RULES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS

TERMS & CONDITIONS
FULL OFFICIAL RULES
Luca Memorial Photo Contest 
2020 Worldwide edition
Last updated: 1 Oct 2020 Rev. 1.1.0

The Contest hosted by Luca Memorial (the “Sponsor”) is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Linkedin or Pinterest. NO PURCHASE OF LUCA MEMORIAL PRODUCTS OR SERVICES IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE OF LUCA MEMORIAL PRODUCTS OR SERVICES DOES NOT INCREASE THE CHANCES OF WINNING.

INDEX:

1. Validity of these Rules

2. Eligibility

3. Agreement to Rules

4. Contest Duration and Rounds

5. Categories and Category Requirements

6. How to participate

6.a as a Voter

6.b as a Photographer

6.b.1 Meeting Categories

6.b.2 Exploration Categories

6.b.3 W·O·W! Category

6.b.4 General Rules for all Photographers

7. Bonuses and Friends

7.a Referral Link

7.b Bonus Codes

7.b.1 Voter bonus

7.b.2 Photographer bonus

8. Jury and Judging Process

9. Winner Selection and Notification

9.a. Standard Round

9.a.1 Winning Photographer

9.a.2 Winning Voter

9.b. Final Round

10. Prizes

10.a. Quarterly Standard Rounds

10.b. Yearly Final Round

11. Odds

12. Rights Granted by You

13. Terms & Conditions

14. Limitation of Liability

15. Further Privacy and Copyright

16. Sales

17. Disputes

18. Privacy Policy

19. Winners List

20. Sponsor contact info

 

 

 

These rules are applicable to the Luca Memorial Photo Contest 2020 Worldwide edition (the “Contest”): quarterly standard rounds and yearly final round 2020. 

Any 2020 Worldwide Extra Special Round (see “chapter 7 Bonuses and Friends”) has its own rules and it might not be subject to comply the rules described herein.

The below rules prevail above any discrepancy with any other guideline or explanation reported elsewhere in https://contest.lucamemorial.org,  https://lucamemorial.org, Facebook/lucamemorial post and ads, or any other web or social network managed by Sponsor. Any other source of information not directly managed by sponsor, including Facebook shares, must be considered null by all participants.

Any possible discrepancy, ambiguity or misunderstanding in these rules can only be resolved by the Sponsor, who will update these rules accordingly to correct and extend them accordingly to the needs to avoid such issues in future.

 

The Luca Memorial Photo Contest Worldwide edition (the “Contest”) is open only to those who sign up at https://contest.lucamemorial.org and who are 18 years of age or older as of the date of entry. Where minimum legal age is higher, participant must comply with local laws minimum age requirements. The Contest is void where prohibited by law. Employees of Sponsor, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, and suppliers, (collectively the “Employees”), and immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of Employees are not eligible to participate in the Contest. The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited.

The Contest categories explicitly include and accept:

1.       CANYONS: Icy, wet and dry canyons.

2.       CAVES: Rock, ice/glacier, and underwater natural/coral caves or man-made abandoned underground structures and mines, as well as urban caving.

By participating, the Participant (“You”) agree to be fully unconditionally bound by these Rules, and You represent and warrant that You meet the eligibility requirements. In addition, You agree to accept the decisions of Sponsor as final and binding as it relates to the content of this Contest.

The contest has an annual duration, exceptionally for year 2020 contest is starting 1^st July 2020 and will have a half year duration.

·         STANDARD ROUNDS

Entries submission and voting will be accepted online as per below calendar:

Round July – September 2020:

Starts at 00:00 Central European Time (CET) 1^st July 2020.

End at 23:59 Central European Time (CET) 30 September 2020.

Round October – December 2020:

Starts at 00:00 Central European Time (CET) 1^st October 2020.

End at 23:59 Central European Time (CET) 31 December 2020.

·         YEARLY FINAL ROUND:

Entries voting will be accepted online as per below calendar:

Starts: to be announced before 31^st December 2020 by Luca Memorial newsletter and Facebook post (facebook.com/lucamemorial).

Ends: to be announced in the same way. Ending not later than 1^st March 2021.

 

All online entries and votes must be received within the deadlines.

Official Contest day and time is CET Central European Time, unless stated otherwise.

 

·           EXTRA SPECIAL ROUNDS:

Luca Memorial reserves the right to benefit specific organizations, events, or people considered as FRIENDS as described in “chapter 7 Bonuses and Friends”.

During the year, occasional Extra Special Rounds of the Luca Memorial Contest might be carried out without previous notice at FRIEND events: congresses, meetings, fairs, etc., or even parallel events organized by Sponsor own initiative.

These Extra Special Rounds will have their own rules of participation and their own prizes.

