Student Still Photography Competition

1. The competition is open to all full-time, undergraduate students enrolled at institutions accredited by the Commission on Academic Accreditation of the U.A.E. Ministry of Higher Education who maintained significant control over the content and aesthetics of each submitted COMPLETE PORTFOLIO. Students who graduated after 1 May 2007 from qualified institutions ARE eligible to enter the contest. (Please see Eligible Institutions List to determine if your institution qualifies.)
2. All photographs meeting the defined sub-category criteria (Please see Sub-category Definitions for details), shot after 1 May 2007, are eligible for this years competition. Entrants are allowed to submit only one COMPLETE PORTFOLIO for each subcategory.
3. All entrants must submit COMPLETE PORTFOLIOS as defined in item Four (4) below TO BE ELIGIBLE for the individual awards. Individual awards will be chosen from qualified COMPLETE PORTFOLIOS. Judges may, but are not required, to select first place, second place and third place for each subcategory. Judges may, but are not required to, choose a single image from any eligible COMPLETE PORTFOLIO as Best of Show. Judges may also designate up to three honorable mentions in each individual sub-category.
4. An eligible COMPLETE PORTFOLIO for a subcategory must contain at least 2 but no more than 20 images. You do not need to have photographs in every category, but you must clearly specify to which sub-category your photos are being entered. The same portfolio may NOT be entered into more than one sub-category.
5. The sub-categories are: UAE Land, UAE People and UAE Leaders. Competition organizers and/or judges may determine whether an image meets the defined sub-category criteria (see Sub-category Definitions for details).
6. Each portfolio must be student produced and must be original work. Entrants must be, or have been, a matriculated student from 1 May 2007 until 24 April 2008 at the time the pictures were taken.
7. All images in the portfolios must be .jpg format, and must be able to be opened in Adobe Photoshop 7.0. Images created originally on film are eligible. HOWEVER, those images MUST be scanned and saved as JPEGs (Please see Submission Guidelines for details). Each sub-category portfolio must be submitted on a separate CD or DVD.
8. Each image in a portfolio must be from a single STILL camera frame (no video lifts permitted) and may not be electronically manipulated or altered (other than the normal balancing and toning of a digital image). No sandwiched negatives or positives are permitted. Burning, dodging and spotting for dust are allowed. Electronic alterations or manipulations to images other than those mentioned above are not permitted. Any one image that appears to have been manipulated beyond the above mentioned adjustments could result in disqualification of the entire portfolio. Judges and/or competition organizers are the only persons who may determine whether an image has been altered beyond allowances.
9. Each sub-category portfolio must be submitted on a CD or DVD, accompanied by a completed, official entry form. Entry forms may be duplicated. Entry forms must be completed in English. A completed paper copy of the entry form must be sent along with the portfolio CD or DVD directly to the contact person at Zayed University (Please see Submission Guidelines for details). Incomplete entry forms or absence of required information may disqualify the entrant.
10. Judging is blind; judges will not know the names of entrants. Therefore, an entrants name MAY NOT appear anywhere on any image. (Please see Submission Guidelines for details).
11. Entries WILL NOT be returned. The Noor Ali Award organizers, its management or its juries cannot assume liability for damage or loss to CDs or DVDs.
12. The decision of the judges is final.
13. Competition organizers must authorize any and all exceptions to the rules and regulations.
14. For entrants portfolios to be eligible, competition coordinators must RECEIVE COMPLETE PORTFOLIOS by 5 p.m. on 24 April 2008. Late entries WILL NOT be accepted. Please allow ample time for entry material delivery.
15. Entrants retain all rights to their images as guaranteed under the U.A.E. Ministry of Information and Culture Federal Law No. 7 of the year 2002 concerning copyrights and neighboring rights. HOWEVER, by entering the competition, entrants grant to Zayed University Noor Ali Rashid Student Documentary Photography Award organizers, their designees and/or sponsors, permission to use any and all submitted images or portions of any and all submitted images for exhibition, for educational functions, and for promotions and publicity of the competition. Further, entrants grant permission to competition organizers, their designees or sponsors, use of the submitted entries in any non-commercial publicity, news releases, or stories associated with or about the Zayed University Noor Ali Rashid Student Documentary Photography Award. By entering the competition entrants agree to all of the above terms without expectation of compensation.

Submission Guidelines

Scan original film images or download original digital images as a RGB or grayscale files. Do not use CMYK.

Cropping is encouraged. However, the final image size should be no longer than 11 inches (28 cm) on the longest dimension (width or height) at 200 DPI. 

EXAMPLE: An image may be 11 inches (28 cm) wide, and cropped to only 5 inches (13 cm) high. The opposite also might be true. An image may be cropped 5 inches wide and 11 inches high). At least one of the dimensions should be a maximum of 11 inches (28 cm). Images CANNOT be smaller than 5 inches x 7 inches (13 cm x 18 cm).

Save each file at 200 DPI/PPI (Dots Per Inch/Pixels Per Inch in JPEG format at "8" or "high" compression. Be sure to keep the .jpg extension.

Do not place a border around files.

Put all images in FOLDERS

Step 1. Create a folder titled “PORTFOLIO.”

Step 2. Inside the folder titled “PORTFOLIO,” create folders for each category you are entering pictures for “LAND,” “PEOPLE” and/or “LEADERS.”

Step 3. Place your individual digital images in the appropriate folder.

Entries must be submitted on a CD or DVD.

Securely attach a paper label to your CD or DVD cover, or write on your CD or DVD with a non-smearing pen (like a “Sharpie” brand marker), the following information:

1. Your name

2. Your institution’s name

3. Your student ID Number (For eligible graduates, put the ID you used as a student) 

4. Your e-mail address

5. Your telephone number where you can be contacted during the day

Information must be written in ENGLISH. All hand-written information must be readable.

Judging

1. Submissions will be judged on the quality of the technical, creative and aesthetic merits of the entries. Judges may choose, but are not required to choose, a single image from all entries as Best of Show.
2. A jury of qualified academics or industry professionals will judge each entry.
3. The decision of the judges is final.
4. Judges disqualify themselves from judging any photographs where entrants are personally known, or with which they or their school are connected. If a judge disqualifies him/herself, an alternate judge's scores will replace theirs.
5. Competition coordinators must receive each submission by 5 p.m. on 24 April 2008.