Terms and conditions
1. The RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2024 competition (the "Competition") is run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (a charity registered in England and Wales, no. 219099), Parkside, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1GY (the "RSPCA"). These terms and conditions also refer to RSPCA Trading Limited Company no. 01072608 (the charity's trading arm which gives all its profits to the RSPCA)
2. Your entry to the Competition can only be accepted online by registering at: young.rspca.org.uk/ and uploading your images on our dedicated portal. Please do not send it by post or email as unfortunately they will not be read or considered unless exceptionally, you have contacted us to make a prior arrangement.
3. The Competition is open to you if you live full-time in the United Kingdom and will be aged 18 years or below on Thursday, 15 August 2024, unless you are a child or close relative of the judges of the competition, or of employees of the RSPCA and Natures Images and Camtraptions. Proof of age, identity and eligibility may be requested.
4. Entrants 15 years of age or younger must have a parent or legal guardian's permission to enter the Competition. Please supply a valid email address for your parent or legal guardian, who will be contacted by the RSPCA to consent on your behalf to these terms and conditions of entry to the Competition.
5. Entries must be an original photograph/s that you have taken relating to an animal or animals and must fulfil the criteria for one or more of the following categories, set out in more detail at: young.rspca.org.uk/
Categories
Details on all categories can be found here: YPA categories.
6. The main categories in the Competition are: A) camera-only photos, categorised by age: Under 12 years, 12–15 years, 16–18 years, and also the Portfolio catelgory; B) photos taken using any digital device (i.e. cameras, phones and tablets), categorised as follows: Pet personalities, Pet portraits, Better world, City life, Small world; and C) Mobile phone and devices categories are for images taken on mobile phones or tablets only.
A) Camera only (no mobile phone or devices)
7. Under 12 years category: open to entrants who are 11 years old and under on Thursday, 15 August 2024 (no minimum age). A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category. Camera photos only; no mobile phone or devices accepted.
8. 12–15 years category: open to entrants who are aged 12 years or older but younger than 16 years old on Thursday, 15 August 2024. A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category. Camera photos only; no mobile phone or devices accepted.
9. 16–18 years category: open to entrants who are aged 16 years or older but younger than 18 years old on Thursday, 15 August 2024. A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category. Camera photos only; no mobile phone or devices accepted.
10. Portfolio: open to entrants aged 18 or younger on Thursday, 15 August 2024 (no minimum age). A maximum of three 'portfolios' may be submitted in this category; each portfolio must contain five different images. Camera photos only; no mobile phone or devices accepted.
B) Any digital device (i.e. cameras, phones and tablets)
N.B. All photos chosen to be finalists in these categories, other than the winning photos picked by the judges, will automatically be entered into the People's choice award (which opens in March 2025 for online public voting).
The judges will shortlist a maximum of 15 images from the Mobile phone and devices and Pet portraits and Pet personalities categories that will then be put to the public vote for the People's choice award. The owners of these 15 shortlisted photos will be contacted at this time.
11. Pet personalities: open to entrants aged 18 or under on Thursday, 15 August 2024 (no minimum age). A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category.
12. Pet portraits: open to entrants aged 18 or under on Thursday, 15 August 2024 (no minimum age). A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category.
13. Small world category: open to entrants aged 18 or under on Thursday, 15 August 2024 (no minimum age). A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category.
14. Better world category: open to entrants aged 18 or under on Thursday, 15 August 2024 (no minimum age). A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category.
15. City life category: open to entrants aged 18 or under on Thursday, 15 August 2024 (no minimum age). A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category.
C) Mobile phones and devices (i.e. mobile phones and tablets)
16. Mobile phone and devices: open to entrants aged 18 or under on Thursday, 15 August 2024 (no minimum age). A maximum of five photos per entrant is permitted in this category. Three winners will be awarded depending on age group: one in the under 12 category; one in the 12–15 category; and one in the 16–18 category.
Entry and specifications
17. All entries should be submitted using the upload service at: young.rspca.org.uk/ Parents/guardians submitting on behalf of an entrant aged 15 years and under will be required to approve the entry and agree to these Terms and Conditions (including the RSPCA's use of the photo) on behalf of the entrant, and must provide their own contact and personal details (not the child's).