However, as a general rule,

o   Sponsor might at its sole discretion award to the winner Photographer of these special rounds a “GOLDEN PASS” that would benefit the winning photo of the Extra Special Round as well as its Photographer to directly participate in the annual FINAL ROUND of the Contest.

o   To all Participants in the Extra Special Round that have submitted photos, Sponsor might, at its sole discretion, award them a BONUS CODE to be accounted for a PHOTOGRAPHER BONUS during the current year.

o   To all voters in the Extra Special Round that have voted photos, Sponsor might, at its sole discretion, award them a BONUS CODE to be accounted for a VOTER BONUS during the current year.

·         FRIEND entities of Luca Memorial:

To all members of a Luca Memorial FRIEND entity, as described in “chapter 7 Bonuses and Friends”, Sponsor might, at its sole discretion, award the FRIEND entity with a BONUS CODE to be provided to all its members or affiliated, so that to be accounted for a VOTER BONUS or a PHOTOGRAPHER BONUS or both. The bonus will be valid only during the current year.

           

Entries will be accepted in five categories:

·         Cave Explorations

·         Canyon Explorations

·         Cave Meetings

·         Canyon Meetings

·         W·O·W!: Wonderful Outdoor World

§ EXPLORATIONS requirements:

People submitting photos must have taken part in a New Exploration of a cave or canyon during the current year.

It is considered a New Exploration the scouting of any cave or canyon with previously non-existent or publicly unavailable beta / topo / reports about its access and route. It is NOT NEEDED to discover a new cave or canyon.

It is only needed to "open" it and document publicly its access and first descent, or make publicly available beta / topo / reports / photos about its detailed access and detailed route that were not publicly available before. So that other fans of theses sports can benefit or enjoy it too.

The corresponding new beta / topo / report, shall be intended to be published before current year end.

The photo must have been taken during the exploration, and it will enter the contest at the date of submission.

For example:

a photo is taken during an exploration in January 2020

that photo is submitted to the Contest in July 2020

THEN the photo will compete in the July-September round of the Contest.

§ MEETINGS requirements:

People submitting photos must be registered ATTENDANTS at any official caving or canyoning meeting worldwide.

Photos must be submitted within the DURATION of the meeting, including its first and last official calendar dates.

The meeting has to:

be organized by an association, club, public or private entity, NOT by individuals

with a duration of 2 or more days

with a minimum of 20 or more attendants

having been announced and made public by a Facebook page, internet site or banner/poster communication, at least 15 days prior to the starting date

The submitted photos will compete in the contest round according to the END DATE of the MEETING.

For example:

a meeting dated 26 March - 6 April will compete in the April-June round.

§ W·O·W! Wonderful Outdoor World requirements:

Photos submitted in this category must have been taken while the below sports are being practiced, in any circumstance or situation other than a NEW EXPLORATION or a MEETING:

·         Caving

·         Canyoning

Photos must have been taken during the current year, a maximum of 20 photos per participant can be submitted to the contest. If more are submitted, Sponsor can consider selecting only 20, at its sole discretion criteria.

Photos accepted in this category are requested to generate a reaction “Wow!” by a standard audience, and expected to be able to be labeled as “amazing” or “stunning” or “adventurous”.

Sponsor reserves the right to reject any submitted photo that might not suit these subjective considerations, at the sole discretion of Sponsor.

Rejection of specific photos that Sponsor considers to not fulfill the criteria for admission can take place at any time, even after initial acceptation and publication in the Gallery, up to 24h before the round established closure deadline.

The photo will enter the contest at the date of submission, unless explicitly indicated by Sponsor:

For example:

a photo is taken during an outing in January 2020

that photo is submitted to the Contest in July 2020

THEN the photo will compete in the July-September round of the Contest.

 

§ QUORUM requirements:

During any ROUND, a category will be declared void and the contest in that category will be revoked due to lack of quorum WHEN fewer than 5 PHOTOGRAPHERS are submitting photos in that category, or less than 30 PHOTOS in total are competing in that category. In these cases, neither PHOTO nor PHOTOGRAPH winner will be chosen or awarded in that category.

For MEETINGS CATEGORIES, if less than a total of 3 MEETINGS from different countries participate in a given round, no prize will be awarded to any MEETING organizer. However, the prizes will be maintained for the PHOTO and PHOTOGRAPHERS in the meeting categories that still comply the requirements of minimum 5 PHOTOGRAPHERS and minimum 30 PHOTOS.

§ QUALITY requirements:

During any ROUND, a category can be declared void and the contest in that category will be revoked due to lack of quality WHEN no valid photos complying with the category requirements have been selected as possible winner by more than 1/3 of the Jury members. In this case Sponsor might, at its sole discretion, decide whether to declare the category deserted or not.

Sponsor might also, at its sole discretion, declare a category deserted due to insufficient quality of submitted photos, if Sponsor finds justified reasons for it, and more that 50% of the Jury members approves the decision.

