1 – ORGANIZER

JEWELS PHOTO CIRCUIT

• Gran Prix Diamanti: FIAP 2024/206, PSA 2024-1202, GPU L240042, ISF 2024/17, FIAF  2024M12, UIF FI-04/2024 G
• Gran Prix Rubini: FIAP 2024/207, PSA 2024-1202, GPU L240042, ISF 2024/17, FIAF  2024M13, UIF FI-04/2024 H
• Gran Prix Smeraldi: FIAP 2024/208, PSA 2024-1202, GPU L240042, ISF 2024/17, FIAF 2024M14, UIF FI-04/2024 I
• Gran Prix Zaffiri: FIAP 2024/209, PSA 2024-1202, GPU L240042, ISF 2024/17, FIAF     2024M15, UIF FI-04/2024 J

2 – ADDRESS OF THE CIRCUIT CHAIRMAN

Executive Chairman: Silvano Monchi, HonEFIAP, EFIAP/p, EPSA, AISF, AFI, EFI, EFIAF (Italy)
E-mail: silvano.monchi@gmail.com – Phone: +39 3355747028
Address: Via della Vetreria 73, 50063 Figline Valdarno, Tuscany, Italy

Software Provider: HPCM – Hiho Photo Contest Manager

3 – SECTIONS

4 Digital Sections:

1. A) Free Color Theme (Color Digital) FIAP and PSA PID Color
2. B) Monochromatic Free Theme (Monochrome Digital) FIAP and PSA PID Monochrome
3. C) Photo Travel (Monochrome/Color Digital) FIAP and PSA PDT
4. D) Photojournalism (Monochrome/Color Digital) FIAP and PSA PJD

The photos must be sent through the appropriate form on this website:

www.photocontestclub.org

4 – ENTRY FEE

Entry fee is:

The registration fee must be sent to the PayPal account ID: pagamenti@photocontestclub.org

Euro 40.00 or US Dollars 45.00 for the 4 sections.

The subscription fees for groups are as follows:

• From 10 to 20 Participants: 36,00 Euro or US$ 41,00
• From 21 to 30 Participants: 34,00 Euro or US$ 39,00
• From 31 to 50 Participants: 30,00 Euro or US$ 35,00
• From 51 to 100 Participants: 28,00 Euro or US$ 33,00

Authors who have not paid the required fee will not be admitted to the competition.

Entries will not be accepted by any participant currently sanctioned by FIAP, PSA and FIAF.

5 – CALENDAR

• Closing date: April 30, 2024
• Juries meeting: 02/11 May 2024
• Notification Date: May 18, 2024 To each author personally by mail and on the website: www.photocontestclub.org
• On-Line Gallery: The results will be visible on the circuit website from May 18, 2024 to May 17 2025
• Pdf Catalog posted by and EDAS Submission: June 10, 2024
• Uncollected prizes will be sent by mail by: June 10, 2024

6 – JURY

Gran Prix Diamanti

• Carlo Diana, MFIAP (Belgium)
• Gottfried Catania, AFIAP, EPSA (Malta)
• Bruno Oliveri, EFIAP, MFA-BFAb (Italy)

Gran Prix Rubini

• Maria Gracia De la Hoz, EFIAP/g, MFIAP (Spain)
• Dominique Gastaldi, AFIAP (France)
• Bruno Madeddu, IFI, EFIAP/d3 (Italy)

Gran Prix Smeraldi

• Josep M. Casanovas, AFIAP (Spain)
• Azelio Magini, AFIAP, MFA, BFA-AG, MFO (Italy)
• Ana Šišak, EFIAP (Slovenia)

Gran Prix Zaffiri

• Lorenzo Di Candia, EFIAP/d1, AFI, EFIAF/b, EPSA (Italy)
• Juan Francisco Palmer Picornell, MFIAP, ESFIAP (Spain)
• André Torres, MFIAP, PSA** (France)

Presidente di Giuria: Sabina Broetto, AFI, EFIAP (Italy)
Indirizzo: Via della Vetreria 73, 50063 Figline Valdarno, Italy

Executive Chairman: Silvano Monchi, AFI, EFI, EFIAF, EFIAP/p, HonEFIAP, EPSA, AISF (Italy)
Email: silvano.monchi@gmail.com – Phone: +39 3355747028
Indirizzo: Via della Vetreria 73, 50063 Figline Valdarno, Italy

7 – AWARDS

Awards for the Circuit:

• Absolute Best Author of the Circuit: Trophy and reimbursement of US $ 400.00 in Amazon Purchase Vouchers.

