Nepal Photo Contest 2073

July 01, 2016: The Photojournalist Club (PJ Club) Nepal announces the fifth edition of the country’s biggest photo contest – the IME Global IME Bank Nepal Photo Contest 2073. The event aims to promote photography in national level and Nepal in the international arena.

The fifth edition of the IME Global IME Bank Nepal Photo Contest 2073 in association with Model Global visa consultancy, will be the biggest event of its kind for both professional and amateur photographers. And we believe it will be an even bigger success than the past four editions and reach new heights. The total prize purse is increased this year to NRs. 520 thousand across seven categories.

Ever since its establishment as an umbrella organization of photojournalists in 2061, the PJ Club has been working to promote photography in the country through various activities. As the flagship event, the Club has organized Nepal Photo Contests, the national level open photo competition. In 2071, more than 1,000 professional and amateur photographers submitted 9,000 photographs for the contest. It couldn’t be organized last year due to the earthquake.

The main sponsors of the Nepal Photo Contest are IME and Global IME Bank. The event is promoted by Nepal Tourism Board and supported by Model Global Visa Consultancy. The seven categories for competition this year are Ghumphir Culture and Tourism, Nepal Telecomm Wildlife and Nature, IMS Daily Life, Arghakhachi Cements News Photo, Shikhar Insurance Nepal Smiles, Model Global Visa Consultancy Sports and Photo Story. Participants can send photos taken anytime except in Arghakhachi Cement News Photo, which accepts only photo taken during 2071 and 2072.

This year’s events will be supported by BP Koirala India-Nepal Foundation, Adventure Sports, All Nepal Football Association, Yes magazine, Raika Tours, Vianet, and National Sports Council whereas Nepal Airlines will be the official airlines. NNA Media is the publicity partner and Foto Hollywood is the printing partner.

The event’s media partners are Kantipur, The Kathmandu Post, Nagarik, Republica, Sukrabar, Annapurna Post, The Himalayan Times, Nepal Samacharpatra, Rajdhani, Naya Patrika, Abhiyan, Arthik, Commander Post, Pokhara Hotline and Dainik Nepalgunj (print); Kantipur TV, Himalayan TV, News 24, Image Channel and Avenues TV (televisions); Radio Kantipur (radio) and ekantipur, onlinekhabar, setopati, nagariknews, annapurnapost, bizmandu, pahilopost, 12khari, ratopati, lokantar, newsnepal and mysansar (web).

PJ Club also announced a seven-member jury with senior photojournalist from India Prashant Panjiar as the chief jury. Panjiar, who was a member of World Press Photo last year, will lead the jury consisting journalist Kunda Dixit, photographer Mani Lama, curator Sangita Thapa, KU School of Art’s coordinator Sujan Chitrakar, photojournalists Narendra Shrestha and Prakash Mathema. For each category, there will be an expert in the first round judging. The experts’ pool include NTB CEO Dipak Raj Joshi, photographer Jagdish Tiwari, Federation of Nepali Journalist chairman Mahendra Bista, International Federation of Journalists’ South Asia Coordinator Ujjwal Acharya, photojournalist Devendra Man Singh and Nepal Sports Journalists Forum president Mahesh Acharya.

There will be three winners in each category and the best photo will be announced the IME Global IME Bank Photo of Year. The Photo of the Year winner will pocket Rs. 100,000. In each category, the winner receives Rs. 30,000 while the first and second runners-up receive Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 10,000 respectively.

The participants can submit their photographs and also learn about the rules of the competition on the club's website, http://www.pjclub.com.np. Photos for the competition should be submitted by 12 midnight on Ashadh 31, 2073. Only photographs taken in Nepal and by Nepali citizens can be submitted.

The best 150 photographs from the competition will be exhibited for five days in Kathmandu and will also be exhibited in four major cities of Nepal – Biratnagar, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi.

Categories

Ghumphir Culture and Tourism, Nepal Telecom Wildlife and Nature, IMS Daily Life, Arghakhachi Cement News Photo, Shikhar Insurance Nepal Smiles, Model Global Visa Consultancy Sports and Photo Story

IMS Daily life: Daily life photos are those images that capture the daily life of people and reflect contemporary issues. They are memories and tell stories that make meaningful portraits and works of art.

Nepal Telecom Nature and Wildlife: The images that capture the beauty of wildlife: flora, fauna and the living beings in the wild. The images could be of plants and animals, geological processes, weather conditions, water, wild animals, rocks, forest, and any kind of ‘natural environment’.