In the case a category is declared deserted, neither PHOTO nor PHOTOGRAPH nor VOTER nor MEETING will be chosen or awarded in that category. Sponsor will erase all submitted entries and stop using any submitted content in future.

§ ADDITIONS, CHANGES, EXCEPTIONS, DISQUALIFICATIONS:

Sponsor might, at its sole discretion add or change categories, add or change the accepted sports in a category, or accept as exception the participation of submitted entries that do not strictly comply with the category requirements, if Sponsor believes that doing this is justified for whatever reason by the circumstances.

Sponsor will limit as much as possible the changes and additions during a standard round when already started, but Sponsor has complete freedom to introduce changes in the rules at any time.

Sponsor can at its sole discretion provide “GOLDEN PASSES” to any photo submitted in a previous contest organized or co-organized by Sponsor during the current year to participate in the final round, for whatever reason, up to 24h before the starting date of the final round.

The other participants in the final round can at their own initiative request their exclusion from participate in the final round contest and the permanent deletion of all of their submitted entries, which Sponsor will stop using from that moment on.

Sponsor can at its sole discretion dismiss and invalidate any photo accepted to participate in a standard or final round, if Sponsor believes that doing this is justified at its sole discretion (cheating, false or misleading information, rules objection, complaints, not worthiness, mistakes, etc.), up to 24h before the round established closure deadline.

 

6.a.  As a Voter:

Internet public voting is open to everybody with 18 years, or older, at the time of the contest.

The Contest must be entered by casting a valid vote using the online form provided at https://contest.lucamemorial.org.  The vote entry must fulfill all Contest requirements, as specified, to be eligible to win a prize. Entries that are incomplete or do not adhere to the rules or specifications may be disqualified at the sole discretion of Sponsor.

§  During Standard Rounds you must cast a maximum of three votes per day during the duration of the Round. If a Participant submits more than three votes in one day, then it will be considered valid for the Contest only the first three votes posted. During the Final Round you must cast a maximum of 15 votes during the total duration of the Final Round.

§  Invalid votes will not be monitored nor cancelled during the Contest; the verification of vote validity will be done at the winner selection stage.

§  “per day” will be defined as follows: after 23:59:59 CET time will be considered a new day, and new votes can be casted.

§  For each vote, You must fill up and comply with what is being requested in the voting form at https://contest.lucamemorial.org when casting votes.

§ You may not vote more times than indicated by using multiple email addresses, identities, or devices in an attempt to circumvent the rules. If You use fraudulent methods or otherwise attempt to circumvent the voting rules, Your whole voting submissions may be removed from eligibility at the sole discretion of Sponsor.

§  Votes must be casted no later than the deadlines indicated in “chapter 4 Contest Duration and Rounds”. Sponsor reserves the right to extend any deadlines at its own criteria.

§  Photos on the gallery can be voted only once, and vote is irrevocable.

§  Members of the Jury and those who actively organize this Contest are excluded from participating in the Contest as Voters.

§  Participants as Photographers are allowed  and are encouraged to participate in the Voting.

§  No responsibility can be accepted for votes not received for whatever reason.

§  Each participating Voter represents and warrants that all information contained in its entry form is/are true and accurate. Each participating Voter grants Sponsor the right to use any information in the registration and entry form, in the Gallery as well as written and oral statements for advertising and marketing purposes, without compensation, unless otherwise prohibited by law.

§  Voters with a Bonus Code, can update their account at https://contest.lucamemorial.org at any moment and benefit of the Voter Bonus as described in “chapter 7 Bonuses”.

§  Participating Voters agree to be bound by these Official Rules and all decisions of the Sponsor, whose decisions will be final and binding.

6.b.   As a Photographer:

Contest is open to receive photos (the “Entry”) submitted by photographers according to its category:

6.b.1. MEETING Categories:  CAVE MEETINGS & CANYON MEETINGS:

Any attendants (in possession of an official pass) at meetings worldwide can submit photos in these categories as long as the Meeting  complies with requirements indicated in “chapter 5 Categories”.

§  You may enter a maximum of three photos per day during the duration of the Contest. If a Participant submits more than three photos in one day, then Sponsor might select as valid for the Contest only three posted photos, selecting them at its sole discretion.

§  Photos must have been made during the Meeting and photos must be submitted within the duration of the Meeting, including its first and last official calendar dates.

§  You must also comply with chapter “6.b.4 General Rules for all Photographers”

6.b.2. EXPLORATION Categories:  CAVE EXPLORATIONS & CANYON EXPLORATIONS:

Can submit photos in these categories all participants at explorations worldwide, as long as the Exploration complies with requirements of “chapter 5 Categories”.

§  You may enter a maximum of three photos per day during the duration of the Contest. You may enter a maximum of three photos per each day of Exploration. If a Participant submits more than three photos in one day, then Sponsor might select as valid for the Contest only three posted photos, selecting them at its sole discretion.

