by their mining company before entering the competition.

6. Only works that have passed the preliminary selection and approval by the Forum Organising Committee will be accepted for participation in the Competition.

7. Applicant can submit photographs for participation in several Competition categories.

8. Applicant can submit no more than 5 (five) photographs.

9. No more than 10 (ten) photographers from the same company can take part in the Competition.

10. The maximum amount of photographs submitted to the competition – 1000.

11. Photographs must be submitted royalty free. Applicants agree that the Competition organisers can use the photographs free of charge for producing media articles, announcements, press releases, as well as for artwork of printed and online products for MINEX Forum. All photographs, when possible will bear an indication of authorship.

VERIFICATION, SELECTION AND WINNER SELECTION

(a) The Organiser reserves the right to verify the validity of entries and the entrant (including without limitation the entrant’s identity) and to disqualify the entrant if they submit an entry that does not comply with these Competition Rules, if they tamper in any way with the entry process, or if they are unable to demonstrate their eligibility for a prize.

(b) The Organiser reserves the right to void the photograph if it does not comply with the Competition Rules or if the photograph or the entry form is determined In the Organiser’s discretion to be illegible, incomplete, objectionable, damaged, irregular, altered, counterfeit, produced in error, obtained by mistake, fraud or theft or in breach of any law or regulation of any country.

(c) A judging panel shall be established by the Organiser, with the judges selected in the Promoter’s absolute discretion. The identity of the judges need not be disclosed by the Organiser and the decisions of the judging panel may remain anonymous.

(d) The judging panel may use any criteria in evaluating the photographs including artistic and visual appeal as well as the extent to which the photograph captures the themes of the competition.

(e) Winners will be notified as soon as practicable after the winners are confirmed by the judging panel. 

12. The five winners (one winner per each of the competition theme) will be presented with the diplomas and valuable prizes at the Gala Dinner organised on 19  April 2016 at the Radisson Astana Hotel in Kazakhstan.  Winning photographs will be published on MINEX Central Asia Forum website and announced via news releases and media.

PHOTOS SUBMITTED FOR THE COMPETITION MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS: 

(a) The photographs must be relevant to the themes of the competition.

(b) The entrant may submit a maximum of 3 photographs for each category of the competition and the total number of photographs submitted should not exceed 15.

(c) The photograph must have been taken by the entrant.

(d) The photograph must be a single work of original material and cannot be a composition of numerous images.

(e) The photograph must not be in public domain.

(f) The photograph must not be altered, however: cropping, spot toning, dodging and burning (and their digital equivalents) in the course of normal fine-tuning is allowed; and contrast adjustment and color adjustment in the course of normal fine-tuning is allowed. In this clause, what constitutes an alteration in the course of normal fine tuning is determined in the Promoter’s sole discretion.

(g) Subject to the terms and conditions of these Competition Rules, a photograph published on a website or exhibited in a gallery may also be entered unless the photograph or intellectual property rights to it have been sold.

(h) The photograph must not be date stamped.

(i)  Uploaded photograph should be saved in jpeg (with a minimum of 3Mb), or *tiff format at 300dpi at an A4 size (30cm x 21cm).