contest rules

1. Eligibility
Earth Visual Odissey
The contest is open to all photographers worldwide, regardless of age,
Stone's stories
The contest is open to all residents of a UNESCO Geopark worldwide, regardless of age,
The 5 senses of your Geopark
The contest is open to all young people aged 12-18 years residing within a UNESCO Geopark.Each participant is allowed to submit a maximum of one entry.
Important: Applications can be individual or the result of joint work by a class or youth club. The class or club can only submit one application, the person submitting the application must be the educational leader of this collective work.

For the 3 contest, employees of a UNESCO Global Geopark, their immediate family members, and anyone involved in the organization or judging of the contest can't participate.

2. Submission Guidelines
Earth Visual Odissey
All photos must have been taken within an UNESCO Global Geopark and should be the original work of the entrants.
No third party may own or control any materials the photo contains.
The photo must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.
Images should be submitted in PDF, PNG or JPEG format at high-resolution.
No RAW images or TIFF images will be accepted.
File size should not exceed 5 megapixels.
The photo must be at least 1,600 pixels wide (if a horizontal image) or tall (if a vertical image).
Images should also be identified and dated with the name of the place and the name of the UNESCO Geopark.

Stone's stories
All stories and photos must be the original work of the entrants. No third party may own or control any materials the story or photo contains. The story and photo must not infringe upon the trademark, copyright, moral rights, intellectual rights, or rights of privacy of any entity or person.
Stories should be submitted in text format with a size minimum:300 words and maximum 450 words.
Related photos should be submitted in PDF, PNG or JPEG format at high-resolution. File size should not exceed 5-megapixels.
Stories and photos should also be identified and dated with the name of the place and the name of the UNESCO Geopark.
Important: the photo is just an illustration of the text. The selection will be done prioritarily on the text quality .

The 5 senses of your Geopark
All entries must be the original work of the entrants. The entry should be submitted as a Word document divided into 5 parts (touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste). In each part, a text between 200 and 400 words should be included, explaining which characteristic of their territory the entrant can relate to each of these 5 senses. (For example: for smell, a special smell of wet grass after the rain. For touch, a particular local fabric, a special leaf of a plant, a particular rock, etc).
In addition to the text, though not mandatory, entrants can send one photo to illustrate the Geopark’s characteristic related to the senses.
For sound (hearing), entrants can send a short sound recording made by a smartphone (mp3).

3. Language
All application should be written in local or National language.

4. Photo Alteration
The photo must be in its original state and cannot be altered in any way, including but not limited to removing, adding, reversing, or distorting subjects within the frame. Exceptions include standard optimization (removal of dust, cropping, reasonable adjustments to exposure, color and contrast, etc.). Violators will be removed from the contest, stripped of any prize(s), and banned from entering future GGN contests.

5. Submission Channel and process
Entries will not be accepted unless submitted via the official contest channel. Entries not submitted through the proper channel will be deleted.
Process: The candidatures are done by fulfilling the registration page and will be directly sent to the UGGp with which you are associated. Following the schedule from GGN, each UGGp will select 3 local UGGp winners. If this Geopark is the only one in a country, it will directly send the 3 winner candidatures to GGN with the accompanying text translated into English. If there are several Geoparks in a country, all the local Geoparks will send the candidature of their 3 winners to the National Geopark Organization. Among the 3 winners of each local UGGp, the National Geopark Organization will select 3 winners at a national level and will send their candidature to GGN with the accompanying text translated into English. Among all 3 National winners, GGN will select 3 international GGN Winners who will receive a GGN award.

6. Judging
Entries will be judged by a panel of experts appointed by the Global Geopark Network. All decisions are final.

7. Disqualification
The Global Geopark Network reserves the right to disqualify any entry that is deemed inappropriate or does not conform to stated contest rules.

8. Prizes
The prizes will be announced at a later date. All prizes are non-transferable and there are no cash alternatives.

9. Usage of Stories and Photos
By entering the contest, entrants agree that stories and photos submitted can be used by the Global Geopark Network for advertising purposes, be integrated in GGN database, and be used for promotional purposes in any media without additional compensation. GGN could re-use images and texts accompanied images /pictures as above for limited and reasonable uses as long as the use does not interfere with owner rights or impede his right to do with the work as he wishes,Under the above mentioned condition ,re-use of images and texts accompanied images /pictures as above ,for educational , promotional /advertising of the GGN purposes, news reporting ,teaching ,or research , and for the benefit of the public is not an infringement of copyright and is allowed by the owner.The same applies to social media

10. Contest Duration
The contest will begin on 1st April 2024 and all entries must be received by 31st December 2024. The winners will be announced in March 2025.

11. Legal Compliance
All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply. Contest void where prohibited. By entering the contest, participants agree to comply with these rules and the decisions of the judges and the Global Geopark Network, which are binding and final on matters relating to this contest.