§  Photos must have been made during the Exploration.

§  You must also comply with “chapter 6.b.4 General Rules for all Photographers”

6.b.3. W·O·W! Category:  WONDERFUL OUTDOOR WORLD:

Anybody can submit photos in this category taken while actively practicing the sports allowed in this category (see “chapter 5. Categories and Category requirements) during the current year, in any circumstance other that during a New Exploration or a Meeting.

 

§  Photos submitted in this category  are expected to be able generate a "Wow!" reaction by a standard audience, who might consider the photo as amazing, stunning or adventurous.

§  You may enter a maximum of three photos per day during the duration of the Contest. You may enter a maximum of 20 photos per round. If a Participant submits more photos than permitted, then Sponsor might select as valid for the Contest only the maximum posted photos, selecting them at its sole discretion.

§  Photos must have been made during an excursion while practicing the sports included in this category, by an active participant, a spectator, or a drone.

§  You must also comply with “chapter 6.b.4 General Rules for all Photographers”

 

6.b.4. General rules for all photographers:

§  The Contest must be entered by submitting an entry using the online form provided at https://contest.lucamemorial.org. The entry must fulfill all Contest requirements, as specified, to be eligible to win a prize. Entries that are incomplete or do not adhere to the rules or specifications may be rejected at the sole discretion of Sponsor.

§  The photo theme is open. Any type of photography is permitted: B & W, vertical / horizontal, selfie, group, technique, landscape, allegorical, etc. Preferably it is invited to immortalize the natural beauty of the host region, the sports’ adventure, friendship, and shared joy: all principles and values that defined Luca Chiarabini.

§  Images must NOT have been digitally or otherwise modified to change the original impression. Only minor adjustment in brightness, contrast and color saturation are allowed. In dark environments, a postprocessing digital enhancement is allowed to eliminate noise, dust and other defects, if the overall appearance of the photo is maintained.

§  For each entry, You must fill up and comply with what is being requested in the entry form at https://contest.lucamemorial.org when submitting photos.

§  You may not enter more times than indicated by using multiple email addresses, identities, or devices in an attempt to circumvent the rules. If You use fraudulent methods or otherwise attempt to circumvent the rules, Your whole submissions may be removed from eligibility at the sole discretion of Sponsor as well as ban the participation of the person suspected of cheating for life, in past and future contests.

§  Photos must be submitted according to the deadlines indicated in “chapter 4 Duration”. Sponsor reserves the right to extend these deadlines at its own criteria.

§  Each photo has to obtain a minimum of 5 valid votes from internet public voters (see chapter “6.a As a Voter”) before the Contest deadline, in order to  be considered by the Jury during the Judging round.

o   Photos posted the same day of the deadline are excluded to comply this rule.

o   Self voting is not allowed. Any participant is free to share the direct link to his entries in order to get the necessary votes from friends, family or whoever.

o   Sponsor reserves the right to include in the Judging round any entry not satisfying this minimum vote criterion, if Sponsor considers it  necessary for whatever reason.

§  Members of the Jury and those who actively organize this Contest are excluded from participating in the Contest as Photographers in the same round that is being judged. Judges can however participate as photographers in rounds that will not be judged by them. Photographers that do not have any of their photos competing in a round, can act as judges of that round.

§  No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.

§  All persons appearing in photographs must be at least the age of majority as of the date of the photograph.  If the subject of an image or a video is a minor (under the age of 18), the creator must provide a written consent from parents or legal guardian of the minor according to local law.

§  Images that have been previously published or submitted to other contests, may be submitted to this contest, but the participant is required to inform Sponsor about it by the contact email indicated on https://contest.lucamemorial.org.

§  Sponsor may disqualify any entry that contains references which are (or promote activities that are) obscene, crude, vulgar, or derogatory of any group, or references to illegal or inappropriate activity, behavior or conduct, or any other references that could be considered inappropriate, unsuitable or offensive, as determined by Sponsor, in its sole discretion.

§  Each participating Photographer  represents and warrants that: (i) it owns or has the necessary licenses, rights, consents and permissions: (1) to use all material and content submitted in its entry (the “Content”), and (2) to grant to Sponsor, and hereby grants to the Sponsor, the perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable and transferable right to use, reproduce, distribute and otherwise display the Content in any format; and (ii) to its knowledge, the participant Photographer declares its Content does not violate any law or the privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights of any other person. The above license is irrevocable.

§  Each participating Photographer represents and warrants that all information contained in its entry form is/are true and accurate. Each participating Photographer grants Sponsor the right to use its name and any information in the registration and entry form, in the Gallery as well as written and oral statements for advertising and marketing purposes, without compensation, unless otherwise prohibited by law.

