Local AltaCal Photo Contest Guidelines
Entry Period
Sunday, Oct 1, 2023 at 12 p.m. - Friday, Dec 15, 2023 at 12 p.m. Entry into this Contest constitutes your acceptance of these Official Rules.
Sponsor
AltaCal, P.O. Box 3671, Chico, CA 95927-3671
Who May Enter
All residents of Butte, Glenn, and Tehama Counties who are 13 years of age or older as of the date of Submission. Employees of AltaCal, its board members, judges, and their immediate families are not eligible to participate.
Photo Contest Categories
You may submit photos to any or all of the three categories. There is an entry fee of $10, which covers 3 photos. There is no limit to the number of photos you may submit, but a 10$ entry fee is required for each 3 photos submitted. This money will help cover printing costs of the winning photos, which will be displayed at the Snow Goose Festival headquarters in 2024.
Eligible Photographs
To be eligible to win a prize, all submitted Photographs must be taken in Butte, Glenn, or Tehama Counties, depict birdlife (i.e., contain at least one bird or bird part) and accurately reflect the subject matter as it appeared in the viewfinder (a “Photograph”). Photos must contain wild native birds in them. Normal processing of the original file is acceptable; see allowable photo editing guidelines below.
How to Enter
There are two ways to enter the Contest. However, you may submit Photographs by one method only.
- Email: Email photos along with required information to audubonaltacal@gmail.com
- Mail: To enter by mail, you must: Mail the Photograph(s), and the required information listed in bullet points to: ALTACAL AUDUBON SOCIETY, P.O. Box 3671, Chico, CA 95927-3671
Along with the photograph(s), all submissions must include the following required information:
- Photographer’s name, contact information, and mailing address
- Location and date at which the photograph was shot
- A caption for the photograph with information such as the name of the bird(s), and what they’re doing.
- Indicate which category (or categories)
you are submitting photo(s) for
Judging
Judging will be conducted by a panel of photography and/or bird experts to be appointed by the Sponsor. Judges will score eligible Photographs using the following criteria: a) Technical Quality (33 percent); b) Originality (33 percent); and c) Artistic Merit (34 percent). One Prize will be awarded to the highest-scoring Photograph from each category.
No Entrant may win more than one prize. In the event of a tie for any prize, the Judges will use the Artistic Merit score of each tied Photograph to rank the Photographs. The Photograph with the highest Artistic Merit score will be the winner of that prize. The decisions of the Judges and the Sponsor will be final. Winners will be contacted and confirmed by U.S. mail, email, and/or telephone around the end of December 2023.
Prizes
There are three Prizes available to be won: one prize in each of the three categories (Bird Portraits, Birds in their Habitat/Landscape, or Birds and their Food/Prey, each referred to as a “Prize” or collectively as “Prizes”). Prizes will be awarded only to the person whose name is on the winning entry at the time of Submission.
- Bird Portraits 1st Place Prize: $100.00 USD, AltaCal t-shirt, Choice of bird book from AltaCal’s collection
- Birds in their Habitat/Landscape 1st Place Prize: $100.00 USD, AltaCal t-shirt, Choice of bird book from Altacal’s collection
- Birds and their Food/Prey 1st Place Prize: $100.00 USD, AltaCal t-shirt, Choice of bird book from AltaCal’s collection
Winners are responsible for the payment of any taxes on Prizes.
Prizes will be awarded within 45 days of each winner being confirmed.
Prize Conditions
Prizes are not redeemable for cash, assignable, transferable and may not be substituted except at Sponsor’s sole discretion. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value at its discretion. Any other incidental expenses on a Prize not specified herein are the sole responsibility of each winner. Once a Prize has been delivered to the winner’s residence, the Prize is considered awarded.
Submitted Photos
AltaCal reserves the rights to all submitted photos. AltaCal can use the photos in our pamphlets, reports, etc. Photo credit will be given to the photographer when photos are used; AltaCal is willing to add a photographer’s watermark to photos we use at the request of the photographer. Do not include watermarks on any photos submitted for this contest.
Additional Information Regarding Photo Editing and Ethical Bird Photography:
(Guideline text was directly copied (and then significantly amended) from Nat’l Audubon Guidelines linked here -> Audubon Photography Awards 2022 Official Contest Rules)
Allowable Photo Editing Guidelines below
That includes:
- cropping
- minor adjustments to color, white balance, tone, lighting levels and curves, shadows and highlights, saturation, contrast, sharpness
- moderate dodging and burning
- removal of dust spots and moderate reduction of image noise
Photographs that have been digitally or otherwise altered beyond standard optimization will be disqualified. That includes:
- HDR frame stacking
- stitched panoramas
- images that have been manipulated by the addition, removal, or alteration (painting over, cloning, or blurring) of anything in the original subject and scene that were photographed
- borders, signatures or watermarks
- changes in color so significant that the processed colors are widely different from the original colors
- changes in density, contrast, color and/or saturation levels and dodging and burning that significantly alter content by obscuring or eliminating information in the picture
You will be required to provide Altacal Audubon with original image files (RAW, jpg, etc.) in the timeframe provided upon request (generally within 7 days). Judges will determine whether changes to an image are significant enough to disqualify an entry. Failure to provide original files may result in the disqualification of the Photograph at Audubon’s sole discretion. Any entrant that contacts a judge (not the general photo contest email account) while the competition is open or during the judging phase may be disqualified. The decision by the Sponsor to disqualify any Submission is final.
Ethical Bird Photography and Videography
Altacal Audubon encourages every photographer/videographer to practice responsible bird photography/videography. Prior to submitting any Photograph/Video, you must read Audubon’s Guide to Ethical Bird Photography and Videography. A Photograph/Video that appears to the Sponsor or Judges to reflect one of the following situations is not eligible for Submission and, if submitted, will be disqualified at Audubon’s sole discretion. That includes:
- birds (including chicks) that appear to be stressed or harassed by the photographer/videographer
- birds at nests taken with wide-angle or macro lens
- beach-nesting birds, including but not limited to solitary flightless chicks and adults brooding, feeding, or incubating chicks, where the photographer’s/videographer’s distance appears to be closer than approximately 25 yards
- birds (including but not limited to hawks, owls, eagles, ospreys, roadrunners) lured with bait. “Bait” includes live animals (such as snakes, fish, mice, crickets, worms), dead animals or parts of animals, processed meat, and decoys such as fake mice.
- nocturnal birds (e.g., owls, nightjars) taken with a flash at night
- birds photographed by or with drones
- birds photographed with a remotely triggered camera that uses a direct flash or for which bait or another lure has been supplied to attract the animal. Setting a camera trap around a fresh kill or cache is generally acceptable, as is the use of a flash with a filter that only lets through infrared light.
- birds photographed or filmed using playback of bird call recordings
Judges will consider focal length, crop factor, species, and other variables to decide whether a shot was ethically obtained. Judges’ decisions are final.