Asian Traveler Magazine's Photo Contest Infringes Photographers' Rights

Just a heads up on the Asian Travelers Magazine's latest photo contest (with mechanics below) that do not respect photographers' rights.

Why? What's wrong with Asian Traveler Magazine's contest mechanics?


It's this line:
"Top 5 winning images will become the property of asianTraveler Magazine and may not be submitted for publication to other print or online publications."

For those budding photographers out there, photographers MUST retain all rights to their photos. The contest organizer may not be aware of the Photographer's Bill of Rights that onerous rule equates to rights grabbing.

For photographers- amateur, professionals, hobbyists and frustrated ones (like Tutubi)- be aware of your rights.

And for those who'd reason that you are not obliged to join if you don't want to, that's just the reason why PH is in it's current state-- apathetic Filipinos who won't lift a finger or howl of protest if an issue, however bad, doesn't not affect them.


Full text of Asian Traveler's photo contest

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Asian Traveler

Theme: I Heart Pinas

To tickle our Filipino pride, we would like to know about the things you love best about the Philippines. Share with us photos of anything that makes you feel proud to be Filipino. Feel free to interpret the theme any way you want. Impress us with how you give meaning to things. ;)

How to join:

ONLY photos submitted via our Facebook fan page will be accepted as valid entries.
NO registration fee. However, a photo has to reach a minimum of 25 likes to be considered a qualified entry.
Maximum of three (3) photos per entrant so choose wisely from your materials ;)
Provide an ingenious title for your photo and a one-sentence justification per photo of how you see the relevance of your entry to the theme. Don’t forget to include the theme or keyword from it in your entries so we can recognize that it is an entry.
Low-res photos may be submitted, but JPEG copies with higher resolution may be asked from winning entries after the contest for publication purposes.

Criteria:

50% – People’s choice. The more likes an entry gets, the more chance of getting into the top pick. Remember you have to at least 25 likes to qualify for the contest. ;)
50% – Judges’ voice. Our panel of judges will consider the following factors:

Aesthetic appeal
Relevance to the theme
Title and caption. How you justify your material. Exhibition of unique creativity and wide perspective is an essential part of your entry.

Judges: Entries will be judged by the asianTraveler editorial board.

Awards and Prizes:

We will choose the Top 5 entries based on the above criteria. Prizes for each are as follows:

Grand Prize: 1000 worth of gift certificates in Chateau 1771 Restaurant

Other 4 best entries will get a free copy of asianTraveler magazine’s current issue.

Announcement of winners will be on August 8, 2011.

Winners will be notified via personal message. A list of winners and a compilation album of winning entries will be posted in our Facebook fanpage

Duration of the contest: The contest will run until August 5, 11.59pm (Philippine time).

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Previously published photographs will not be allowed to join.

Only photographs with necessary rights will be considered valid entries.

Photographers, writers, and members of asianTraveler’s editorial board and pool of contributors, past and present, are not eligible to join.

Top 5 winning images will become the property of asianTraveler Magazine and may not be submitted for publication to other print or online publications.

Prizes are not transferable or exchangeable and cannot be taken as cash.

Entrants will not submit any photograph that is unlawful or fraudulent, or that is defamatory, obscene, derogatory, pornographic, sexually inappropriate, violent, abusive, harassing, threatening, objectionable with respect to race, religion, origin or gender, not suitable for children aged under 15, or otherwise unsuitable for publication.

asianTraveler Magazine reserves the rights, at any time, to verify the validity of the entries and to disqualify any entry that is not in accordance with the Terms and Conditions. Any incomplete, indecipherable or illegible entries will be deemed invalid.

Winners will only be allowed to win once during the duration of the contest. If the winners do not respond in seven (7) working days upon the notification of winning entries, asianTraveler Magazine shall choose an alternate winner from the pool of remaining eligible entries in accordance with the criteria and rules stated herein.

Any decision of asianTraveler is final and no correspondence will be entertained.

Official rules are only those posted in the asianTraveler Magazine fan page.