18. Entrants are restricted to one online account. Any entrant found to have multiple accounts may be disqualified.
19. Any camera photos submitted to category C, or mobile phone images (including other devices) submitted to category A, may be disqualified. The same or similar photos may not be entered into more than one of the five possible categories referred to above. However, the RSPCA and Competition judges have the discretion to move photos into a different category if they deem it more appropriate.
20. All photos entered into the Competition must be a faithful representation of what the photographer saw at the time of taking the photo. Digital adjustments are only acceptable if they are for minor cleaning work, levels, curves, colour, saturation and contrast work. Entrants will be disqualified from the Competition if the RSPCA or the judges believe that the images have been manipulated or are not the entrant's original work. You may be asked to provide a digital negative or 'Raw' file (if your camera makes them); always keep the original image file. Images submitted with watermarks, copyright information, frames, overuse of filters or other digital effects, use of stickers and emojis and images that cannot be judged anonymously will be rejected.
21. Images uploaded should be no larger than 10MB. Make sure the image you upload is a JPEG and the highest quality image you have, sized no smaller than 600x600 pixels, but keep the 'Raw' file(s).
22. Entrants should not do anything to upset or stress animals in attempting to photograph them. Photos will be rejected from the Competition if the RSPCA or the judges believe that the photos show an animal in distress, or if they contain any unsuitable content. Please read each category for more information.
23. Entries cannot be returned so please retain a copy.
24. The same or similar photos to those entered into the Competition must not be entered into any other competition where the announcement of the winners is before 19 December 2024. Any photos entered that have previously won in a national or international photography competition will be rejected.
25. The opening date for entries is Tuesday, 7 May 2024.
26. The closing date for online entries is Thursday, 15 August 2024 at noon UK time. Any entries received by the RSPCA after this time will be rejected.
27. All entrants have the right to withdraw their entry prior to the closing date of Thursday, 15 August 2024 by noon by sending an email request to: ypa@rspca.org.uk The entrant's account will be closed as soon as reasonably possible.
Judging
28. The judges of the Competition are named on: young.rspca.org.uk/about/judges. The RSPCA will create a shortlist of the photos for each category, which will then be judged anonymously by the panel of judges.
29. All finalists in the Competition (other than People's choice award finalists) will be notified by the RSPCA by email or letter, no later than Friday, 18 October 2024. The decisions of the judges and the RSPCA are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
30. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted in respect of their entry. Although we are grateful to, and would like to encourage the efforts of, all participants, unfortunately we cannot give feedback on unsuccessful entries.
Prizes
31. Prizes provided by the Competition's supporters will be awarded to the winners of each category, as decided by the judges, as described below. Additional prizes may be awarded to runners-up in each of the categories but this is at the sole discretion of the judges and the RSPCA.
32. The winner of the Under 12 years category will win the opportunity to take part in an exclusive photography shoot with the RSPCA and a wildlife photographer at a time and place the RSPCA decides is most suitable in consultation with the winners, plus Amazon vouchers to the value of £200, a trophy, and a Camtraptions PIR Motion Sensor and camera connecting cable.
33. The winner of the 12–15 years category will win the opportunity to take part in an exclusive photography shoot with the RSPCA and a wildlife photographer at a time and place the RSPCA decides is most suitable in consultation with the winners, plus Amazon vouchers to the value of £350, a trophy, and a Camtraptions PIR Motion Sensor and camera connecting cable.
34. The winner of the 16–18 years category will win the opportunity to take part in an exclusive photography shoot with the RSPCA and a wildlife photographer at a time and place the RSPCA decides is most suitable in consultation with the winners, plus Amazon vouchers to the value of £500, a trophy, and a Camtraptions PIR Motion Sensor and camera connecting cable.
35. The winner of the Mobile phone and devices category will win Amazon vouchers to the value of: £100 (Under 12), £200 (12–15) and £300 (16–18) and a trophy each. Three winners will be selected, one in each of the following age groups: Under 12, 12–15 and 16–18.