§  Photographers with a Bonus Code, can update their account at https://contest.lucamemorial.org at any moment and benefit of the Photographers Bonus as described in “chapter 7 Bonuses”.

§  Photographers can recommend friends that never participated before to join Luca Memorial Contests through a REFERRAL LINK and benefit of the Photographers Bonus as described in “chapter 7 Bonuses”.

§  Participating Photographers agree to be bound by these Official Rules and all decisions of the Sponsor, whose decisions will be final and binding.         

 

 

Luca Memorial reserves the right to benefit specific organizations, events, or people considered as FRIENDS, given them some extra advantages in contribution for their promotion of Luca Memorial activities and projects. The special advantages, called BONUS, can apply to PHOTOGRAPHERS submitting photos or VOTERS voting photos.

Bonuses are applied in all STANDARD rounds as well as the yearly FINAL round judgement.

All bonuses are valid only for current year contest rounds, and bonuses are reset after 1^st March of following year.

Participants benefitting of a bonus in previous years will lose the bonus at the end of the year, but they can still achieve and obtain a new bonus for the following year without any limitation.

Sponsor might at its sole discretion request all necessary data and proof that the user benefitting of a bonus code is complying with the requirements established by Sponsor in order to benefit of it (active affiliation, valid registration at event, etc.)

7.a. REFERRAL LINK:

Any PHOTOGRAPHER submitting photos will have available a unique REFERRAL LINK. The link can be obtained at the User Account settings at  https://contest.lucamemorial.org. With this link, active participants can invite other NEW PHOTOGRAPHERS to join Luca Memorial Contests.

WHEN a NEW photographer uses this link to successfully join our contests for the first time, AND IF the new photographer submits valid photos that are accepted, THEN a counter is increased for that unique referral link.

When TOTAL REFERRALS of a link is equal or more than 3, it will receive a PHOTOGRAPHER BONUS (+1 EXTRA JURY point, see “chapter 7.b.2. Photographer Bonus”)

The bonus is applied to all photos of the photographer owner of the link at every future Judging round during the rest of the current contest.

WARNING: The bonus is not accumulative with any BONUS CODE; photographers can have a maximum of only +1 extra Jury vote.

7.b. BONUS CODES:

A participant of a FRIEND event or federated member of a FRIEND entity will receive a BONUS code directly from his event or federation. This bonus code will have the form of a hashtag, in example: #2020RIC.

VOTERS and PHOTOGRAPHERS can update their registered user account at https://contest.lucamemorial.org using this BONUS code. From that moment, these users will have a special benefit being applied each time a Judging round takes place in Luca Memorial contests.

If a new partnership is established with an event or federation by Luca Memorial, then they are considered FRIENDS from that moment on.

The FRIEND entity will provide its members directly the BONUS CODE they need to use in Luca Memorial contests.

Only one bonus code can be active. You can overwrite the bonus code at any moment.

WARNING: When a participant with a bonus code wins, the FRIEND entity whose bonus code was used will be required to confirm that the winner was entitled to use the bonus code (i.e. was registered at the meeting, is still a federated member, ...)

If the FRIEND entity does not confirm in 3 working days the validity of the winner, the winner will be disqualified and a new winner will be picked.

Disqualified participants are banned from Luca Memorial Contests for life. Zero Tolerance is applied to cheating.

7.b.1. Voter bonus:

If a VOTER obtains and uses a BONUS CODE to upgrade his account, from that moment on, whenever there is a sweepstake among voters, THEN this specific VOTER will have DOUBLE chances of winning.

As an example: this bonus is equivalent as having two lottery tickets while participating in a lottery, while other participants have only one ticket for the same lottery.

7.b.2. Photographer bonus:

If a PHOTOGRAPHER obtains and uses a BONUS CODE to upgrade his account, from that moment on, whenever there is a Judging round, THEN this specific PHOTOGRAPHER will have +1 extra Jury vote on all his photos participating in a current or future Judging round during the current year contests.

 

·         STANDARD ROUND:

A jury of 5-10 photographers, canyoneers, cavers or nature and photo enthusiasts will evaluate the submitted photos according to a mix of their own personal criteria about beauty, technicality, creativity, impact, and innovation.

The selection of the Jury is made by Sponsor at its sole discretion.

Photographer Bonuses will be applied when applicable as +1 Jury Vote  (see “chapter 7 Bonuses”).

The #1 photo in each category will be nominated Round Winner of the category.

Jury member list is not disclosed till after completion of each judging round, during the winners' announcement.

 

·         FINAL ROUND

The Jury will be composed by a minimum of 30% and a maximum of 50% from voters that voted any of the winning photos in previous rounds, or past editions and rounds winning photographers not competing in the final round. The selection of the Jury is made complying the previous rule by Sponsor at its sole discretion, however a random and rotary turn principle will be applied whenever possible.

