Topic: Photographer’s “own representation of Women in Canadian Culture”
Deadline: August 31, 2011 September 30 2011 September 10, 2011
Prizes: Collective and solo exhibitions
Cherchez la femme! For details and entry form, click here.
[Info supplied by Barbara Lapointe]
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Deadline is extended to September
30th10th, 2011.Grand prize now includes a personal exhibition in a Parisian gallery and a week-long stay in Paris.
C'est Magnifique!
(Screwed up the above post and there's no edit option. Apologies for the double-post.)
The terms of this competition are of concern:
"Participants give their exclusive rights for copyrights to the Alliance Française of Ottawa and to the Fondation Alliance Française on the pictures during the whole contest and for 24 months from August 31st, 2011."
It's inappropriate for a competition organizer to require "exclusive copyright" (or any other exclusive right for that matter) from its participants. A limited license to reproduce the entries for the purposes of conducting and promoting the competition and its related exhibitions would be appropriate. This may simply be an error in translation (I cannot locate what I assume is the original french text on their website).
I caution anyone from entering this competition unless these terms are modified by the organizer. In effect you are releasing all rights in entirety of your images to the organizer, on a promise that you will get it back in 24 months---and there is no legal mechanism to force the latter as you no longer own the image, they do. Your image may be sold and used for any purpose whatsoever, including commercial use, without any compensation to you, and at the same time you will have no rights to do the same with the image yourself. Also, by participants giving away full copyright, the organizers would have unlimited rights to establish their own licensing agreements (including exclusive ones) with other 3rd parties that may last well beyond 24 months. In other words, your image may be used by others without you being able to do anything about it for the rest of your life.
I am not assuming that the above are the intents of the organizers. I am merely identifying what happens when organizers aquire excessive legal terms from who-knows-where and blindly apply them to their competitions without due considerations for the rights of the artists that they would exploit.
In regards to the previous post, please note that if you do not earn a substantial amount of money from your photos and that you really are an amateur photographer, giving away your rights on a photo should not be a big issue. Unless you consider the picture you are submitting the best picture you ever took in your life, you know you can always take more pictures. After all, this contest is limited to amateur photographers and they are only asking you to submit two pictures. They are not trying to take away your livelihood and they are not asking you to give away your soul. Furthermore, I dont think the Alliance is in the photo business or is even a for profit entreprise.
One info that is of vital importance is that the contest for the Alliance française of Ottawa ends on SEPTEMBER 10, NOT on August 31st and NOT on September 30. I know because I called up the Alliance française in Ottawa about this. It is spelled in black and white (in French AND in English) on their website as well.
Also, please note that you do not have to and should not provide your date of birth on the application form. I was told again by the lady at the Alliance française that this form was prepared by the headquarters in Paris and this information is not viewed as essential. Therefore, do not provide it.