Prizes for each Contest:

• Best Author of the Competition: FIAP BLU PIN and reimbursement of US $ 200.00 in Amazon Purchase Vouchers.
• Best Photo of the Contest: Trophy and US $ 200.00 Reimbursement in Amazon Purchase Vouchers.

Prizes for each theme of each Contest:

• Best Photo of the Free Color Theme: FIAP Gold Medal
• Best Photo of the Free Black and White Theme: FIAP Gold Medal
• Best Photo of the Travel Theme: FIAP Gold Medal
• Best Photojournalism: FIAP Gold Medal

Free Color Theme

• PSA Gold Medals
• ISF Gold Medal
• ISF Silver Medal
• ISF Bronze Medal
• 3 Special Jury Prizes (FIAF Diploma)
• 12 Honorable Mentions (HM FIAP, GPU, Jewels)
• 6 Special Mentions (ISF Diploma)

Monochromatic Free Theme

• PSA Gold Medals
• GPU Gold Medal
• GPU Silver Medal
• GPU Bronze Medal
• 3 Special Jury Prizes (FIAF Diploma)
• 12 Honorable Mentions (HM FIAP, GPU, Jewels)
• 6 Special Mentions (ISF Diploma)

Photo Travel

• PSA Gold Medals
• Jewels Gold Medal
• Jewels Silver Medal
• Jewels Bronze Medal
• 3 Special Jury Prizes (FIAF Diploma)
• 12 Honorable Mentions (HM FIAP, GPU, Jewels)
• 6 Special Mentions (ISF Diploma)

Photojournalism

• PSA Gold Medals
• UIF Gold Medal
• UIF Silver Medal
• UIF Bronze Medal
• 3 Special Jury Prizes (FIAF Diploma)
• 12 Honorable Mentions (HM FIAP, GPU, Jewels)
• 6 Special Mentions (ISF Diploma)

For a total of 425 Rewards and US$ 2,000.00

Prizes cannot be combined in the same section of each competition but can be combined in different sections even in the same competition. The only exception is the Best Author who can also receive awards for individual photos.
Unclaimed prizes will be sent at the expense of the organizers but at the risk of the recipients.

GOLDEN GRAN PRIX

The photographic circuits part of the Golden Gran Prix are:


• Strade del Chianti Circuit  2024, Deadline February 15th 2024

• Jewels Photographic Circuit 2024, Expires May 15, 2024

• Tuscany Photo Award Circuit 2024, Deadline July 15, 2024

• Natural World Circuit 2024, Deadline 15 October 2024

The Golden Grand Prix prize will be awarded to the author who has reached the highest number of acceptances in the 4 Circuits, in the event of a tie the number and quality of the prizes won will make the difference, in the event of a further tie it will be the total sum of the scores received by the photos of each individual author.

The Golden Grand Prix prize consists of a Trophy and a US$ 400 Amazon Gift Card.


CERTIFICATES:

The acceptance certificate will be sent in pdf by e-mail for each photo accepted.

8 – CATALOG

The catalog, printed in pdf, will be downloadable from the competition website

(www.photocontestclub.org) and the link will be sent to all participants.

9 – EXHIBITION REQUIREMENTS

This exhibition is open to anyone; however, an entry may be rejected when the Sponsor or the Exhibition Organizers, in their reasonable discretion, believes the entry does not conform to exhibition rules and these ES-COE. Membership in any photographic organization is not required.

Entries will not be accepted from any entrant who is on the PSA Penalties List for Ethics Violation. Entry fees are not refundable in these circumstances.

