[b]World Bonsai Convention 2009 Bonsai Olympics Photo Contest[/b]

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[i]The Art of Bonsai project is proud to sponsor the World Bonsai Convention 2009 Bonsai Photo Contest

We sincerely hope that you will help spread the word about this contest and participate yourself.

Good luck to all![/i]

[b]RULES [/b]

Please read all rules before submitting your entry and refer back to them before submitting your photographs in order to prevent misunderstandings or needless disqualification. Most of all, enjoy yourselves and have fun.

Contest is void where prohibited by law.

[b]Note:[/b] If you would like to donate your time and translate these rules into a different language, please download [url= version[/url] complete with formatting to do so. Email your translated version to You will of course receive full credit for the translation.

[b]WHO CAN ENTER [/b]

Any person from any country can enter provided they abide by and agree with the rules of the contest.

You need not be a member of The Art of Bonsai Project to enter. This contest, like all of the content on AoB, is free, viewable, and open to all who are interested. Those that wish to participate in discussions on the contest or other topics on the forum will be required to join in order to comment.

Editors and staff of AoB will be allowed to enter, however if they choose to do so, they will be excused from any judging process to assure our long history of unbiased, ethical, and fair contests remains unblemished.

[b]SUBMISSIONS [/b]

Participants are allowed to enter one tree per category. Entries must be clearly defined as to which category they are meant for. Each entry can only be entered into one single category.

There is a $15.00 fee per entry. All fees go directly to the World Bonsai Convention and no part goes to AoB, its editors, sponsors, or associates. Fees must be mailed to:

WBC 2009

21 Camino Tomas Morales

San Juan, PR 00926

Payment may be in the form of Check, Money Order, or Visa/Mastercard

All entries will be posted within 24 hours of receiving them; the text will be posted in red at that time. Once confirmation of payment is received, the text color will be changed to black to denote payment. All payments must be made before the contest deadline of June 1, 2009, those not received by this time will be deleted from the contest and not be included in the judging.

Participants can submit bonsai that they personally have designed regardless of if the bonsai is currently in their care at the present or in a collection located elsewhere.

Submissions must be made by email to before [b]midnight June 1, 2009[/b]. Entries that are late will be disqualified. Your entry should be posted within 24 hours. If you do not see your submission posted within 24 hours of the time you sent it, contact Will Heath at the email address above.

Upon receipt of submissions, we will post them in the entry threads located [url= in the order they were received. Entries will be posted in categorized entry threads titled to reflect the category the participant entered under, providing the entry meets the requirement for that category.

Each submission must be accompanied by text as described below. Submissions without the required text will be disqualified. All entries must be accompanied with the following text:

[i]I have read and understood the rules of the contest and agree to abide by them. I have full copyright to all text and/or photographs I am submitting and I grant the World Bonsai Convention and the Art of Bonsai Project full permission to use any or all of the text and/or photographs submitted by myself in such manners as described in the rules and in future publications of any type as related to showcasing, promoting, featuring, or publishing the submissions to this contest as approved by the World Bonsai Convention and the Art of Bonsai Project. I understand that any other usage of the text and/or photographs will require addition permission from myself and that, other than permissions given here, I retain full copyright to submitted materials as described.[/i]

All submissions must also include the following:

Full Real Name of entrant

Country entrant currently resides in

Common and botanical species names

Height of bonsai in inches and centimeters

Pot origin

Category entry is intended for.

Submission not including any of the above information will be disqualified.

[b]PHOTOGRAPHS [/b]

All categories require one photograph for entry with the exception of the shohin category, which will require two photographs, one with a plain background and one with a ruler to verify the size of the tree.

Digital photographs of 3 megapixels or greater will be accepted providing the original image from the camera is available in case of quality concerns. We will also accept scans in the highest resolution and finest quality, with original prints or negatives available if requested. Optimally, submitted images should be 300 dpi and 20.3 cm (8 inches, or 2400 pixels) in width.

Photographs must not be up-sized, must not be over-sharpened or over-filtered. Entries not meeting these standards, put in place for professional print publishing reasons, will be rejected. Photographs must be clear, in focus, and without a distracting background.

Photographs can be submitted in tif, jpg, or png format.

Photographs may be adjusted to alter contrast, lightness and color saturation. Cropping and rotating to level the photographs is also allowed. All other forms of manipulation will be grounds for disqualification.

We must stress that this is a 'photo contest' and as such, the quality of the photograph is of the utmost importance. Due to the possibility of future publishing in magazines, galleries, calendar, or book form, all photographs not of high technical and artistic merit will be rejected, and the entrant will be informed of the reason for rejection. Entrants will be allowed to re-submit any rejected entries with better photographs.

The entrant must have full copyrights to all photographs submitted.

[b]JUDGING [/b]

Individuals who are well known and respected in the bonsai community will judge this contest. These judges will be announced at a later date.

Each entry will be scored and given points on a scale from 0 to 10 by the judges. The judges may, at their discretion, post comments on each tree they score to elaborate on the reasoning behind their scoring.

In the case of tied scores, the staff at AoB will each score the tied entries and these scores will be added to the scores of the tied entrants. The resulting totals will determine the winner. Any of the staff of AoB that has entered the contest themselves will not be allowed to participate in this tie breaker process.

Once scored, the points of each entry will be tallied and the winners will be posted according to the following guidelines.

[b]CATEGORIES [/b]

[list][*]Event #18 Shohin 10” in height or less (Two Photographs Required)

[*]Event #19 Fruit and Flower

[*]Event #20 Conifer

[*]Event #21 Deciduous

[*]Event #22 Conifer [/list]

[b]PRIZES[/b]

Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals will be awarded in each category.

[b]PERMISSIONS, COPYRIGHTS, and LEGAL NOTICES [/b]

As with all content at the Art of Bonsai project, all copyrights remain with the author or photographer. For this contest, we ask only for permission to use the text and photographs submitted at AoB for the contest threads and other contest related threads as well as for publication by the cosponsor of the contest, International Bonsai Magazine.

We also ask full permission to be given to World Bonsai Convention to publish the text and photographs submitted in any manner as approved by the Art of Bonsai Project. Any other use will require permission to be granted by the author or photographer.

By entering this contest, you agree to the terms of use and give full permission for use of all text and photographs for publication by the Art of Bonsai project and International Bonsai Magazine. By entering this contest, you agree to accept the rules and amended rules for the contest as posted and also agree to accept the decisions of the AoB staff, editors, and judges concerning cases not clearly covered in the rules. By entering this contest, you also agree to accept the decisions of the judges, whatever they may be and release AoB, its staff, editors, and the judges of this contest from any liability or damages regarding or resulting from this contest.

All decisions of the judges are final. Contest void where prohibited by law.

[b]DISQUALIFICATIONS[/b]

Entries submitted without the required text and information as described in the rules above will be automatically rejected. An email will be sent to the entrant explaining what was missing and an opportunity to resubmit will be given. Failure to resubmit with the required text and/or information will be cause for disqualification.

Entries of which fees have not been paid for by the deadline date will be disqualified and deleted from the contest.

Sub-standard photographs will be automatically rejected. An email will be sent to the entrant explaining what was wrong and an opportunity to resubmit will be given. Failure to resubmit with quality photographs will be cause for disqualification.

Good luck, and have fun!

For information on the World Bonsai Convention 2009 please see

[size=75](Contest rules by Will Heath. All mistakes are his.)[/size]