Ghumphir Culture and tourism: Nepal is proud of its culture – and it is also the main attraction for tourism. The photos that capture the essence of the culture and those images that can promote Nepal as a tourism destination, either places or activities, are ideal for the category.

Arghakhachi Cement News photo: Photos that tells the news – an event of importance in politics, social, business or sports. The photos must be current and mean something to the people. For this category, only photos taken in the Year 2068 are eligible. It could be published or unpublished photos.

Model Global Visa Consultancy Sports Photo: The photographs that capture the defining moments of a sporting event or competition. It could also be participants of the sports events – players, coaches, officials, fans, people and anything directly or indirectly related to sports.

Shikhar Insurance Nepal Smiles: The photos in a 'feel good' mood that instills a feeling of happiness and hope for better future to the people. Preferably those photos are smiling children enjoying whatsoever they are doing. Please note that the purpose of this category is to raise charity for social initiative working to bring smiles in the faces of deprived A separate terms and conditions apply for the photos submitted in this category.

Photo story: Photographs stand a witness to life in moments of joy and drama. This category recognizes the effort of those photographers that provides a window to the otherwise invisible events outside the reach of the "civilized" world. The photographs in series expose the crude realities and tragedies of anything: it may be the story of neediest and malnutrition, their unsafe living conditions, lack of educational opportunities, and much more.

Terms and conditions

• There is no entry fee for submission.
• The participating photographer must be a Nepali citizen.
• Submitted photographs must have been taken in Nepal and be the photographer's own work.
• Participants cannot submit same photos that have been submitted previously in this competition .
• Participants may enter up to three photos in each category and can participate in all categories. In total, a participant may enter a maximum of 18 photographs (not including the photo story). Entries beyond the limit will be disqualified (Only the first three entries in each category will be accepted).
• Photo Story: a participant may enter up to two stories. Each story should have a minimum of TWO photographs and a maximum of TWELVE photos.
• News: Photo submitted in this category must have been taken within year 2071-2072 B.S. There is no time limit in other categories.
• Nepal Smiles: While submitting photos in this category, the photographer agrees that his/her photographer maybe sold during the exhibitions to raise funds for the charity.
• Sports: Photos of this category can be taken outside Nepal but should be sports event participated individually or in a group representing Nepal.
• Photos that have previously won awards, in this or any other notable competition in the country, are not accepted.
• The content of the image must not be altered. Minimal cropping is permitted. Minor enhancements, including dodging and burning, sharpening, contrast and slight color adjustments, are acceptable as long as the integrity of the original photo is maintained.  The jury is the ultimate arbiter of these standards and may, at its discretion request the original, un-retouched file as recorded by the camera or an un-toned scan of the negative or slide.
• High dynamic range images (HDR) and watermark in the image are not accepted. Stitching of multiple images for a panoramic image is accepted but has to be specified in description.
• All images should be digital files. Pictures taken in other formats should be scanned, and the digital formats should be submitted.
• The dimension of the photo must be 2000 pixel (the wider side), 300 dpi and a file size of 300 kb – 1 mb. The photo should be in jpg/jpeg file format.
• The winning photographs and exhibiting photos will be selected by the panel of jury.
• Photojournalist Club retains the copyright of the winning and photographs selected for exhibition for a year for its promotional use. Full credit will be given to the photographer.
• Title sponsors may use the winning photographs for their promotional use for a year with credit to the photographer.
• Participant retains the all rights to his/her photographs; however, by entering the photo contest, he/she grants Photojournalist Club and its media partners a non-exclusive rights to display, distribute, reproduce works of the entries and texts, in whole or in part, in any media now existing (such as publications, websites, and social media) or subsequently developed, for any educational, promotional, publicity, exhibition, archival, scholarly and all other standard purposes of the Club. Due credit will be given to the entrant each time his/her photo is used.
• Participants also grant Photojournalists Club to include their photos in the Photobook. Due credit will be given and the Club by its own decision may also provide other benefits.
• Participant shall provide high resolution image for the print material (large size photo, book) after the completion of judging.
• All decisions of the jury and the PJ Club shall be final.
• Submission deadline for online entry is Ashad 31, 2073, 12 midnight.
• Winners will be announced during the inauguration of exhibition in Katmandu and also through www.pjclub.com.np.