The Photography Competition is open only to those who are 18 years of age or older as of the date of entry. The Competition is open to legal residents from all over the world and is void where prohibited by their local law. Employees of The Independent Photographer, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, and suppliers, (collectively the “Employees”), and immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of Employees are not eligible to participate in the Competition. The Competition is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited.

By participating, the Participant (“You”) agree to be fully unconditionally bound by these Rules, and You represent and warrant that You meet the eligibility requirements. In addition, You agree to accept the decisions of The Independent Photographer as final and binding as it relates to the content of this Competition.

Entries must be submitted no later than the deadline of listed on the competition URL, https://independent-photo.com/submit/

Participants must pay the entry fees (unless exceptional discount or monthly promotion) and complete the submission form in order to be considered for the Competition. The Competition must be entered by submitting an entry using the online form provided at “https://independent-photo.com/submit/”. The entry must fulfill all Competition requirements, as specified, to be eligible to win a prize. Entries that are incomplete or do not adhere to the rules or specifications may be disqualified at the sole discretion of The Independent Photographer. If You use fraudulent methods or otherwise attempt to circumvent the rules, your submission may be removed from eligibility at the sole discretion of The Independent Photographer.

The Winner of the Competition (the “Winner”) will receive $1000, the 2nd Winner will receive $600, and the 3rd Winner will receive $400. The specifics of the prize shall be solely determined by The Independent Photographer. No cash or other prize substitution shall be permitted except at The Independent Photographer’s discretion. The prize is nontransferable. Any and all prize-related expenses, including without limitation any and all federal, state, and/or local taxes, shall be the sole responsibility of the Winners. No substitution of prize or transfer/assignment of prize to others or request for the cash equivalent by Winner is permitted. Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for The Independent Photographer to use Winner’s name, likeness, and entry for purposes of advertising and trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

The decisions of the judges and editorial team are final. Winners and Finalists will be notified by email within five (5) days following the selection of Winners.

The Independent Photographer shall have no liability for Winner’s failure to receive notices due to spam, junk e-mail or other security settings or for Winner’s provision of incorrect or otherwise non-functioning contact information. If the Winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim the prize within ninety (90) days from the time award notification was sent, or fails to timely return a completed and executed declaration and release as required, the prize may be forfeited. Receipt by Winner of the prize offered in this Competition is conditioned upon compliance with any and all federal, state, and local laws and regulations.

Any violation of these official rules by the Winners will result in the Winners’ disqualification as Winners, and all privileges as Winner will be immediately terminated (at The Independent photographer ‘s sole discretion).

For any unforeseen reason, in the unlikely event that a judge has to cancel their involvement, The Independent Photographer reserves the right to find an alternative judge, making sure that all entrants will be notified.

All entries will be reviewed by The Independent Photographer’s Editors. Then, selected entries will be reviewed by the Jury. Two (2) Winners and eight (8) Finalists will be selected by our monthly Jury under the supervision of The Independent Photographer, based on the overall beauty, power, photographic skill, creativity, and originality, in accordance with the competition rules. All judges will be appointed by The Independent Photographer. The judging will, as much as possible, be ‘blind’, therefore the photographers will remain anonymous during all the judging process, to ensure that each contestant is judged only on his or her photograph.

By entering the competition, You represent and warrant that your entry is an original work of authorship, and does not violate any third party’s proprietary or intellectual property rights. Artificial Intelligence generated images (A.I. Photos) are NOT accepted. If your entry infringes upon the intellectual property right of another, You will be disqualified at the sole discretion of The Independent Photographer. If the content of your entry is claimed to constitute an infringement of any proprietary or intellectual proprietary rights of any third party, You shall, at your sole expense, defend or settle against such claims. Each Participant retains copyright of his or her images, and credit lines will be attributed to each Participant when exhibited or presented anywhere by The Independent Photographer. Images that have been awarded a 1st Prize in other major Competitions are not eligible to the competition. Entries that have been selected as Finalists in previous competitions are eligible to win a cash prize in subsequent competitions. It is possible for a photographer to win multiple cash awards but the same submitted image cannot win multiple cash awards. After each submission, a confirmation page with custom URL is automatically generated, with a thumbnail preview of the image(s) submitted. This confirmation page will be kept online at least 3 months after the competition ended, after what it will be automatically deleted. If a submission to a previous competition has received no prize, that submission is still eligible. You shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The Independent Photographer from and against any suit, proceeding, claims, liability, loss, damage, costs or expense, which The Independent Photographer may incur, suffer, or be required to pay arising out of such infringement or suspected infringement of any third party’s right.

In its sole discretion, The Independent Photographer reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Competition due to infection by computer virus, bugs, worms, trojan horses, denial of service attacks, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes beyond the control of Sponsors that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Competition, Sponsors reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to disqualify any individual(s) who tamper with the entry process, and/or to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Competition.

In such case, The Independent Photographer may select the Winner from all eligible entries received prior to and/or after (if appropriate) the action taken by The Independent Photographer. The Independent Photographer reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process or the operation of the Competition or website or violates these Terms & Conditions. The Independent Photographer has the right, in its sole discretion, to maintain the integrity of the Competition, to void entry for any reason. Any attempt by an entrant to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Competition may be a violation of criminal and civil laws. Should such attempt be made, The Independent Photographer reserves the right to seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law.

By entering, You agree to release and hold harmless The Independent Photographer and its subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, partners, representatives, agents, successors, assigns, employees, officers, and directors from any liability, illness, injury, death, loss, litigation, claim, or damage that may occur, directly or indirectly, whether caused by negligence or not, from: (i) such entrant’s participation in the Competition and/or his/her acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of any prize or any portion thereof; (ii) technical failures of any kind, including but not limited to the malfunction of any computer, cable, network, hardware, or software, or other mechanical equipment; (iii) the unavailability or inaccessibility of any transmissions, telephone, or Internet service; (iv) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Promotion; (v) electronic or human error in the administration of the Promotion or the processing of entries.

This Competition is governed by the laws of France, without respect to conflicts of law doctrines. As a condition of participating in this Competition, participant agrees that any and all disputes that cannot be resolved between the parties, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Competition, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, exclusively before a court located in France having jurisdiction. Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances shall participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waives all rights to, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, including reasonable attorney’s fees, other than participant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e. costs associated with entering this Competition). Participant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

There is no risk to enter!

Photographers retain all copyright on their images and the competition entries are judged anonymously.

Information submitted with an entry is subject to the Privacy Policy stated on The Independent Photographer’s website. To read the Privacy Policy, click here: https://independent-photo.com/legal/

If you use social networks to communicate or administer a Competition or sweepstakes, include the following: The Competition hosted by The Independent Photographer is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with these social networks.

The Independent Photographer reserves the right to modify, suspend, to discontinue permanently or temporarily, or cancel the Competition at any time and without being required to give any explanation, in case it is in the incapacity to continue operating as anticipated, for any reason that is outside its jurisdiction and influence. The Independent Photographer will refund the entry fees to all Participants if the Competition is permanently suspended for a specific month, and The Independent Photographer will not reserve rights to use any of the pictures that have been submitted that specific month. In case our exhibitions are canceled, there will be no refunds.

The Independent Photographer reserves the right to alter partially, amend, or modify the Competition rules at any time, and all Participants concerned by this change will be notified by email.

The Independent Photographer will not be held liable or responsible of any images submitted to the Competition and their potential consequences, or any issues that entrants have to face while taking part in The Independent Photographer’s Competition.