Photobird Photo Contest Rules Welcome to the Photobird Photo Contest! This contest has been designed to be fun and enjoyable for everyone. To help achieve that goal, we have created some simple rules below. All photos on the Photobird.com website, including the Photobird Photo Contest, are copyright of their respective owners. Please do not violate copyrights. Please respect the creative works of others. If you would like to use the photos for any reason, please contact the copyright owner listed under each photo. Your Participation in the Contest By entering or voting in this contest, you understand and agree to these contest rules. If you do not understand and agree to these contest rules, please do not enter or vote in this contest. By visiting the Photobird.com website, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. This page contains the following sections: Summary of Contest Rules No Spam Voting Rules Rules for Entering the Contest Rules for Winners General Rules Summary of Contest Rules 1. You may vote for as many photos as you'd like. 2. You may vote only once for each photo. Subsequent votes for the same photo are not counted and will not be displayed. 3. You may enter only one photo per monthly contest. 4. You assert that you own the copyright of the photo, that the photo and any photos composited within the photo are your original work, and that your submission of the photo into this contest does not violate the copyright of any third party. 5. The title and description of the photo you enter may be edited to correct spelling, legibility, punctuation, and common grammatical errors, but they will not be edited for meaning. If clarification of your title or description is required, a Photobird representative will contact you. 6. If the title and description of your photo is unintelligible, then your photo may not be approved. 7. This contest is open to people 18 years of age and older. If you are younger than 18, please do not enter this contest. 8. If this contest is illegal where you live, then please do not enter. 9. This contest is void where prohibited. You agree to assume all responsibility and risk for entering this contest. No Spam Except for the information that you can publicly see in the contest, such as your name and comments, the information that you submit to participate in the contest will be kept private and will not be shared. You will not receive any spam or unrequested e-mails from the Photobird website. For details, please see our Privacy Policy. If you would like to receive announcements about the Photobird website, please sign up for our newsletter in the upper right corner of the Photobird Learning Center, or subscribe to the RSS feed for the Photobird Announcements forum. (Learn more about RSS feeds. ) Voting Rules 1. You may vote for as many photos as you'd like. 2. You may vote only once for each photo. Subsequent votes for the same photo are not counted and will not be displayed. 3. You may not change your vote after you have voted. 4. You may vote until each contest ends, which is usually the last minute of the month and is displayed above the Enter Contest form. 5. Votes may be disqualified and removed from the photo contest at any time for any reason. 6. When you vote, we track specific technical information that your web browser provides so that we may identify duplicate votes. We also store your e-mail address and your IP address. 7. Contestants are not eligible to vote for their own photo. Rules for Entering the Contest 1. You may enter only one photo per monthly contest. 2. The photo you enter into the contest must have been taken by you. 3. You assert that you own the copyright of the photo, that the photo and any photos composited within the photo are your original work, and that your submission of the photo into this contest does not violate the copyright of any third party. 4. You understand and agree that you are responsible for all legal requirements and liabilities associated with your photo, including but not limited to securing permissions and liability releases from any people, products, objects, trademarks, brands, or other entities shown in the photo. 5. You agree to give the Photobird.com website the right to display your photo, your name, and the photo's title and description in this contest and on the Photobird.com website. 6. All entries are final. You may not change, modify, or remove your photo after your photo has been submitted into the contest. 7. Each contest has a theme and your photo must contain a reference to that theme. You may interpret the theme as you'd like. 8. Only one contest and its one theme are active at one time. 9. The duration for each contest is one month, starting on the first calendar day of the month, and ending at 11:59 PM Pacific time on the last calendar day of the month. You may submit your entry and visitors may vote until that time. 10. Photobird photo albums accept several different file formats, but the Photobird photo contest only accepts JPEG format photos. 11. Photobird photo albums accept files of any size, but the Photobird photo contest only accepts files less than five megabytes (5 MB). Please note: On DSL and cable modem internet connections, each megabyte (MB) of data may take about a minute to transfer from your computer; therefore, please be prepared to wait about five minutes to submit a five-megabyte (5 MB) photo to the contest. To decrease the transfer time, resize the photo on your computer before you submit it. 12. Photobird photo albums allow you to display photos at any size, but the photo you enter into the Photobird photo contest will be resized proportionally to fit in the area of 640 pixels horizontally by 480 pixels vertically. Some JPEG compression will be applied to your photo, so if you prefer that no JPEG compression is used, then please resize your photo to 640x480 or less before you submit it, and it will not be compressed. 13. All photos entered into the contest are reviewed for their suitability for public viewing. If your photo is not suitable to be viewed in public, it will not be approved and will not be displayed nor allowed in the contest. If your photo is approved, which usually happens within 1 business day, you will receive a confirmation e-mail that contains the link to your photo. 14. The title and description of the photo you enter may be edited to correct spelling, legibility, punctuation, and common grammatical errors, but they will not be edited for meaning. If clarification of your title or description is required, a Photobird representative will contact you. 15. If the title and description of your photo is unintelligible, then your photo may not be approved. 16. The Photobird photo contest reserves the right to remove from the contest and disqualify any photo at any time for any reason. 