Earth Day Photo Project
About the 2009 Earth Day photo project
Each year, for Earth Day, we conduct a photo project. We want to see how you would show EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment.
In April 2009, hundreds of you joined our Flickr photo groups and contributed nearly 500 photos! Throughout the month we featured your photos. Thank you all so much for your beautiful, thoughtful, inspirational contributions.
How did it work?
Here is all the information for how the 2009 Earth Day photo project was conducted. While we are no longer featuring photos, you are welcome to continue to share your photos on the Flickr groups.
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!
- In your Flickr account join one (or all) of the Earth Day Photo project groups, below.
- Enter one photo in each category:
- People and the environment
- The beauty of nature
- Wildlife
- We’ll feature your photos on EPA’s Earth Day site.
You can enter photos any time between now and April 30, 2009. We’ll be selecting photos to feature throughout April.
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 selection committee who are choosing the photos to feature.
When do I enter?
You can enter photos any time between now and April 30, 2009. We’ll be selecting photos to feature throughout April.
How do I enter?
The project runs on Flickr.com, a photo sharing site, to encourage participation and provide maximum public access.
- Choose your best photo for each category you want to enter.
- If you don't have a free Flickr account, create one
. - 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 .
- In the photo's description:
- Share where the photo was taken.
- Tell us something about the photo to help us understand the context.
- 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:
- "EPAPeopleandtheEnvironment"
- "EPAThebeautyofnature"
- "EPAWildlife"
By putting the photos up in your own Flickr account, you control them and the comments they receive. 
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 made 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
By entering your photos, you agree to all of the above. We reserve the right to disqualify photos for any reason; we’ll remove disqualified photos from the pool, but they’ll remain visible in your account.
How many photos can I enter?
One per category.
Featuring
How will you choose the finalists?
We’ll review the photos submitted to the groups and feature those that inspire us, or make us smile, creatively show the category, or just grab our attention.
Other Information
Earth Day photo contests are announced in March each year.Do I need a Flickr account to participate?
You will need a Flickr account to enter your photo to the EPA Earth Day Photo project. 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.