Conditions of entry

Conditions of Entry

  1. Entries will be accepted only from Australian residents of the COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA and its TERRITORIES.
  2. There will be three sections of entry – General, Open Themed Section, and Junior (18 or younger).
  3. There will be six categories of entry for the General section; Wide-field (camera shots), Deep Sky (telescope shots), Solar System, Nightscapes, Animated Sequences, and Smartphone Astrophotography.
  4. The Junior section is for photographers 18 years old or younger and will have one open category (can be any type instrument or astronomical subject).
  5. An additional prize, “The David Malin Innovation Prize”, may be awarded at Dr Malin’s discretion, for a striking image that shows exceptional imagination, innovation or an unusual approach.
  6. There is a limit of five (5) entries per category per photographer.
  7. In the case of images with multiple authors, the instigator of the image will be considered to be the principal author and the one who “owns” the image. The principal author MUST have performed the majority of the work to produce the image. All authors MUST be identified and named in the entry form along with their contributions to the production of the image.
  8. Entries that combine images from professional observatories, taken by professional astronomers, for purposes other than creating the entry in question (e.g. the Digital Sky Survey), will be disqualified.
  9. Entries must be in digital form and will be accepted ONLY through submission via the dedicated web site at:
    https://cwasdma.myphotoclub.com.au/
  10. To preserve anonymity (as far as practical), the submitted image files should not contain identifying metadata.
  11. For judging purposes, still images must be submitted as JPG files with the longest side having a dimension no greater than 4,950 pixels in Adobe 1998 colour space. Animated Sequences must be submitted as a URL link to a publicly visible file in MOV, MPG, AVI or MP4 file formats and must not exceed two minutes in runtime for Aesthetic entries and one minute for Scientific entries.
  12. All photographs must have been taken no more than 2 years before the closing date of entry, and no re-entries from previous DMA competitions will be accepted.
  13. Entry fees are $15 per entry and should be paid by the PayPal gateway on the entry website. Credit and debit cards can be used on this gateway.
  14. If entry payments are not received by the deadline, then the submitted entries will not be accepted for judging.
  15. After notification, the winning images must be supplied on request as TIFF files in Adobe 1998 RGB colour space for professional printing. The longest side should have a dimension of about 4,950 pixels.
  16. The winning entries will be exhibited for the entire year in the CSIRO Parkes Observatory’s Visitors Centre. In addition, a second set of images will tour the country in a travelling exhibition, to selected venues.
  17. Permission to reproduce entries for publication to promote the competition and exhibitions will be assumed as a condition of entry. The copyright of the image remains with the author, and we will try to ensure that the author is credited where the image is used.
  18. All entries must be images that faithfully reflect and maintain the scale and integrity of the subject. Image combinations and manipulations that grossly distort the intrinsic and relative brightness of a scene will be deemed ineligible. If there is any doubt about the acceptability of an entry, then the competition organisers should be contacted, before the entry is submitted, for adjudication on the matter at the following email address: dma@cwas.org.au.
  19. If after the judging process, an image is subsequently determined to have violated the letter and/or the spirit of the rules, then that image will be disqualified. Any prizes consequently awarded for that image, must be returned to the competition organisers.
  20. The competition judges reserve the right to reject any entry that, in the opinion of the judges, does not meet the conditions of entry or is unsuitable for public display. The judges’ decisions will be final.
  21. Submissions close at 23:59 (AEST) on Monday, 1st July 2024. No entries will be accepted past this date.
  22. All winners should make an effort to attend the presentation of the awards.
  23. Submission of an entry implies acceptance of all the conditions of entry and the decisions of the competition judges.