Judging process will be same as in standard rounds.

The winner photo will be nominated PHOTO OF THE YEAR.

 

Winners, Photographers and Voters, will be announced within maximum 20 days after the end of each deadline.

Once all winners are confirmed, Sponsor will make the winner announcement on websites, newsletter and Facebook account.

9.a. STANDARD ROUND

9.a.1.   Winning Photographer

Winner will be selected by Jury selection under the supervision of Sponsor.

Judging process result:

·         1 Winning PHOTO per category

·         Ranking of Top 15 photos per category.

Winning Photographer will be notified within five (5) days following Winner selection.  Sponsor is entitled to request all necessary information to control authenticity of participant and the applied bonuses, if any. Sponsor shall have no liability for Winner’s failure to receive or reply notices, nor to provide the needed information.

Winning photographer will be required the Photo in high resolution, Winning PHOTOGRAPHER biography and winning photo circumstances.

For EXPLORATION categories, Photographer will be requested to provide a short story of the exploration and the link to topo/beta that he has published.

For MEETING categories, a MEETING biography will be requested directly to the MEETING ORGANIZER as well as confirmation that photographer was a valid attendant.

Once all verifications have been completed, Winner is confirmed as valid and Sponsor will send an award notification per email and wait for instruction of the winner where to transfer the prize. If in 3 days after any notification was sent, the Winner fails to timely return a completed and executed declaration and release as required, the prize may be forfeited and an alternate Winner selected.

Sponsor reserves the right to change the above-mentioned process, at its sole discretion and for whatever reason, if Sponsor believes it is  justified to do so.

9.a.2.   Winning Voter:

Winner voter will be selected by a random drawing  under Sponsor supervision from all voters that voted for the winning PHOTO in each category, certified as random by a third party. Winner will be notified by the provided email within five (5) days following selection of Winner. Sponsor shall have no liability for Winner’s failure to receive notices due to spam, junk e-mail or other security settings or for Winner’s provision of incorrect or otherwise non-functioning contact information. If Winner cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim the prize within 3 days after the notification was sent, or fails to timely return a completed and executed declaration and release as required, the prize may be forfeited and an alternate Winner selected.

Sponsor reserves the right to change the above-mentioned process, at its sole discretion and for whatever reason, if Sponsor believes it is  justified to do so.

 9.b. FINAL ROUND

Top 15 photos in each category of STANDARD ROUNDS will enter the YEARLY FINAL ROUND. Sponsor can extend or reduce this size at its sole discretion and for whatever reason, if Sponsor believes it is justified to do so.

Any winning photo/s in any EXTRA SPECIAL ROUND held during the year, will also enter the final round.

Sponsor can grant “GOLDEN PASSES” to enter directly the final round to any photo submitted in a previous contest organized or co-organized by Sponsor during the current year, if Sponsor believes it is justified to do so for whatever reason.

Start and end dates for public voting of final round will be announced via newsletter & Facebook to all followers.

Winning Photo will be selected by Jury selection under the supervision of Sponsor among all photos, without distinction of category, that reached at least 5 votes from the internet public before the FINAL ROUND deadline.

Winning PHOTO will be nominated PHOTO OF THE YEAR.

Winner voter will be selected by a random drawing from all voters that voted for the winning PHOTO OF THE YEAR under Sponsor supervision, certified as random by a third party.

 

WARNING:

Receipt by Winners of the prize offered in this Contest is conditioned upon compliance with any and all federal, state, and local laws and regulations. ANY VIOLATION OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES BY WINNER (AT SPONSOR’S SOLE DISCRETION) WILL RESULT IN WINNER’S DISQUALIFICATION AS WINNER OF THE CONTEST, AND ALL PRIVILEGES AS WINNER WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED.

Sponsor may require the prize winner to execute an affidavit of eligibility, publicity release (except where prohibited), liability waiver and/or IRS Form W-9 (if required by IRS regulations) prior to the delivery of any prize (collectively, an “Affidavit”).

Sponsor ‘s decision as to those able to take part and selection of winners is final and  irrevocable.

No correspondence relating to the Contest will be entered into.

 

10.a. QUARTERLY STANDARD ROUNDS

For the Winning PHOTOGRAPHER in each category: 500 USD per photographer. (5 winners in each standard round, unless a category is deserted)

For the Winning VOTER in each category: 200 USD per voter. (5 winners in each standard round, unless a category is deserted)

For the Cave and Canyon MEETINGS where the Winning PHOTO was taken: 3000 USD to be shared equally among the meetings. If one category does not have had any meeting during the round and is declared desert, the other will receive the full amount. (1 or 2 winners per round, unless a category is deserted)

10.b. YEARLY FINAL ROUND

For the Winning PHOTOGRAPHER of the photo of the year: 5000 USD (1 winner)

For the Winning VOTER of the photo of the year: 500 USD per voter. (1 winner)

 

NOTE "Prizes are not accumulative": for any winner already receiving for any reason any sponsorship, prize or compensation during the year by Luca Memorial, the already received sponsorship, prize, or compensation will be deducted from the new prize, and only the additional part (if any) will be awarded to the winner. Prizes are not accumulative, if the same person wins more than one prize, only the maximum prize will be awarded.