17. Nude, pornography, and adult-oriented photography is prohibited. Your photo will be disqualified and not displayed if it contains content that may be perceived as offensive to visitors. 18. All photos submitted before the official end of the contest will be considered for the Photobird Award and shown for public viewing even though they may only be available for public viewing after the official end of the contest. Obviously, to receive as many votes as possible for a chance to win the People's Choice Award, you should submit your photo well before the official end of the contest. 19. Visitors can link directly to your photos in your Photobird photo albums, but linking directly to photos in the contest is not allowed. Clicking on the photo in your photo albums and in the photo contest will display the photo by itself, without the Photobird frame. 20. As a contestant, you understand that while we have made efforts to detect duplicate votes from individuals, it is nearly impossible on a web-based system to prevent an individual from voting multiple times for individual photos, without developing a voting system that is more time consuming to use. Therefore, photos in the photo contest may receive an undetectable number of duplicate votes from individuals. 21. Contest entries may only be submitted online through the contest entry form. Click the Enter Contest button from anywhere within www.photobird.com/contest/ to locate and complete the official Photobird Photo Contest entry form to enter the contest. 22. The Photobird Photo Contest is not responsible for lost entries, misdirected entries, unreadable entries, delays processing your entries, or any other errors. The Photobird Photo Contest is not responsible for photos not successfully being entered into the contest due to computer, transmission, Internet malfunctions, or any other errors. 23. Photobird photo albums allow you to download your original photos, but the original photos entered into the Photobird photo contest cannot be downloaded. 24. This contest is open to people 18 years of age and older. If you are younger than 18, please do not enter this contest. 25. This contest is open to entrants of all skill levels. 26. If this contest is illegal where you live, then please do not enter. 27. This contest is void where prohibited. You agree to assume all responsibility and risk for entering this contest. 28. There is no fee nor purchase necessary to enter the Photobird photo contest. Rules for Winners 1. Two winners will be awarded for each contest. One winner will be awarded the Photobird Award, which is chosen by Photobird representatives with extensive photography experience. One winner will be awarded the People's Choice Award, which is determined by the photo with the highest rating of votes at the end of the contest. 2. Winners will usually be announced within five business days of the end of each contest. The winners will be notified by e-mail and their winning photos will be displayed on the Look at Pictures page. 3. Winners will receive the prizes for their respective award, which are listed in the Photobird Photo Contest section on the Look at Pictures page and in the Description text field for the contest. No additional compensation will be awarded to the winners. 4. In the event of a tie for People's Choice Award, Photobird representatives will choose the winner. 5. Photobird Award winners will be judged on color and exposure quality (20%), composition (20%), creativity (20%), overall presentation quality (20%), subject matter choice and interpretation of the contest theme (10%), minimal amount of photo processing and manipulation by computer (10%). 6. All judging decisions are final. 7. Winners must claim their contest prize within 10 business days of our sending their notification by e-mail, or risk forfeiting their prize. 8. You must submit a valid e-mail address when entering the contest to be a winner. If you do not submit a valid e-mail address, you cannot win the contest (because we won't be able to contact you to notify you as the winner). 9. Winners who also have Photobird accounts will receive additional storage space instead of new accounts. 10. Winners who do not have Photobird accounts will receive a 12-month subscription. After the 12-month subscription, contest winners may be required to pay a subscription fee to continue their account. 11. You may win one Photobird Award and one People's Choice Award every 12 months. You may not win more than one Photobird Award or more than one People's Choice Award within each 12-month period. 12. In the event the winner has already won the same award within a 12-month period, then the person in second place will win the award. 13. No substitution of prizes is permitted, except by the Photobird Photo Contest which reserves the right to award substitute prizes if any of the advertised prizes is unavailable. 14. Shipping costs for prizes are included for addresses in the United States. Winners located outside the United States may be responsible for shipping costs. 15. Prizes will require a signature upon delivery. This signature is proof of receipt and the Photobird Photo Contest will assume no responsibility for the prizes once received. Prizes are backed by the manufacturers' warranties. 16. Prizes will be shipped to the winners within 30 days under normal circumstances. Delays may occur. Winners will be notified when they should expect to receive their prizes. Prizes may be shipped either from Photobird headquarters in San Francisco, California or from the companies furnishing the prizes. The Photobird Photo Contest cannot be responsible for shipping delays. 17. Winners are responsible for all applicable federal, state, and local taxes, tariffs, and import duty fees that may be associated with the receipt of their prize. If local, state, or federal laws in your state, country, or region prohibit contests like this one, then please do not enter. 18. Employees and family of the Photobird.com website and any affiliated partners of the Photobird.com website are not eligible for prizes. 19. The odds of winning this contest depend upon the number of entries received. General Rules 1. The rules for the Photobird Photo Contest may change at any time. Any changes will be made on this page, and if the changes are significant, they will be announced in the Photobird forums. 2. The Photobird Photo Contest is governed by California law, and you agree to accept jurisdiction and venue in the Courts of the State of California. 3. The Photobird.com website is continually investigating ways to improve the Photobird Photo Contest. Please let us know if you have any feedback. 4. These contest rules were last updated December 28, 2006.