Competition rules

1. The competition launches on 1 September 2011. There will be four separate, seasonal heats, starting with autumn and ending with the summer heat, after which the competition will close to entries on 31 August 2012.
2. The Owners of the competition are WWT (all centres and subsidiaries). The competition is open to anyone except those involved in its organisation and employees of WWT.
3. How to enter: All photographs must be entered via the website www.wwt.org.uk/photo. Those without internet access should contact 01453 891144.
4. WWT staff and volunteers or their immediate families are not eligible to enter.
5. Each entrant may submit an unlimited numbers of different photographs across the categories. However only one picture from a series is allowed per category and no one image may be entered into more than one category. You also cannot re-enter the same photograph in subsequent seasonal heats of the competition.
6. Photographs entered in each specific seasonal heat must have been taken during the appropriate season, except World Wetlands category. All entries clearly depicting an alternate season (ie a snowy scene entered in the summer heat) will be disqualified. 
7. Photographs must have been taken within the five years immediately prior to the closing date, and must NOT have been submitted to a previous WWT Photography Competition.
8. There are four main categories in the competition. Entries in the Wetland Wildlife, Wetland Landscapes and Wildlife & People categories MUST have been taken at one of WWT’s nine wetland wildlife centres across the UK. The fourth main category, World Wetlands, invites entries of photographs taken anywhere in the world.
9. Under 18s should enter images under the relevant categories but are ineligible to win any of the four main categories. All entries made by under 18s in any of the categories will be judged in the prestigious youth category - Young Photographer of the Year. Entrants must be aged 17 or under on the closing date of 31 August 2012. If you are under 16 years of age, you must obtain your parent's or guardian's permission before entering the competition.
10. The public are invited to vote online for their favourite photograph during each seasonal heat. The People's Choice award will be given to the entry for each centre during that season which receives the most votes. In the case of a tie or suspicion of irregular voting, a panel of experts will judge the overall winner on photographic merit. The judges decision is final.
11. Entrants must submit a minimum of three photographs in at least two or more of the seasonal heats to be considered for the Portfolio Photographer of the Year Award. Their three best images overall, as decided by our judges, will be considered after the closing date of 31 August 2012 and the winner announced at the national finals.
12. The judging panel is made up of industry experts, professional and celebrity photographers and representatives of WWT and Canon.
13. Judging will take place at the close of each heat and that season’s heat winners for the Wetland Wildlife, Wetland Landscapes, Wildlife & People categories, people’s choice and Junior category will be announced for each WWT centre.
14. In the World Wetlands category, a shortlist of images, and a single winning photograph will be chosen at the end of each seasonal heat.
15. At the close of the fourth seasonal heat, all heat winners will go through to the national finals to be held in autumn 2012 at a WWT wetland centre. The judges will then announce the overall winning photographs in each category from the winners of all four seasonal heats from each centre. 
16. National prizes will be awarded in the Wetland Wildlife, Wetland Landscape, Wildlife & People and People’s Choice categories, plus prizes given to the Junior Photographer of the Year Award winner and the Portfolio Photographer of the Year Award winner.
17. Format: Images should be submitted as JPEGS, with no interpolation applied. No allowance will be made for poor quality scans.
    Adjusting your image: The faithful representation of what was captured at the time of the shot being taken must be maintained. Digital adjustments are only acceptable if limited to minor cleaning work (removing dust spots), levels, curves, colour, saturation and contrast work. Sharpening and minimal cropping is allowed.
18. Compositing, multiple exposures, sandwich shots and double exposures are not permitted. Adding or removing animals, parts of animals, plants, distractions, people etc into/from the image is not allowed.
19. All photographers will be asked to declare that the images they are submitting comply with the competition rules and that the picture information they provide is complete, true and accurate.
20. The organisers cannot be held responsible for emails that do not arrive due to the entrant's email security settings or restrictions placed by their Internet service provider.
21. The Owners' decision on all matters relating to the competition is final, and no correspondence will be entered into concerning the competition's judging and organisation.
22. Should the quality of entries fall below the standard required, the Owners reserve the right not to award prizes.
23. Copyright & Reproduction: You must be the sole author and owner of the copyright for all images entered. You will retain copyright of your entries at all times and always be credited alongside your picture.
24. By entering your images into the competition, you grant permission to the WWT for a non-exclusive licence to reproduce the images in connection with the competition for the following purposes:
    • judging the competition
    • display at an exhibition of the winning entries held at WWT centres within the UK and subsequent international tours
    • inclusion within the exhibition interactive elements (now known or hereafter created)
    • inclusion within Waterlife magazine or similar
    • inclusion within promotion of the competition and exhibition organised by WWT
    • inclusion (if selected as one of the promotional images) within the WWT's marketing and promotional materials (including press packs) for the exhibition or touring exhibition
25. There may also be opportunities for winning photographers to benefit from the commercial use of their image on exhibition merchandise but they will always be contacted first to obtain their permission.
26. Generally images are only used in connection with the competition for a period of 18 months from the winners' announcements.
27. Media will be allowed to publish images free of charge for this purpose. When used in whatever medium by the competition organisers all images are credited to the photographer and we ask that the press do so too, though cannot be held responsible for errors and omissions.
28. Liability: All entries are sent at the photographer's risk. The Owners regret that they cannot accept liability for any loss or damage of any images entered in the competition (howsoever caused) nor for any other loss or damage resulting there from.
29. WWT reserve the right to substitute prizes. No alternative, cash or otherwise, will be given for any prizes. Please refer to the individual category prize page on the website for any specific terms and conditions related to that prize.
30. If your photograph features any person or people, they should be aware that they are being photographed and permission should be obtained from all involved (or their parent's/guardian's permission if under 16) for their photograph to be submitted in the competition. If it is clear that the people are not aware of their picture being taken or are embarrassed in any way by any entry we receive, WWT reserves the right to disqualify the entry.
31. Legal issues: It is the photographer's responsibility to be aware of and comply with the national or international legislation (eg in the case of protected species) governing the country their images are taken in. Pictures must be accompanied by copies of the relevant permits and these should be scanned and emailed, or posted to the Competition Office with the entrant's full name and entry code and information on which picture it relates to.
32. Closing date for entries are:
    • Autumn heat: 30 November 2011 (23.59 GMT)
    • Winter heat: 29 February 2012 (23.59 GMT)
    • Spring heat: 31 May 2012 (23.59 GMT)
    • Summer heat: 31 August 2012 (23.59 GMT)