 

Sponsor is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this competition.

Sponsor can amend, modify or cancel any of the above prizes or any of the here described rules at any moment prior to the starting date of a Standard Round as well as the Final Round, for whatever reason and at its sole discretion.  Once a Round has started the prize changes will not be effective on the ongoing round but will be effective on all rounds still pending to start.

 

The Winner(s) of the Contest (the “Winner”) will receive the above-mentioned prizes. No cash or other prize substitution shall be permitted except at Sponsor discretion. The prize is nontransferable. Any and all prize-related expenses, including without limitation any and all federal, state, and/or local taxes (if any), shall be the sole responsibility of Winner. No substitution of prize or transfer/assignment of prize to others or request for the cash equivalent by Winner is permitted. Acceptance of prize constitutes permission for Sponsor to use Winner’s name, likeness, and entry for purposes of advertising and trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

The odds of winning as a Photographer depend on the number of eligible entries received, the quality of the photo, the discretional taste of the voters, and the discretional taste of the Jury

The odds of winning as a Voter depend on the number of votes casted and the discretional taste of the voter to pick the photo that will end up being awarded with the first prize by the Jury, and the luck of being selected randomly among all other voters.

Sponsor acknowledges that You retain full ownership of the copyright in each Entry.
By submitting Content (e.g., photo, video, text, etc.), You understand and agree that Sponsor, anyone acting on behalf of Sponsor, and Sponsor’s licensees, successors, and assigns, shall have the right, where permitted by law, to print, publish, broadcast, distribute, and use in any media now known or hereafter developed, in perpetuity and throughout the World, without limitation, Your entry, name, portrait, picture, voice, likeness, image, statements about the Contest, and biographical information for news, publicity, information, trade, advertising, public relations, and promotional purposes, without any further compensation, notice, review, or consent.
Non-winning entries may be used as above for a period not to exceed 3 years from the end of the annual Contest.

By entering this content, You represent and warrant that Your entry is an original work of authorship, and does not violate any third party’s proprietary or intellectual property rights. If Your entry infringes upon the intellectual property right of another, You will be disqualified at the sole discretion of Sponsor. If the content of Your entry is claimed to constitute infringement of any proprietary or intellectual proprietary rights of any third party, You shall, at Your sole expense, defend or settle against such claims. You shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Sponsor from and against any suit, proceeding, claims, liability, loss, damage, costs or expense, which Sponsor may incur, suffer, or be required to pay arising out of such infringement or suspected infringement of any third party’s right.

(see also "chapter 15. Further Privacy and Copyright")

Sponsor shall have the right, at its sole discretion and at any time, to change or modify these terms and conditions, such change shall be effective immediately upon posting to the link https://lucamemorial.org/rulesww, or to the contest website https://contest.lucamemorial.org under the link TERMS& CONDITIONS.

Sponsor also reserves the right to cancel the Contest if circumstances arise outside of its control.

Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest should virus, bug, non-authorized human intervention, fraud, or other cause beyond Sponsor’s control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, or proper conduct of the Contest. In such case, Sponsor may select the Winner from all eligible entries received prior to and/or after (if appropriate) the action taken by Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers or attempts to tamper with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or website or violates these Terms & Conditions. Sponsor has the right, in its sole discretion, to maintain the integrity of the Contest, to void votes for any reason, including, but not limited to: multiple entries from the same user from different IP addresses; multiple entries from the same computer in excess of those allowed by Contest rules; or the use of bots, macros, scripts, or other technical means for entering. Any attempt by an entrant to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil laws. Should such attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law.

The Sponsor reserve the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend any part or all of the Contest if the Contest cannot operate as planned due to causes beyond the control of Sponsor that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the Contest.

By entering, You agree to release and hold harmless Sponsor and its subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, partners, representatives, agents, successors, assigns, employees, officers, and directors from any liability, illness, injury, death, loss, litigation, claim, or damage that may occur, directly or indirectly, whether caused by negligence or not, from: (i) such entrant’s participation in the Contest and/or his/her acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of any prize or any portion thereof; (ii) technical failures of any kind, including but not limited to the malfunction of any computer, cable, network, hardware, or software, or other mechanical equipment; (iii) the unavailability or inaccessibility of any transmissions, telephone, or Internet service; (iv) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Contest; (v) electronic or human error in the administration of the Contest or the processing of entries; (vi) risky, hazardous or negligent behavior of anyone taking the photo or assisting for it.

