1. Eligibility
Entry is open to those studying a recognised National Qualification, approved by QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority). Students in overseas educational institutions can also enter the Student Awards, but if you are an AOP Student Member, you get a discounted entry fee.
A significant majority of the final image must be photographically generated. Work submitted must not have previously been entered into the Student Awards competition in any form.
2. Entry procedure and format
Entries may only be submitted online through the Awards website (www.the-aop.org).
Each entrant can submit an unlimited number of entries.
There must be no duplication – images can only be entered into one category.
AOP Student members get a discounted price of £5.00 per entry. Non-members pay the full price of £7.50 per entry.
3. Image specifications
Images should be sRGB in JPEG format and no larger than 1920 pixels wide by 1280 pixels high. Your final file size must not exceed 3 megabytes.
You can name each image file as you wish, however, when the entry is successfully uploaded and logged in our on-line entry system, it will be re-saved with a new unique filename to preserve anonymity during judging.
Please Note: Your original file name must contain only the letters A-Z and/or the numbers 0-9 and/or the underscore character ("_") plus the suffix ".jpg". Any other characters, including further dots, hyphens or spaces, could result in your file being rejected during the upload process.
If you use Colour Management processes on your image files, you should use the sRGB colour space (Note: NOT AdobeRGB, as this does not display correctly in all web browsers).
4. Dates
On-Line entry will be open on the 23 February 2015, until 6pm on the 1 May 2015.
Entries received after these dates will not be considered.
Entrants will be notified of the Judges decision by email by the end of May 2015.
5. Selected entries
All successful entrants will be contacted and asked to supply printed copies of the images, within four weeks of notification. Prints must be supplied as an exhibition-standard window-mounted print (the mount must be thin white card measuring 50x60cm exactly). The image can be any size within the 50x60 window mount.
The AOP Student Photographer of the Year, Merit Award winners and Judges Choices will be announced at the AOP Students Awards Presentation, which will be held in conjunction with the Student Awards Exhibition at theprintspace gallery, Hoxton in central London in Summer 2015 (exact dates will be confirmed closer to the time).
All exhibition prints will be retained by the AOP for twelve months, after which entrants will be notified that they should arrange for their work to be collected.
The cost to return prints by post to the entrant must be met by the entrant.
This can be agreed at the time we contact you to let you know that the prints are ready. The AOP cannot take any responsibility for safe return via post.
Any sales of exhibition prints made through the AOP will be charged commission at the rate of 30% to Student Members of the AOP and 50% to non-Members.
The AOP reserves the right to dispose of any prints displayed in the exhibition that have not been collected by 1 May 2016, as it sees fit and without prior notice. Any monies made from the sale of uncollected work shall go to the AOP.
Any prizes won by participants and not collected on the night, must be collected from the AOP offices in London; we are sorry, but we are unable to send prizes onto winners.
The AOP reserves the right to request a new print if they deem the entry unsuitable for display (e.g. if of poor quality, damaged or an inappropriate size).
6. Risk and insurance
The AOP and any venue showing the exhibition will not be responsible for any loss or damage to entries or exhibition prints, whether or not caused by negligence. The AOP strongly advises entrants to insure their work accordingly.
Whilst the AOP makes every effort to ensure that the reproduction of images is of the highest standard, we are unable to guarantee the quality of the reproduction in printed material, should we need to do so.
The AOP operates a no refund policy for entries made in error or where there is no fault attributable to the Association.
Invalid entries can be removed if we are clearly notified that this is required, but a refund for that entry cannot be given.
Further entries should be submitted using the on-line system as before.
7. Copyright
AOP selected entries may be reproduced in IMAGE magazine and the AOP website and publications as well as used in various publications to promote these Awards including, but not limited to, print, internet, moving image, CD-ROM or other electronic media.
The AOP may use all selected images in various media and promotional videos in connection with the promotions of the Student Awards and AOP Student Membership.
The AOP and the AOP Student Awards sponsor(s) and partner(s) reserve the right to reproduce, without fee or prior permission, any work submitted to the AOP Student Awards 2015 in connection with promoting the Student Awards and the AOP Student of the Year. This right will be granted for a period of up to 18 months from the date that on-line entry closes. All entries will be credited to the copyright owner.
Each entrant shall be deemed to warrant that:
(a) they own the entire copyright in the image;
(b) if work is commissioned it is submitted with the permission of the commissioner;
(c) all necessary model releases and permissions have been obtained; and
(d) any clearances necessary under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) have been obtained.
The Entrant undertakes to indemnify the AOP and its sponsors in respect of any breach of the above warranty.
8. General
The AOP reserves the right to use its own discretion throughout the Student Awards process, which may include: disqualifying any entry not complying with the rules or amalgamating categories if they are under-subscribed.
There will be no appeal against the decision of the judges and correspondence cannot be entered into regarding the judging.
By entering the AOP Student Awards you are deemed to have accepted all the terms and conditions of entry.