Young Photographer of the Year 2024

Information Pack for 2023 – 2024

Content:

Theme Page 2

Introduction Page 2

Aims and Objectives Page 2

Who Can Take Part? Page 2-3

The Three Stages of the Competition Page 3

• Local Heats

• District Finals

• National Final

Competition Guidelines Page 3-4

• Task

• Plagiarism or Close Copied Images

• Judges

• Judging Criteria

• Recognition

How To Enter Page 4

Rotary Youth Competitions and other opportunities for young people Page 4

Working with Children Page 5

Version 1.0 Page | 2 Rotary Young Photographer Information Pack 2023-24

Information Pack for 2023 – 2024

THEME – ‘Rebuilding’

The ‘Rebuilding’ Theme can be interpreted as broadly as the Young Photographer wishes and does not need to conform to the dictionary definition of the word.

‘Rebuilding Lives and Rebuilding Communities’ is one of three unifying themes Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (Rotary GB&I) is using to link all the service projects Rotary clubs undertake in and with their communities, and the people in them, locally, nationally and internationally.

The Theme for the Young Photographer competition is simply ‘Rebuilding’ so it gives young people the widest opportunity to share their creative talents in showing us what it means to them.

Introduction

The Rotary Young Photographer Competition is organised and promoted by Rotary GB&I.

There are three stages to the competition, each designed to support and encourage the development of photographic skills. Some stages may have more than one round.

Aims and Objectives

The competition aims to encourage young people to:

• experiment with photography

• use digital and/or traditional methods of photography

• demonstrate interpretation of the topic

• express personal ideas through the medium of photography

Who can take part?

The competition is open to all young people in the age groups shown below. They may be an individual or from any group or community organisation including schools and colleges, home educated, other young peoples’ community organisations, for example, community RotaKids, community Interact, Scout Groups, Girl Guides, etc.

The three age groups are:

Junior: Up to and including 10 years old

Intermediate: 11 to 13 years old

Senior: 14 to 17 years old

Entrants must not be over the upper age parameter for each group on 31st August 2023.

With the age qualifying date of 31st August 2023, it should be noted that some junior entrants may be 11, intermediate entrants may be 14 and some senior entrants may be 18 at the time of some or all the stages of the competitions e.g., a competitor who may be 17 on 31st August but turns 18 on 1st September is allowed to enter. Competitors must include their age on the application form.

Entrants should enter the competition organised by the local Rotary club through their respective group or community organisation or individually, as detailed above.

Version 1.0 Page | 3 Rotary Young Photographer Information Pack 2023-24

Local Rotary clubs can be found by using the club finder facility in the top left-hand corner of the Home Page of the Rotary GB&I website www.rotarygbi.org.

Entrants may participate in a competition held by a Rotary club outside of their geographical boundary but may compete in only one club event.

The Three Stages of the Competition

Entrants need to complete an entry form, available from their local Rotary club and submit it along with their photograph, to the local organiser, by the date and time specified by them. It is essential that the name of the competitor and their photographic work is clearly linked with the right entry form and any necessary consent forms for photographic images used if applicable.

Local Heats

These are organised by local Rotary clubs and are generally between September and December. The winners of each age group are entered into a Rotary district competition.

Local Rotary clubs can be found by using the club finder facility in the top left-hand corner of the Home Page of the Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland website www.rotarygbi.org.

District Finals

These are organised by each Rotary district for the winners of the local heats for each age group. The winners of each age group in the District Finals are then entered into the National Final.

National Final

The National Final is organised by Rotary GB&I and only the winning entry per age group is submitted by each of the districts. Entries are to be sent digitally by the districts by the deadline of Tuesday 30th April 2024 to the Rotary Support Centre.

The Young Photographer competition team can be contacted by emailing young-photographer@rotarygbi.org for any assistance needed.

The dates for local heats and district competitions will be determined locally. Entrants should check dates with their local Rotary club in the first instance. Any entries submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.

Competition Guidelines

Task

To produce one photograph based upon the theme, ‘Rebuilding’. Mobile Phones or cameras may be used.

To accompany the submission, each entrant MUST provide a brief sentence describing the relationship of the photograph to the theme. Failure to do so will mean the entry is ineligible and the entrant therefore disqualified.

The photograph must be submitted via Digital Format and be at least 1500 pixel in size on the longest length. The entries and supporting information sent electronically MUST NOT EXCEED 15Mb per email sent.

Photographs that are part of a current educational exam portfolio are not eligible for the competition, due to educational exam board regulations.

District competition winners will be required to provide a digital copy in jpg format to be at least 1500 pixel in size on the longest length for the National Final submission.

Version 1.0 Page | 4 Rotary Young Photographer Information Pack 2023-24

Please Note: Photographs which incorporate images of people under 18 years or vulnerable adults must be accompanied by consent forms for the use of those photographic images.

Plagiarism or Close Copied Images

Plagiarised or 'close-copied' images are not permitted in any competition. It is important that we protect the work of creative individuals. Whilst we are all inspired by the work of others, there is without doubt a grey area where inspiration carries over to close copying. For our competitions 'close copying' is where, to a reasonable person, the submitted entry appears remarkably similar in significant important respects to a body of work created elsewhere. We are looking for original pieces, not copies, which match the theme of the competition.

Judges

The judges will be people with appropriate skills appointed by the organisers at the club and district levels for the Local Heats and District Finals accordingly and will not be Rotarians.

At the National level the judges will be appointed by Rotary GB&I and will also not be Rotarians.

The judging criteria is as set out below.

Judging Criteria

Judges will consider:

• technical merit

• content and composition

• imagination and style.

The judges will not enter any discussion or correspondence regarding their decision; the decision of the judges will be final and not subject to any appeal.

Recognition

At all stages of the competition, competitors will receive a certificate of participation.

How to enter

To enter a local heat, contact your local Rotary club which can be found by using the club finder facility in the top left-hand corner of the Home Page of the Rotary GB&I website www.rotarygbi.org. In case of difficulty, contact the Rotary Young Photographer team by emailing young-photographer@rotarygbi.org for assistance.

Entrants are required to complete an entry form and submit it along with their photographs, to the stage organiser by the time specified.

Rotary Youth Competitions and other opportunities for young people

The Young Photographer competition is one of a number of competitions for young people organised by Rotary GB&I. The others are: Young Artist; Young Chef; Youth Speaks: A Debate; Young Environmentalist; Young Filmmaker; Young Musician; and Young Writer. There are also annual Rotary Young Citizen Awards, a number of clubs organise Technology Tournaments and there are several Rotary specific programmes including RotaKids, Interact, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, Developing Future Leaders and more. To find out more about these competitions and other opportunities please contact your local Rotary club in the first instance for what is happening locally and also take a look at https://www.rotarygbi.org/projects/young-people/

Version 1.0 Page | 5 Rotary Young Photographer Information Pack 2023-24

Working with Children

Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland has adopted this statement of policy in working with children, vulnerable adults and those with disability:

The needs and rights of the child, the elderly, the vulnerable and those with disability take priority. It is the duty of every Rotarian to safeguard to the best of their ability, the welfare of and prevent the physical, sexual or emotional abuse and neglect of all children, the elderly, persons with disability or otherwise vulnerable persons with whom they come into contact during their Rotarian duties.