 Image creation and ownership

In all sections of the exhibition, images must originate as photographs made by the entrant. They may not incorporate identifiable images produced by anyone else (for example: clip art, replacement skies, or stock images).  Images created in whole or in part by image creation software (frequently called ‘AI’ images) are not allowed. Editing or alteration of images is permitted within the limits specified in the relevant section definitions that are available here https://psa-photo.org/page/division-definitions

Any person submitting or attempting to submit a totally AI generated image that does not begin with a light capture from the maker, from any Photographic Society of America exhibition, social media, event, or publication, other than for editorial purposes, shall be prohibited from PSA for a period of from 3 years to life.

 PSA Star Ratings:  To receive proper Star ratings credit from PSA, entrants must provide their names and country exactly the same way in each exhibition. Aliases are not permitted. Please contact PSA in the event of name changes or relocating to another country. Using one’s name differently in different exhibition exposes the entrant to the risk that many of their acceptances may not be recognized by PSA Star Ratings.

Reproduction:  The entrant permits the sponsors to reproduce all or part of the entered material free of charge for publication and/or display in media related to the exhibition. This may include low resolution posting on a website.  The Photographic Society of America (PSA) may request specific permission from entrants to reproduce entered images in its educational materials. The terms of that permission will be mutually agreed between the entrant and PSA except in the circumstances where the entered image is found to breach the PSA Ethics Policy. In those circumstances the image may be reproduced by PSA, without the entrant’s further permission, for educational purposes to illustrate serious exhibition rule violations. For those reproductions, the entrant’s name will be withheld. 

Entries will not be accepted from entrants who indicate that their images may not be reproduced in materials related to the exhibition.  The exhibition assumes no liability of any misuse of copyright

Re-use of accepted images: Any image that has been accepted in this exhibition, past or present, may not be entered again in the same Division Star Ratings Class in any future instances of this exhibition.  It may, of course, be entered in any other PSA recognised exhibitions but must always have the same title. Re-titling in another language is not allowed.

Entry: An Entry consists of, up to and including, four (4) images entered by a single entrant into the same Section. An entrant may only enter a specific Section once. Entrants may not enter identical or similar images into the same section or different sections of the same exhibition. Similar is defined as almost identical in subject, composition, props, lighting, or technique so that a reasonable person viewing the entries together would decide the entrant has duplicated the previous image except for minor changes.

Titles:  Each image must have a unique title that relates to the content of the image. That unique title must be used for entry of that image or of an identical Image into any and all PSA-Recognized exhibitions. Titles must be 35 characters or fewer. No titles may be visible to the judges, and nothing in the image may identify the entrant. Titles may not include file extensions such as .jpg or .jpeg (or any other camera capture filenames such as IMG 471). Titles may not consist of personal identifiers possibly augmented by a number; or include words such as “untitled” or “no title”. Titles may not consist solely of numbers unless those numbers are prominently contained within the image, such as a contestant number in a race.

Color and Monochrome:
Color and Monochrome images from the same capture that share substantial pictorial content in common will be considered the same image and must be given the same title.

10 – PHOTO AND NAME OF FILES

The photos must be in JPG format, maximum dimensions: 1920 pixels in the horizontal side and/or 1080 pixels in the vertical side at 300 dpi, compression 8-12, for a weight not exceeding 4Mb.
Files of larger format will be automatically rejected by the system.

No special requirements are required for filenames, the filename should be as you would like it to appear in the catalog.

The images without valid titles will be rejected and the competitor invited to resubmit the registration with valid titles. The organizers will not create titles for the competitor.

Only English alphabet A to Z and digits 0 to 9 can be used for naming.

11 – SUBMISSION METHOD

The Exhibition will be conducted in accordance with the rules of the PSA and of FIAP

An entrant’s images will not be presented to the judges consecutively. An entrant’s four images will be distributed throughout four rounds of judging in that section. Distribution of images will be in the same round order as submitted by the entrant. At no stage will a judge be able to view all the entrant’s images together.

12 – REMOTE JURY

The jury’s work will take place remotely. Judges will use color calibrated monitors and images will not be enlarged beyond their original resolution.

