Nature Photography Contest
2024 Nature Photo Contest Rules
1. This contest is open to everyone except park employees and professional photographers*
*For this purpose, a professional photographer is someone who has earned $5,000 or more in the 2023 calendar year producing or selling photographs.
2. Entry Categories: Youth Division (17 and under) and Adult Division (18 and over) as follows:
A. Flora
B. Fauna
C. Landscape
D. Parks Potpourri
3. Specifications in Individual Categories:
- Fauna will include all animal life; Flora will include plants as well as fungus, etc.
- In Categories A, B, & C the human element must be minimized.
- The Human Element includes manmade structures, humans, domestic animals, or horticultural plants.
- In Category D the human element rule does not apply, but the photo must be taken in a park operated by the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District. Permission must be obtained for any recognizable person in your photograph.
4. Judging: Blind judging will take place by a nature photography professional.
5. Awards*: Awards are generously sponsored by Alloway Environmental Testing! They will the same in all categories and both Youth and Adult divisions and are as follows:
- Best of Show**= $60; 1st Place = $30; 2nd Place = $15; 3rd Place = $10
*All awards are given at the judge’s discretion and may be limited due to quantity or quality of entries.
**Participants are limited to winning Best of Show once every two years.
6. Location: All contest entries must have been taken in Allen County, Ohio.
7. Entry Limitations: Eight entries per person, with no more than two in any one category. Past awarded photographs are not eligible.
All photos will be submitted digitally. Each photo shall be uploaded (high-quality jpg) using the form below with the following information:
- Name of Photographer
- Contact information
- Entry Division/Category
- Location
8. To be eligible to win a prize, all submitted photographs must accurately reflect the subject matter as it appeared in the view finder. Normal processing of the original file is permitted, including:
- cropping
- minor adjustments to color, white balance, tone, lighting levels and curves, shadows and highlights, saturation, contrast, sharpness
- removal of dust spots or reduction of image noise
9. Photographs that have been digitally or otherwise altered beyond standard optimization will be disqualified. That includes:
- HDR frame stacking or stitched panoramic
- 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
10. Entry Deadline: Entries must be submitted to the Park District no later 11:59 p.m. Sunday, October 27th, 2024 Call 419-221-1232 for additional information.
11. Social Media: Winners and contestants will be shared on our Facebook page, which will link to Flickr, where all photos can be viewed soon after the Entry Deadline.
12. Prints of placing photos will be displayed at Art Space Lima (artspacelima.com) through the end of the year, and then displayed in the McElroy Environmental Education Center (MEEC) for 2025.
13. By entering the contest, you grant permission for the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District to use your photo(s), without compensation, in any manner serving the mission of the Park District including for promotion, publication, presentation, education, social media, and others. Photos will be credited whenever feasible.
