Visual Storytelling of The Black Sea: Different Shores, Different Reflections, and One Sea

• Photographers of all ages can attend.
• All entries should contain original photography depicting the Black Sea marine environment on board
or on land, including underwater images, along with a title and a brief description of the story behind
the image or the geographical and social context in which it was taken.
• The photographer’s full name, age, address, phone number, and e-mail address should be provided.
• Entries may be colour or black-and-white high-resolution photographs. Digital manipulation and any
kind of Photoshop effects are not allowed; only moderate digital adjustment is allowed (colour
correction, cropping, etc.). Entries can be uploaded electronically in jpg/jpeg format. The size of the
files should not be less than 2 MB and more than 5 MB.
• Entries may have been taken from any device that can take pictures.
• Submitted photos must be original and must not have won another Photo Contest.
• Participants can enter any (and all) of the 4 categories described above with different photographs,
submitting no more than 2 photos per category.
• To ensure an objective evaluation process, please do not add watermarks, signature, stamp, or any
other identifying marks to your images.
• The image should not contain any person, group, or organization without their consent. By
submitting the photo, participants guarantee that all necessary subject matter permissions have
been obtained.

• All information should be submitted in English.
• High-resolution, uncompressed, and original versions of the awarded works will be requested after
the competition.
• Black Sea CONNECT may use submitted photographs for visibility and dissemination efforts on
publications, website, social media and all relevant activities with credits given to the owner.
• The organiser reserves the right to change or replace the competition prizes and/or modify the rules
and regulations of the competition as and when necessary, without prior notice.
• The photographer has the liability for providing accurate information.
• The photograph must not contain material that violates or infringes another person’s rights, including
but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or anything that constitutes
copyright infringement.
• The works that do not meet the technical and content specifications will be eliminated from the
competition.
• The contestants accept, declare, and undertake that the photos they send/upload for the
competition belong entirely to them, that the photos were taken by them, and that all necessary
permissions have been obtained. All legal responsibility for any copyright violations that may arise in
case of using the images of someone else belongs to the participants.

We are accepting entries via the dedicated page under the Black Sea CONNECT website until  19 September 2022.
Evaluation of “Black Sea Identity and Connection”, “Sustainable Blue Economy”, “Marine and Maritime
Professions”, and “Stressors on the Black Sea” categories will be made by jury members directly.

Briefly, the evaluation procedure will be as follows.

Pre-evaluation (21-25 September 2022): Jury members will conduct the initial evaluation, and a shortlist will be created as a result of the pre-evaluations (There will be one winner per category, including Social Media public choice).

Social Media Evaluation (6-13 October 2022): We will select three photos from each category (2nd, 3rd and 4th place, if there are any under this category) to be voted on by the social media audience.

Final evaluation (13-20 October 2022): (for “Black Sea Identity and Connection”, “Sustainable Blue Economy”, “Marine and Maritime Professions”, and “Stressors on the Black Sea” categories)

Announcements of results on the website (Second half of October 2022)

Moreover, photographs representing all Black Sea countries in each category will be selected to be exhibited both on the website and at different Black Sea CONNECT events.

• There will be one winner per category, including Social Media public choice. Winners will receive a
prize set including a symbolic adaptation of a dolphin by WWF, a package of Black Sea CONNECT
promotional materials and an online certificate.
• In addition to the winners, a photograph representing all Black Sea countries in each category will be
selected to be exhibited at different Black Sea CONNECT events. Photographers who are entitled
to be exhibited will receive a certificate.