Rules of the 2023 Asian Press Photo (APP)

Ⅰ. Conditions of entry

1. The Asian Press Photo Competition is open to all members of society, regardless of the identity and nationality.

2. Institutions shall submit images, but the identity document of each photographer is needed. It is necessary to submit the background information of the photographer, the general description of images and other image-related information, including the creation date, location, general title, single title and description).

3. Entrants may use his/her full name and own the copyright of the photographs.

4. One single image, image story or image series, shall be submitted to one categories.

5. No matter whether the images have been published or not, they shall be acceptable.

6. The organizer will use the winning images for the album and exhibition. Therefore, the image must meet the following requirements:

A. Upload the original pixel size image. Do not change the pixels or proportions.

B. The images are stored in the highest quality JPG or JPEG format for high-quality album production, etc.

C. ICC information embedded in the picture should be provided. Adobe RGB or SRGB format is highly recommended for color images and Gray Gamma 2.2 format is recommended for black and white images. CMYK color format is not accepted.

7. The pictures shall not bear any marks, such as the name of the author, the name of the agency or publisher, or any other information.

8. Photographs taken at a restricted event (i.e. a shot at a specially organized event, such as one that is accessible only to government, political party or company) will not be accepted.

9. All pictures must be with an exact description in English. Please refer to the instruction section for details.

10. Only images of single exposure and single frame accepted. The following entries shall not be accepted:

A. Multiple exposures, jigsaw pieces (two or three pieces into one, etc.)

B. Spliced panorama (automatically generated by the camera or made by post-production software are not acceptable)

11. Do not add, move, alter, distort or remove any person or object in the photo. Do not remove physical marks such as moles or spots from the body. Except in the following two cases:

A. remove irrelevant parts of the image by cutting

B. Spot caused by dust on the photosensitive element and scratch caused by scanning negative film

12. It is accepted that modifying the color of or turning color image into black and white not changing the content, except in the following two cases:

A. The change of color will not result in a significant change in tone such that the treated color is different from the original one.

B. Excessive adjustment of pixel, contrast, color and saturation causes the background or characters and objects in the background to blur and disappear, thus resulting in changes in the image content. The judges have the right to decide whether the work should be significantly changed.

13. Participants must provide original copies of all images entering into the final stage of the competition. The organizer will contact the photographer for the original copy between January 16 and February 24, 2023. Failure to provide these documents on request will result in the work being excluded from review.

14. Entries must be submitted through the official website of APP. No other means will be accepted.

15. The photographer owns the copyright of his work. When awarded, the photographer will grant unlimited permissions to the APP and Asian Art Association (AAA) using the images in its organizers and sponsorship activities, and shall not be entitled to require any remuneration; photographers will grant APP and AAA to use their images in games, exhibitions, yearbook, web site and APP activities for publicity, but not entitled to any remuneration.

16. For all the submitted images (except for the winning ones), photographers permit the APP and AAA to use low-pixel copies in the non-public collection for educational and scientific activities without any claim for compensation.

17. The photographer shall ensure that, to the best of his knowledge, the image(s) submitted does not violate any law and that no third party claims rights to, or objects to, the publication, reproduction or dissemination of the entries. The copyright holder will help AAA away from any claims by third parties.

18. Any dispute, litigation or claim (including any non-contractual dispute or claim) in connection with the Rules of Entry or arising from shall be governed by the laws of Singapore.

19. The conditions set out in the rules of entry are binding and AAA reserves the right to reject or exclude any entry at its sole discretion.

Ⅱ. The picture description should be truthful and accurate, able to answer the basic questions of the news event. The first part of the picture description must:

1. Identify the people and the events in the picture

2. Specify the place (country, city, region, province) where the picture was taken

3. Clarify the time when the picture was taken

4. Provide the invisible information, i.e. those could not be extracted directly from the picture, such as “according to the statistics from the police, this accident cause more than ten people die”. The second part of the picture description is for context of news event, or to illustrate the significance of the picture. Any information in the description must be verifiable. The last sentence describes the conditions around when the picture was taken. If the photographer influenced the scene in any way, or if the photographer made any gestures to the subject for the purpose of the portrait, these should be stated in the description.

Ⅲ. Code of Ethics: Participants must ensure that their photos accurately and fairly represent the state of the shooting site, so as not to mislead the audience.

1. Photographers must be aware that their presence can have impact on the scene in their photos and must resist any manipulation of the scene.

2. The photographer shall not intentionally contribute to or alter the scene in a photograph by means of reproduction or staging.

3. Do not give the subject any form of remuneration, including money and compensation.

4. The photographer must ensure that the objects in the photo have not been altered in order to maintain the integrity of the photo.

5. The photographer must make sure the captions are accurate.

6. The photographer must ensure that the adjustment of the photo story accurately and fairly conveys its original context.

7. Photographers must be accountable to AAA for ensuring that the entire process of photo creation is open and transparent.

Iv. Competition fee: The competition is free of charge

V. APP Categories:

A. Breaking News: Unpredictable news events or unpredictable conditions within predictable events. Single image must be taken in 2022; Image story must have been taken in 2020 or 2022, and at least one of the images must have been taken or first published in 2022. Photos taken in 2022, either as a single image or as a story, are eligible for the Best single image of the Year award. All image stories are eligible for the Best Story of the Year award.

B. Contemporary Issues: Predictable news events or situations. Single image must be taken in 2022; The photos must have been taken in 2020 or 2022, and at least one of the images must have been taken or first published in 2022. Photos taken in 2022, either as a single image or as a story, are eligible for the Best single image of the Year award. All image stories are eligible for the Best Story of the Year award.

C. Portraits: Portraits of individuals or groups of people. Single image must be taken in 2022; The photos must have been taken in 2020 or 2022, and at least one of the images must have been taken or first published in 2022. Photos taken in 2022, either as a single image or as a story, are eligible for the Best single image of the Year award. All image stories are eligible for the Best Story of the Year award.

D. Environment: Photographs related to global environmental protection. Single image must be taken in 2022; The photos must have been taken in 2020 or 2022, and at least one of the images must have been taken or first published in 2022. Photos taken in 2022, either as a single image or as a story, are eligible for the Best single image of the Year award. All image stories are eligible for the Best Story of the Year award.

E. Women's Right: Photography on Women's Human Rights. Single image must be taken in 2022; The photos must have been taken in 2020 or 2022, and at least one of the images must have been taken or first published in 2022. Photos taken in 2022, either as a single image or as a story, are eligible for the Best single image of the Year award. All image stories are eligible for the Best Story of the Year award.

F. Long-term Projects: the number of thematic photographs committed by the photographer for a long time must be between 16 and 30. They must span three different years and have at least four images taken in 2022. All single pictures taken in 2022 can compete for the Best Image of the Year award. All long-term images can compete for the Best Project of the Year award.

G. Awards by Regions: When submitting entries, choose the region in the traditional sense. They must span three different years and have at least four images taken in 2022. All single pictures taken in 2022 can compete for the Best Image of the Year award. All long-term images can compete for the Best Project of the Year award.

VI. Submit entries

1. Deadline:

Entries Open: Jan 15, 2023

Entries Closed: March 31, 2023

Election Term: April 10-20, 2023

Winners Announcement: March 25, 2023

2. Once submitted, the entries will not be returned. Asian Press Photo Competition committee reserves the right to process the entries.