Sponsor is not responsible for any printing errors in any materials made available to participants. Sponsor shall not be responsible for lost, late, misidentified, misdirected or incomplete entries or telecommunication or computer hardware or software performance, errors, delays or failures. If, for any reason, the fairness or integrity of the Contest becomes compromised, or Sponsor’s administration or fulfilment of the Contest becomes impracticable, Sponsor reserves the right to terminate or modify the Contest, and to disqualify any individual who tampers with the administration of the Contest.

The winning images will be transferred free of charge to the Sponsor in high resolution for use, as detailed below.

All images submitted for consideration remain the sole property of the photographer. Entrants retain copyright over each of their images.

All images submitted in the Contest can be freely used by the Sponsor for online or paper publications with a label indicating the author, according to what stated below. Entrants grant Sponsor and its affiliates, subsidiaries and partners the sublicensable, non-exclusive, worldwide and perpetual right to use and exploit the submitted images without compensation in the context of sales, promotions, marketing, advertising, events and exhibitions of all kind. This includes the perpetual and worldwide use of the submitted images in any media, in particular any print-media (e.g. magazines, newspapers, books) and electronic/digital offline and online media (e.g. Sponsor or associated websites and its affiliates, or social internet platforms and third-party networks and websites).
Non-winning entries may be used as above for a period not to exceed 3 years from the end of the annual Contest.
Credits will be given according to the customary practice in the media business. Whenever credit directly on photo will be esthetically not viable or appropriate, credits in accompanying text will be used.

If photo is reproduced or used multiple time in the same unity (web site, social post, magazine, book) Sponsor is explicitly authorized by photographer to credit only once his copyright. In particular circumstances Sponsor can void totally the credit of the photo (banners, buttons, thumbnails,…), as long as it is made visible or available a link to a unity where the photo is duly credited (article, web site, post, video, …)

Each Participant is responsible for material submitted by him in the Contest.

The organizers of the Contest disclaim any responsibility towards competitors, third parties and any subject represented in photographs sent to the Contest.

Each competitor must be the sole author of the photographs, and images submitted must be original owned and not of a third party.

In the event a physical media (e.g. book with semi-finalist images or digital edition thereof, as well as permanent or itinerant exhibition ) is produced by Sponsor, all profits generated resulting from the sale of such media  will remain within Sponsor.

Being Sponsor a non-profit entity, profits will be used exclusively for new Contests: prizes, promotion and advertising.

THIS Contest IS GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF SWITZERLAND  BEING LUGANO COURT THE ONLY COMPETENT, WITHOUT RESPECT TO CONFLICT OF LAW DOCTRINES. As a condition of participating in this Contest, Participant agrees that any and all disputes that cannot be resolved between the parties, and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, exclusively before the Court in Lugano. Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances shall Participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waives all rights to, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, including indirect and attorney’s fees, other than Participant’s actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e. costs associated with entering this Contest). Participant further waives all rights to have damages multiplied, increased, punitive, incidental or consequential.

If disputes shall be finally settled under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by one arbitrator appointed in accordance with said rules. The place of the arbitration shall be Geneva, Switzerland.

Entrant acknowledges that his/her personal data submitted or entered will be registered in electronic form by methods of automated data processing by Sponsor to process the data as described in the privacy policy.

Information submitted with an entry is subject to the Privacy Policy stated on the Sponsor website. To read the Privacy Policy:
  https://lucamemorial.org/privacy-policy/

Official winners list will be published at http://lucamemorial.org and/or http://ontest.lucamemorial.org/ within 20 days after the deadline of the Contest.

To obtain the Winner’s name or a copy of these Official Rules, mail Your request along with a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Sponsor. Requests must be received no later than 45 days after the Contest deadline.

The Sponsor of the Contest is Luca Chiarabini Memorial Association, Via Nassa 15, 6900, Lugano.

 

If any term or provision set forth herein is invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not affect any other term or provision set forth herein or invalidate or render unenforceable such term or provision in any other jurisdiction.

By clicking  the [ENTER], [SUBMIT],[VOTE] buttons or any similar or equivalent button, or by entering into the Contest by any other mean, will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions. You, the “Participant” participating in this contest, have affirmatively reviewed, agreed and accepted, all above Official Rules.

The Sponsor reserves the right to review and revise these Rules from time to time. Participants in already started contests will be notified in due time of such changes if relevant to them, which will appropriately consider the mutual interests in duly conducting the Contest.  You will be deemed to have accepted any such changes if we do not receive an objection in not more than two weeks subsequently to being made aware of our revised terms. We will duly make You aware of these consequences upon notification of changes if relevant for You.

You should therefore from time to time review the current Rules because they are binding on You. In case You object to the changes we may need to exclude Your respective submissions and entries from the Contest.