All participating images will be viewed by the jury at their original resolution, without reduction or enlargement. Images will be displayed at 100% of its resolution.

Large images with dimensions greater than the maximum resolution allowed (1920 pixels in the horizontal side and/or 1080 pixels in the vertical side at 300 dpi) will not be accepted.

The Acceptance rate will be up to 30%

13 – DATA PROTECTION

By entering this exhibition, you are explicitly consenting to the personal details you have supplied, including physical addresses, email addresses, being held, processed and used by the exhibition organizers for purposes associated with this exhibition. You also explicitly consent to such information being sent to organizations that have accorded official recognition, patronage or accreditation to this exhibition. You acknowledge, agree and accept that by entering this exhibition, your participation status which includes your first and last name, name of the country used during registration at the exhibition, number of sections entered and number of photos entered in those sections will be made public in a published status list and that the results of your entry shall be made public in exhibition gallery, exhibition catalog. You also agree and accept the policies regarding Breaches of Rules of the PSA. And FIAP.

14 – SUBJECT MATTER AND SECTION DEFINITIONS

Statement on Subject Matter – applicable to all sections

The fundamental rule that must be observed at all times and applies to all sections offered in exhibitions with PSA recognition is that the welfare of living creatures is more important than any photograph. This means that practices such as baiting of subjects with a living creature and removal of birds from nests, for the purpose of obtaining a photograph, are highly unethical, and such photographs are not allowed in any exhibition with PSA recognition. Under no circumstances may a living creature be placed in a situation where it will be killed, injured or stressed for the purpose of obtaining a photograph. Images that show live creatures being fed to captive animals, birds or reptiles are not permitted under any circumstances.

There are also concerns about the use of aerial photography, drones, helicopters, low flying aircraft. These should not cause any interference with other individuals or animals which causes a disturbance in their normal activity or disrupt the way any individuals or animals interact with their environment. Entrants in PSA recognized exhibitions should comply with all relevant laws and regulations, associated with aerial photography, in the country in which the image was taken.

Entry into PSA recognized exhibitions is conditional on accepting these policies. The content of images must comply with the General Conditions and with the Division and Section definitions listed in these conditions. Images that – in the sole opinion of the judges or the Exhibition Organizers – do not comply, will be disqualified so the entrant may be aware of the problem when considering entry into other exhibitions with PSA recognition

15 – MONOCHROME DEFINITION

PSA Monochrome Definition

An image is considered to be Monochrome only if it gives the impression of having no color (i.e. contains only shades of grey which can include pure black and pure white) OR it gives the impression of being a greyscale image that has been toned in one color across the entire image. (For example by Sepia, red, gold, etc.) A greyscale or multi-colored image modified or giving the impression of having been modified by partial toning, multi-toning or by the inclusion of spot coloring does not meet the definition of monochrome and shall be classified as a Color Work.

Greyscale Monochrome images may be entered for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel but toned images are not permitted for these sections.

Monochrome images may not be entered in color sections of PPD or PID.

FIAP Definition of Monochrome

A black and white work fitting from the very dark grey (black) to the very clear grey (white) is a monochrome work with the various shades of grey. A black and white work toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the black and white category;

such a work can be reproduced in black and white in the catalogue of a salon under FIAP Patronage. On the other hand a black and white work modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome) to stand in the colour category;

such a work requires colour reproduction in the catalogue of a salon under FIAP Patronage.

16 – PSA PHOTO TRAVEL DEFINITION

A Photo Travel image is a portrayal of the real world we live in, as it is found naturally. There are no geographic limitations.

Content guidance:

A Travel image is a portrayal of the real world we live in, as it is found naturally. There are no geographic limitations.

