Earth Day Photo Contest
Has your community organization cleaned up a stream? Have you enjoyed a day in the woods? Has a wild animal ever sparked your imagination? If you've caught anything like those moments in a photo, share it with us!
Each year, for Earth Day, we hold a photo contest. We want to see how you would show EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment. We announce the winners on Earth Day.
How does it work?
- Enter one photo in each category:
- Enjoying the environment
- Protecting the environment
- Nature and wildlife
- We select 10 finalists within each category
- You score the finalists
- Highest average score in each category wins
Winning photos and finalists will be linked from the EPA home page for a week after Earth Day.
Each year's Earth Day photo contest is announced in March and scoring ends just before Earth Day, April 22 of the year.
See below for more details.
Entering
Who can enter?
You can be a citizen of any country, living anywhere. As long as you're 18 or older, you're welcome to enter. If you're younger than that, please ask your parent or guardian to enter your photo.
Other than that, the only people who can't enter are the EPA judges who are choosing the finalists and their families.
When do I enter?
Each year's Earth Day photo contest deadlines are announced in March. You have two weeks to enter your photos.
How do I enter?
The contest runs on Flickr.com, a photo sharing site, to encourage participation and provide maximum public access. We prefer that you use a free Flickr account to enter, but you may also email pictures to us.
To enter using Flickr:
- Choose your best photo for each category you want to enter.
- If you don't have a free Flickr account, create one
. - Once the contest opens, upload your photo to your account.
- For each category you want to enter, join the appropriate group and upload your photos to that group's pool. You can see the 2008 Photo Contest groups:
- Photos may be any size; Flickr will resize them and produce multiple versions .
- Allow Flickr member "usepagov" to contact you through the site - that's how we'll let you know if you're a finalist.
- Enter the following information in the photo's description:
- Where the photo was taken.
- Up to three sentences describing your photo.
- Add a tag for the category so it's easy for people to find pictures other than looking at the group pools. Use the quotation marks to add the whole tag so it doesn't split them into multiple tags:
- "EPAEnjoying the Environment"
- "EPAProtecting the Environment"
- "EPANature and Wildlife"
By putting the photos up in your own Flickr account, you control them and the comments they receive. If you don't want to create a Flickr account, you can send photos to us and we'll upload them for you. However, since we don't know what kinds of comments you'd appreciate, we'll turn commenting off.
To enter via email:
- Choose your best photo for each category you want to enter.
- Photos submitted this way may be no larger than 1024x1024 pixels and 400 K in file size, and must be in JPG format.
- Email your photos to us. We'll let you know where to send them when the contest is announced. Use a real email account so we can contact you if you're a finalist.
- Put "Photo contest" in the subject line.
- Put the following information in the body:
- Your name.
- Where the photo was taken.
- Up to three sentences describing your photo.
Please enter your photos only as described above. Unfortunately, we can only accept digital files, not prints, CDs, etc.
What can I enter?
Do your best to show the categories. Make the judges see the connection.
Feel free to...
- enter photos taken anywhere in the world.
- enter color, black and white, or partially desaturated photos.
- edit your photo however you like.
- include a border (not required, though).
- enter photos taken at any time.
- enter composite photos, where you combine more than one photo into what looks like a single image.
- enter photos that may have been published or used elsewhere.
- enter photos of other kinds of artwork, as long as you own the artwork, too.
Don't enter photos that ...
- you didn't take, or for which someone else owns the copyright.
- just show someone else's copyrighted work (for example, a photo of a painting).
- serve mainly to advertise a product.
- show nudity, drugs, violence, or symbols or acts of hatred.
- are illegal or prohibited.
- violate Flickr's community guidelines
We reserve the right to disqualify photos for any reason.
How many photos can I enter?
One per category.
Scoring
How will you choose the finalists?
A panel of EPA judges chooses 10 finalists in each category based on artistry and how well they show the meaning of the categories. We'll contact the finalists and invite them to post their photos in three new Flickr groups.
You can view the 2008 finalists below:
- EPA Earth Day 2008 Photo Finalists: Enjoying the Environment
- EPA Earth Day 2008 Photo Finalists: Protecting the Environment
- EPA Earth Day 2008 Photo Finalists: Nature and Wildlife
Anyone with a Flickr account can score the finalists. The photo with the highest average score in each category wins.
How do I give out scores?
With a Flickr account, you can leave comments on the photos. Choose a score of 1 to 10 (10 highest, down to 1 lowest) and leave it as a comment, along with anything else you'd like to tell the photographer. Note that you score each photo independently; don't rank them from 1st to 10th. You'll be leaving comments on photos on Flickr, so please stay within the community guidelines.
Are there suggestions for how to score photos?
No. You can use any scoring system you like, as long as you're consistent.
Can I give more than one score to each photo?
No, please score each photo only once.
Can I score photos from friends and family?
Yes, but be fair to all of the photos you score. Don't just score a photo highly because you know who took it.
Do I have to score all of the finalists?
You don't have to score all of the finalists, but if you score a photo in a category, please try to give a score to all photos in that category.
Do I have to enter to score photos?
No.
Winning
How do you decide the winners?
The photo in each category with the highest average score wins.
What do the winners receive?
The EPA home page will link to the winners and finalists for one week after the contest ends. We'll invite the winners to submit a short discussion of their photos.
Other Information
Earth Day photo contests are announced in March each year.Do I need a Flickr account to participate?
We encourage you to enter using a Flickr account, but you can also email us your entries.
You will need a Flickr account to score finalists because only Flickr members can leave comments. You can get a free account quickly and easily.
You don't need an account to simply browse through the entries or finalists.
Who gets the copyright?
By submitting photos, you give the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permission to use them for non-profit governmental purposes, including but not limited to environmental education and awareness. This permission includes, but is not limited to, publication by EPA in printed materials, television broadcasts, Web sites, or our intranet. You will not be compensated for such use. However, where reasonable, we will give you credit for the photos.
Anything else I need to know?
By entering your photos, you agree to all of the above.
Get email when we announce the 2009 photo contest.