EASTS Best Transportation Landmark Photo Contest 2007

The EASTS Best Transportation Landmark Photo Contest (BTLP) is a biannual competition held in conjunction with the EASTS conference. The aim of the contest is to find contemporary photographic images that exemplify the development of safe, secure, sustainable and efficient transportation systems in the EASTS member countries and regions. To this end, BTLP contest entrants are encouraged to submit photographs that highlight a specific issue or development in transportation from their country or region, and that do so through excellence in photographic composition, imagery and artistry.

BTLP 2005 Website

1. Schedule

Late August 2007:	Call for submission of photographs, on EASTS website
14 September 2007:	Deadline for submission of photographs
21 September 2007:	Selection of candidate photographs by BTLP Sub-Committee. The shortlisted photographs will then be judged at the conference
During conference (24-25 September):	On-site voting by EASTS members at conference (concludes at lunch time on Day 2 of the conference) Selection by sub-committee and approval by Board

2. Prizes

First, second and third prizes will be awarded. The prize awards are:

1st Prize $US 125

2nd Prize $US 75

3rd Prize $US 50

Prizes are awarded on the basis of public voting by EASTS regular members, selection by the BTLP Sub-Committee, and the approval of the EASTS Board.

3. Procedures

Contestants submit photos to a pool in one or more categories. A panel of volunteer judges (the BTLP Sub-Committee) independently selects photos from the pool immediately after the last date for submission. All submitted photographs complying with the rules of the competition as assessed by the sub-committee are displayed on the website and open to public voting until the commencement of the conference.

3.1 Applicant eligibility

Photographs must be submitted by EASTS regular members or others who register to attend the EASTS conference. This measure is introduced to encourage entrants to attend the closing ceremony of the conference. Note that the cash prizes can only be presented to prize winners who actually attend the closing ceremony, as EASTS is unable to pay the additional costs of bank transfers that would then be incurred.

3.2 Competition rules

Photographs made with a digital camera or digital images made by converting from films will be considered:

• the original, unmodified digital image must be submitted with the entrant’s details (including EASTS member ID) by email only
• photographs will be accepted only from the original photographer
• photographs must be taken in an EASTS member country or region
• entrants are encouraged to nominate a category for their photographs, such as ‘Transportation and environment’, ‘Transportation and tourism’, ‘Sustainable transportation’, etc
• digital camera add-on lenses, filters, and scopes are permitted without restriction
• each entrant may only submit one photograph for the competition

Some image modifications are allowed. The following rules apply unless stated otherwise:

• cropping and rotation – images may be cropped and rotated as long as a rectangular format is maintained
• resizing – images may be resized as long as aspect ratio is maintained
• spot editing – spot editing refers to the application of change or effect to a selected portion of a photograph. Spot editing is permitted for the purpose of improving the appearance of a photograph and to give it a more natural look
• adding or replacing elements – elements or objects that do not exist in the original photograph shall not be added to an image. For example, it is not allowed to improve a sky by replacing it with a sky from another photograph

The following examples of permitted modifications may be applied selectively or globally unless otherwise stated:

• one-step enhancement (known in various software packages as Auto Levels, Enhance, Intellihance, Quick Fix, etc.)
• filters such as sharpen, unsharp mask, soften, blur, despeckle, JPG cleanup, and remove noise should not be used to the extent that they create a non-realistic or artistic effect
• use of corrective functions such as levels, contrast, brightness, curves, gamma, intensity, tone, hue, saturation, desaturation, lightness, value (in HSV model), RGB colour channel adjustment, colour balance, and tint
• use of the cloning or rubber stamp tool to remove minor blemishes and small, unwanted items such as power lines and debris that may spoil a composition
• barrel distortion and pin-cushioning correction.
• note that the intent of any modification is to produce a more natural looking photograph rather than an obviously manipulated one, and judges will make their selections on this basis.

Copyright and permissions are of vital concern:

• the photographer must hold the copyright to any photograph he or she submits to the contest. Photographs that violate the laws of copyright will be disqualified
• photographers retain ownership of all copyrights
• any photographs meeting legal challenges from either copyright or insufficient model permissions will be removed and replaced
• if any permission from a third person is necessary for submitting the photograph, the entrant responsible for obtaining it
• if any disputes arise regarding submitted photographs, applicants are responsible for settling the disputes. EASTS is not responsible for the resolution of such disputes.

Certain general conditions also apply in assessing the eligibility of a photograph for the BTLP competition:

• obscene, provocative, or otherwise prurient content will not be considered. Photographs containing nudity will not be considered
• system malfunctions, network delays, and other technical problems can happen and the BTLP Sub-Committee is not responsible for assuring that photographs are included in the competition, nor does it make any guarantees of when the photographs will be entered into the selection pool
• if a submitted photograph is found to have been published in other contests or publications, the applicant will be disqualified from the competition and their prize revoked
• prizes and prize moneys can only be awarded to prize winners who participate in the closing ceremony of the EASTS conference.

3.3 Voting and selection

The prize winning photographs are selected by a process including public voting by EASTS regular members, evaluation and recommendation by the BTLP Sub-Committee, and approval by the EASTS Board. As well as popularity as indicated by the public voting, the concept, composition and message conveyed by the photograph is also taken into account. The selection process is thus:

1. public voting by EASTS regular members on-site during the conference
2. selection by the BTLP Sub-Committee members on the basis of the suitability, concepts, composition and messages conveyed by the photographs and the results of the public voting
3. recommendation by the BTLP Sub-Committee to the Board
4. final approval of the Board.

Public voting is open to EASTS regular members only and only one vote per member is allowed. The vote may only be lodged on-site at the conference venue. Voting will be through the use of voting sheets distributed at the registration desk and a display of the candidate photographs near the registration desk.

4. Use of prize winning photographs

EASTS reserves the right to use the prize winning photographs for such publications as exhibitions, ID card backgrounds, journal covers and web page design. The digital data of the prize-winning photographs will be kept by EASTS for two years after the conference. After that time, the data will be discarded.

5. Procedure for submitting photographs

Photographs for the BTLP competition should be emailed to eastsBTLP@unisa.edu.au by the final submission date of 14 September 2007. Entrants must supply full contact details (Name, Sex, Affiliation, E-mail, Post Address, Tel/Fax), including their EASTS regular membership number (or evidence that they have registered for the EASTS 2007 conference), and should provide a title and short description for each photograph (see examples in the previous contest).

Professor Michael A P Taylor

Convenor, BTLP Sub-Committee of EASTS