GENERAL RULES

SOTTACQUA magazine, in collaboration with IYOR, International Year of the Reef, and Nikon Italia, announces the first edition of an on line underwater photography contest to celebrate the beauty and diversity of amazing coral reefs. SOTTACQUA is the only Italian representative of this international initiative to which participate, among others, Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Philippines, Reef Check, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP), UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and numerous Countries from USA to Japan, Germany and France. Purpose of the contest is to make known this beautiful but fragile ecosystem and to increase everybody’s consciousness of its importance and of the necessity to protect it because healthy reefs are tremendously valuable to thriving ecosystems, human health and global economies.

1. The contest is free and open to everybody. Two categories are foreseen: Open and Masters. All photographers who have never won either a national or an international contest belong to the Open Category. All photographers who have already won contests or are professionals belong to the Master Category. Placement in either one of the categories is based upon both the entrant’s personal statement and the jury’s personal information about the photographer himself. Placement in a category not conforming with the personal qualification will result in rejection.

2. Each month, starting from June 15^th up to October 15^th, SOTTACQUA magazine will host entries arrived within the previous month’s end on special pages dedicated to the contest. Photos will be anonymous and marked with a progressive number so as to allow the jury to freely vote without any chance of outside interference.

3. Entries may be sent to: iyor@sottacqua.info and submitted to our magazine starting form May 1^st. Photos received during a month will participate to the next month contest. Each photographer can submit only one entry per month.

4. SOTTACQUA will collect preferences expressed by a “popular jury” made up by the first 50 readers who, each month, will vote after having examined the photos.

5. The first 10 photos of each month will enter the finals of the contest. A jury of professional photographers chosen by Nikon Italia and SOTTACQUA will select 6 entries from the Open Category and 6 from the Master Category. These images will be used by the sponsors for promotional purposes and eventually to realize a Nikon Italia/SOTTACQUA calendar. The jury will select, among the chosen images, the overall winners of the two categories.

6. A TENBA MINI BLACK/OLIVE SHOOTOUT knapsack will be raffled each month among the 10 selected photos. Each of the two overall winners will receive a Nikon D40 with Nikkor 18-55 lens. All prizes are offered by NIKON ITALY (NITAL).

7. The monthly results will be notified within the month following the images evaluation, the final results of the contest within fifteen days since the announcement of the winners.

8. Images submitted should have a long side of 1000 pixel. The photographers should also have at disposal a copy of the images measuring, on the long side, 5000 pixel; this copy will eventually be requested by the Organization, in case of admission to the final section of the contest, so as to obtain prints. Unavailability of the image in such dpi format or quality of the same image judged inadequate for printing will result in exclusion of the author from prices.

9. The images will not be modified by the Editors who engage themselves to publish entries as received and only if the required standards are satisfied. Images will have to be sent to: iyor@sottacqua.info . Photos sent to different e-mail addresses will not be accepted for selection.

10. The judges’ decision will be final. The present general rules must be accepted in order to enter the contest.

For further information contact:

iyor@sottacqua.info