Content guidance:

1) If the image is predominantly or exclusively a land-, sea- or cityscape, these “scapes” must include characteristic, distinctive and recognizable physical features, although it is not necessary that the image identify the exact location;

2) Images that predominantly or exclusively depict people and their activities must illustrate a distinctive culture of a country, region, or continent;

3) Images that predominately or exclusively depict animal populations are allowed, if the animals are in their native environment and are characteristic of that country, region, or continent;

4) Portraits or other close-ups of people or objects, in addition to meeting the above paragraphs as applicable, must include elements depicting some of the surrounding environment to make it obvious that the image was not taken in a studio setting;

5) Images from events or activities arranged for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography, are NOT allowed.

6) Time exposures are allowed, if they do not dominate the image as a special effect (star trails, for example, are a dominating effect).

7) Highly distorted images such as those produced by fish eye lenses are NOT allowed.

 Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections and to the Editing Guidelines for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel.

Editing Guidelines for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel

These sections require images to be truthful records, so there are limits on the amount of manipulation allowed.

Editing Guidelines

Processing or editing must be limited to making the image look as close to the original scene as possible, except that conversion to grayscale monochrome is allowed.

Allowed editing techniques:

• Cropping, straightening and perspective correction.
• Removal or correction of elements added by the camera or lens, such as dust spots, noise, chromatic aberration and lens distortion.
• Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene.
• Complete conversion of color images to grayscale monochrome.
• Blending of multiple images of the same subject and combining them in camera or with software (exposure blending or focus stacking);
• Image stitching – combining multiple images with overlapping fields of view that are taken consecutively (panoramas);

Editing techniques that are not allowed:

• Removing, adding to, moving or changing any part of an image, except for cropping and straightening.
• Adding a vignette during processing.
• Blurring parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
• Darkening parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
• All conversions other than to complete grayscale monochrome.
• Conversion of parts of an image to monochrome, or partial toning, desaturation or over-saturation of color.

17 – PSA PHOTOJOURNALISM DEFINITION

Photojournalism entries are images with informative content and emotional impact, reflecting the human presence in our world.


• The journalistic (story-telling) value of the image should receive priority over pictorial quality.

• Images that misrepresent the truth, such as those from events or activities arranged specifically for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography, are not eligible.

• A number of images (typically 2-4), each with a small white border, may be combined into a single image that depicts a progression of events or related activity.

• Human Interest images depict a person or persons in an interactive, emotional or unusual situation, excluding competitive sports action.
Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections and to the Editing Guidelines for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel

18 – VIOLATIONS OF THE RULES

Non-compliance

See the PSA Ethics Policy at https://psa-photo.org/page/ethical-practices.

See the PSA statement on Subject Matter at https://psa-photo.org/page/division-definitions

If, in the discretion of the exhibition organizer or the judges, an entrant has submitted that may fail to comply with these Conditions of Entry, they are allowed to request unedited or raw files of the submitted image.

For composite images all files are required.

Exhibition organizers may verify that:

1. a) the images are the original work of the entrant
2. b) the images comply with the rules and definitions as set out in these ES-COE

Such entries may be referred to PSA for further investigation of possible ethics violations.

PSA retains the right to investigate all complaints, impose penalties if deemed necessary, void the acceptances of any image found to violate the PSA rules, include the entrant’s name on the list of sanctions provided to Exhibitions, and share such investigations with FIAP. Entrants automatically agree to these terms by the act of entering the Exhibition and agree to cooperate with any investigation.

If another party is processing and/or submitting images on the entrant’s behalf, the entrant will still be held responsible for adhering to the entry rules and will be subject to penalties for any violations to these Conditions of Entry or to PSA’s Statement of Ethics.

19 – NOTICE FOR PARTICIPANTS

NOTICE: When entrants fills in the Entry Form to submit an entry they will see the following feature to affirm they have read these Conditions of Entry “I hereby confirm that I have read, understood and agree to the Conditions of Entry of this exhibition. I have read the PSA document to be found at https://psaphoto.org/resource/resmgr/pdf/exhibitions/exhibition-entrants-agreemen.pdf. I am aware that PSA may apply penalties for breaches of these Conditions of Entry” I hereby expressly agree to FIAP document 018/2017 « Conditions and regulations for FIAP Patronage » and FIAP document 033_2021 «Sanctions for breaching FIAP regulations and the red list». I am particularly aware of chapter II «Regulations for International photographic events under FIAP patronage» of FIAP document 018/2017, dealing under Section II.2 and II.3 with the FIAP participation rules, the sanctions for breaching FIAP regulations and the red list.”