36. The winner of the Pet personalities category will win Amazon vouchers to the value of £300 and a trophy.
35. The winner of the Pet portraits category will win Amazon vouchers to the value of £300 and a trophy.
36.The winner of the Better world category will win Amazon vouchers to the value of £300 and a trophy.
37. The winner of the City life category will win Amazon vouchers to the value of £300 and a trophy.
38. The winner of the People's choice award drawn from runners up in these categories – Pet personalities, Pet portraits and Small world – will win a trophy, a certificate and £100 of Amazon vouchers.
39. The winner of the Portfolio category will win Amazon vouchers to the value of £500 and a trophy.
40. The winner of the Small world category will win Amazon vouchers to the value of £300 and a trophy.
41. An Overall winner award prize will be awarded to one of the winners of the above categories whose photo is selected by the judges. The winner will receive a UK weekend photography break, courtesy of Natures Images, for the winner and one accompanying adult, plus a trophy. Travel to the location of the holiday is not included.
42. Prizes are non-exchangeable and no cash alternatives will be offered. The RSPCA may substitute a reasonably equivalent prize if any of the above prizes are unavailable for any reason. Prizes will be presented at an official awards ceremony (which may take place physically or virtually at the RSPCA's discretion) in December 2024 where the winners will be announced. Winners will be invited to the awards ceremony, however the RSPCA cannot pay for any travel or accommodation.
43. If we do not receive a response after notifying an entrant that they have been selected as a winner, or if any selected winner becomes not contactable at any time up to and including the awards ceremony, the RSPCA and/or the judges may select another winner in their place.
Personal information
44. Each entrant (or entrant's parent or legal guardian if the entrant is aged 16 or under) agrees that, only for the purposes of promoting the Competition and future RSPCA Young Photographer Awards, the RSPCA may (1) use the entrant's first name, surname, county and age and (2) disclose the entrant's name and age to third parties. The RSPCA shall seek the entrant's prior consent (and/or the entrant's parent or legal guardian's prior consent if the entrant is aged 16 or under) before disclosing any further personal data to third parties. The RSPCA will not post the names and details of entrants aged under 13 years online without the entrant's parental or guardian's consent.
45. Personal information provided by finalists will be used for the purposes of administering the Competition where necessary (for example the provision of prizes as necessary for this purpose) and contacting the entrant about the next year's competition and in accordance with the RSPCA's Privacy notice: rspca.org.uk/privacy The RSPCA will use the contact details of the entrant's parent or guardian to seek their consent to the entrant's participation in the Competition and administering their child's entry. The personal data of winners will be kept to enable the use of their photos as described below.
Copyright
46. All photos submitted must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other person. The RSPCA cannot be liable if another person's rights are breached, and the parent or guardian of the entrant agrees to indemnify the RSPCA and/or RSPCA Trading Ltd in respect of any claim from a third party that the entrant's work infringes their rights.
47. Entrants retain the copyright in their submitted photos. However, by entering the Competition under these terms, the entrant gives the RSPCA and RSPCA Trading Ltd a perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, exhibit and post the submitted photos in any and all media, including media platforms yet to be envisaged for the purposes of promoting and publicising this Competition or future RSPCA Young Photographer Awards.
For potential use on products of the RSPCA or third parties licensed by the RSPCA, the entrant's permission will be sought, including use on RSPCA licensed products, which will be agreed as the subject of a separate agreement.
48. Wherever possible, the RSPCA will credit the entrant as the photographer.
49. Entrants agree that the RSPCA may use the credited entry on its website for the duration of five years, after which all names and attribution will be removed.
General legal
50. The RSPCA cannot be responsible for any entries that are lost, delayed, misdirected, damaged or incomplete, or for failure to receive or properly register any entries due to any technical failure or malfunction or other reason. The RSPCA reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions or cancel this Competition at any stage if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control. In either case, we will give notice to entrants by posting the changes on the Competition website.
51. Entrants/their parents/guardians will be deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions and to agree to be bound by them when registering.
52. The law applicable to the Competition is English Law.