Photo competition terms and conditions

  1. This competition is open to amateur photographers only. Entrants must not be professional photographers. For the purposes of this competition, we consider a professional photographer to be someone who makes more than half their annual income from the sale of their photographs.
  2. Photographic entries must be taken in Bracknell Forest Borough.
  3. Where possible the images need to demonstrate that thought has been given to the competition theme: Bracknell Forest’s mood-boosting places.
  4. Entrants can submit up to 10 photos as digital images or hard copy prints.
  5. Photographs submitted in digital form should ideally be no larger 5mb in file-size, with a recommended maximum of 20mb per email, so that they don’t get blocked by our mail filters.
  6. Contact details will need to be provided, including the photographer’s name, and either a telephone number or email address. Personal details will only be used for the purpose of administering the competition and will not be published or provided to anyone outside of the competition partnership without the photographer’s permission.
  7. Provide a unique title to each of your images, to differentiate them when they are judged anonymously and randomly.
  8. Entries should be sent to photos@bracknell-forest.gov.uk. Unfortunately, we cannot accept postal entries at this time.
  9. The closing date for entries is 31 October 2022. Any entries received after this date will not be considered unless a valid reason can be given, which is acceptable to the competition organisers.
  10. The organisers accept no responsibility for entries lost, damaged or delayed when sent by email. A confirmation receipt will be issued when we received email entries. If you don’t receive this, get in touch with us so we can follow this up with you. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted and there is no obligation to feedback on any photographic entry.
  11. A panel of judges will select winning entries to be featured in a public exhibition.
  12. The entries will be judged according to the following criteria:
    • overall impact
    • relevancy to category topic
    • composition and arrangement
    • technical ability
    • originality
  13. The judges' decision will be final, and no correspondence can be entered into.
  14. All entries must be original work and must not have been previously published or entered into other photographic competitions.
  15. The entrants must be the sole owner of copyright in all photos entered.
  16. Copyright in all images submitted for this competition remains with the respective entrants. However, in consideration of their providing the images for the competition, each entrant is party to this contractual Agreement with Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) and agrees that BFC and competition sponsors (such as the Economic Skills and Development Partnership, Duncan Yeardley Estate Agents and Bracknell Camera Club) can feature any or all of the submitted images in any of their publications, social media, website or in any promotional material, which may include display materials. As part of announcing the results, BFC will also need to share the images with local press contacts. All images used will be credited to the photographer. Email photos@bracknell-forest.gov.uk to receive a full list of third party partners for this competition.
  17. All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party. Further, entrants must not have breached any laws when taking their photographs.
  18. Take your photos responsibly. Seek relevant permissions for taking photos where required and always follow the Countryside Code.
  19. The entrant must have obtained permission of any people featured as subjects in the entries, who are clearly identifiable in the image. If you are photographing or commissioning photography of people you will need a completed GDPR compliant photo consent form for each person. If children under 16 are featured, or they are unable to sign for themselves, their parents or guardians will need to sign on their behalf.
  20. If desired, entrants may choose to enhance their images to improve their visual appeal. Global or local processing of the captured image, by cropping, exposure adjustment, colour correction, noise minimisation, dodging/burning, HDR, focus stacking and sharpening, is allowed. The removal of blemishes, image defects, overlapping elements or distractions by cloning and so on is also permitted.  However, nothing can be added to the images (e.g. replacing skies or other manipulation of composition). The judges reserve the right to exclude any image they believe may have had elements added or where the key items in the image, as seen by the photographer at the time the image was taken have been fundamentally altered.
  21. The judges reserve the right to exclude any image they believe may have been excessively treated so as to alter its authenticity.
  22. By entering, entrants will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by these rules and we reserve the right to exclude any entry from the competition at any time if we have reason to believe that an entrant has breached these rules, acted fraudulently in any way or brings us into disrepute.
  23. Bracknell Forest Council reserves the right to cancel this competition or alter any of the rules at any stage, if deemed necessary. For example, if circumstances arise outside of our control.
  24. If a winner is unable to be reached, after we’ve made reasonable attempts to contact them, we reserve the right to either offer the prize to a runner up, or to re-offer the prize in any future competition.
  25. These rules are governed by the laws of England and Wales. This competition is administered by Bracknell Forest Council.

Privacy notice

To enter the competition, you have provided us with your personal data including your photographic entry(s). Bracknell Forest Council is the “data controller” of this information.

We process your personal data on the basis of our performing a task carried out in the public interest, which in this case is to raise awareness about local opportunities for access to nature, education, business and so on. We also process your personal data because processing is necessary for the performance of a contract.

Data protection law gives you certain rights in relation to your personal data, including the right to request from the controller access to and rectification or erasure of your personal data or restriction of its processing, and to object to processing.

We protect your details in many ways. These include staff training, investing in technology and following strict handling and storing procedures. We will only share your data with the third parties specified in point 14.

If you have any questions about how we handle your personal information, or if you wish to contact us to exercise your rights in relation to your personal data, refer to the council's published privacy notice on our website.

If you raise a complaint with us about the way we have handled your personal data and you are dissatisfied with our response, you are entitled to raise a concern with the council. For more details refer to the council's privacy notice. You can find more information about this on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website.

Competition sponsors