Failure to agree will mean that the application will not proceed.

20 – CERTIFICATION

By virtue of sending an image, the competitor certifies the work as his own (the images cannot incorporate elements produced by others, for example: clip art, images or drawings of others downloaded from the Internet). No aliases are allowed. The participant allows the organizers to reproduce free of charge all or part of the material entered for publication and / or display on media related to the competition. This may include low resolution posting on a website.

Note: Entrants who indicate that their images cannot be reproduced or used “will not be awarded” or included in the competition audiovisuals “and may be subject to disqualification” by the competition organizers. The organizers assume no responsibility for any misuse of copyright.

Computer alteration and generation.

Subject to division restrictions (in particular Nature, Photographic Travel and Photojournalism), the images may be edited, electronically or otherwise, by the manufacturer. Adjustments are allowed to enhance images or creatively modify images, provided the underlying photograph is preserved in a way that is obvious to the viewer. The images cannot be constructed entirely on a computer and must be the author’s exclusive work. All parts of the image must be photographed by the author who holds the copyright of all submitted works.

21 – FIAP ACCEPTANCE OF THE RULES

Pictures created by artificial intelligence are not allowed in salons run under FIAP patronage.

PICTURES CREATED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THIS SALON! 
It is reminded that all parts of the image have to be photographed by the author who is holding the copyright of all works submitted.
Offenders will be sanctioned for life!

22 – FIAF ACCEPTANCE OF THE RULES

Participation in the competition, with the mere fact of sending the photographs to the organizers, constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of this competition announcement, and, for anything not specified, of the regulations of the associations that sponsored the competition. The works presented may be subjected to the necessary checks to verify compliance with the established rules, and the Authors participating in the Nature and “Traditional” (TRAD) sections must submit, upon request, the RAW files of their works, aware that any refusal may result in the cancellation of the result achieved and any sanctions provided for by the regulations of the sponsoring associations.

Participants in the Competition, both FIAF Members and Non-Members, grant the FIAF the possibility of managing their participation data and images presented, both for the purpose of managing the FIAF Statistics and the FIAF Sites responsible for collecting and disseminating the results of the Competitions. sponsored and recommended by it and related images awarded and admitted.

23 – FIAF LIMITATIONS

In light of the FIAF Competition Regulations in force from 1 January 2023, images that have had admissions in years prior to 2021 can also participate in this initiative.
However, please note that any admissions obtained with these images, while not incurring penalties, will not be counted in the FIAF Statistics.

For the sake of completeness, please note that only images that may have had previous admissions in the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 will be counted in the FIAF Statistics, as well as, obviously, unpublished.

24 – DATA PROCESSING

We inform you, according to the article. 13 and 14 of the EU Regulation 2016/679 of 04/27/2016, hereinafter referred to as GDPR (General Regulation for the Protection of Personal Data), that the personal data provided as part of the international Jewels Circuit, photography contest will be collected and recorded by the Associazione Photo Contest – on paper, electronic and / or computerized and / or telematics media- protected and treated in ways that ensure security and confidentiality in accordance with GDPR regulations. We inform you that the data provided to us will only be used for strictly related and instrumental purposes to the event. To this end, as part of the Initiative, your data may be published online on the competition website (www.photocontestclub.org) or / and in the competition catalog. The data is required in order to be able to participate in the competition. We inform you that you may exercise in your capacity as an interested person, you have the rights referred to in art. 15 RGPD (including, by way of example, the rights to obtain confirmation of the existence of data concerning it and their intelligibly communication, the indication of the methods of processing, updating, rectification or integration of data, cancellation) by request without formalities to the Data Controller. The owner of the data processing is the Associazione Photo Contest Club with legal headquarters in Via della Vetreria 73 in Figline e Incisa Valdarno, Florence, through its own president, temporary, Sabina Broetto.