BECA Photo Award

The first edition of the BECA Photo Award (BPA) will be organised in 2021. Participants will be judged by international photography experts from 5 different countries, who will also select the winners of BPA 2021. They are famous curators, gallery managers, art directors and successful photographers with great experience and numerous exhibitions and awards. Based on their personal experience and competency, the jury will review and judge your photography. The only requirement is to enter the contest with a project (story) of 10-15 photos, regardless of whether it is a documentary, portrait or conceptual photography. There is no entry fee.

The general partner of the contest is the internationally recognised contest-hosting platform Picter. After the end of the submission period, the eight-member jury will have the opportunity to review and evaluate the participants projects online through the Picter platform, where the application for the competition will take place, too. They will select the winners of the BPA for 2021 from the ten shortlisted projects. The award ceremony will take place in June.

The participants have the opportunity to win over BGN 4,000 in prizes. The initiative aims to support the development of the photographers in the country. The winner will receive a BGN 2,000 cash prize, a solo exhibition, as well as a scholarship at BECA Before Creating Academy. The winning project will become part of a solo exhibition, which will be displayed in a photo gallery. The second prize is a voucher for photographic equipment worth BGN 1,000, provided by the other general partner of the initiative Photosynthesis. The organisers will showcase the winners portfolio on the website of the Academy and promote their work in the media.

1. General

These Terms and Conditions govern the participation in the BECA Photo Award (BPA), organised by BECA Before Creating Academy. The organisers of the competition invite talented photographers to present their photographic project (work) of 10-15 photos, regardless of whether it is a documentary, portrait or conceptual photography.

The winner of the BECA Photo Award will receive a cash prize of BGN 2,000, a solo exhibition, as well as scholarship at BECA Before Creating Academy worth BGN 560. The winning project will become part of the author’s solo exhibition, which will be displayed in a gallery.

The initiative is addressed to all photographers – beginners, amateurs and professionals who are citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria or are permanently living in the country.

2. Application

• Applications must be submitted only via the official contest platform. Entries sent in other ways will not be accepted.
• The contest is open to beginners, amateurs and professional photographers, regardless of their nationality, who lives and works in Bulgaria. The participants must be at least 18 years old.
• The photographer must be the author of the photos sent on his behalf.
• If you represent a photographer and his work in the competition, you must be authorised by the copyright holder of the photographs.
• Each participant can apply for the Contest once. He has also the right to send one project per submission.
• The description of the project, the titles and captions, as well as the personal information must be written in English in the Picter application form. This is necessary because of the international jury.
• Each participant has to apply with a photographic project (story) of 10-15 photos. Fewer photos can be submitted as long as they create a complete photographic body of work.
• There is no limit to the year and place of creation.
• The titles of the photos must not show the name of the participant, the agency or any other personal information (these details may be included in the metadata of the photos, but should not be visible in the title). This is necessary, because the projects will be juried anonymously.
• Photos taken, during restricted events (i.e. events where you did not have permission from the event organisers to take photos) are not accepted.
• Only single frames will be accepted (i.e. no diptychs, triptychs, etc. are accepted).
• The content of a photo must not be altered by adding, rearranging, reversing, distorting or removing people and/or objects from within the frame, except removing sensor dust or scratches on scans of negatives.
• Participants must provide the original files recorded by the camera for all projects that continue to the final round of the contest. These files will be requested and examined confidentially after 31 May 2021. Failure to provide these files when requested will lead to the exclusion of the application.
• Participants retain the copyright of their images. For awarded projects, the copyright holders grant Before Creating Ltd. the right to unlimited non-exclusive use of high resolution photos for activities in all media, including social media, digital and print publications, in relation to the contest, exhibition, yearbook, archive and all promotional and educational activities under the auspices of BECA Before Creating Academy, without any remuneration being due.
• For all photos, except awarded projects, the copyright holders grant Before Creating Ltd. the right to unlimited non-exclusive use of low resolution photos for publications on the social channels of the Contest and the Academy, without any remuneration being due.
• By submitting an application, the participant agree to the Terms and Conditions of Participation to the BPA.
• The winning projects will be used for high-resolution print. Therefore, the images must meet the following characteristics:

* Upload images to their original size. Do not scale or change the resolution. AdobeRGB, sRGB or Gray Scale 2.2 are recommended. CMYK profile is not recommended.

Images must be uploaded in JPEG format with high quality compression. We will use the winning images for high quality printing.

3. Award

The winner in BPA will receive a BGN 2,000 cash prize, a solo exhibition, as well as scholarship at BECA Before Creating Academy. The winning project will become part of the author’s solo exhibition, which will be displayed in a gallery. The second prize is a voucher for photographic equipment worth BGN 1,000, provided by the other main partner of the initiative Photosynthesis Camera Equipment Store, as well as, a scholarship at BECA Before Creating Academy. The third place winner will also receive a scholarship at the Academy. Please, find more information in the Prizes section of the website.

The winners and finalists of the BECA Photo Award will be informed by phone or email. The prizes will be awarded at an official ceremony in June 2021.

4. Application period

The online application for BPA takes place during the period from 15 March until 31 May 2021.

5. Warranties of the participants

By submitting an application for participation in the BECA Photo Award, the participant declares that:

• is the author of the sent photos;
• is at least 18 years old and lives and works in Bulgaria, regardless of his/her nationality;
• participates in the contest with only one project;
• is the sole copyright holder of the submitted photos or has been authorized by the copyright holder;
• the submitted photos have not been manipulated or altered other than standard image optimisations such as colour intensity or cropping;
• no third party can assert any rights or objections in connection with the photos;
• agrees his name and surname or pseudonym to be used in connection with the BECA Photo Award contest and / or the exhibitions planned thereafter, including for marketing and related materials for the press and social networks;
• agrees with the Terms and Conditions of Participation;
• if he represents the author of the photos, he/she is authorised to accept the Terms and Conditions of Participation on his/her behalf. At the same time, he/she declares that the author accepts the Terms and Conditions of Participation;

Only for candidates whose projects have been shortlisted:

• agrees that, in connection with the BECA Photo Award competition and / or subsequent exhibitions, including marketing and related press materials, upon request from Before Creating Ltd., he/she will send high-resolution files in order to ensure the best print quality (e.g. print for exhibitions and yearbook) and highest image resolution for the website on which they will be presented (e.g. contest website or Academy).

6. Granting of copyrights

In case a participant reaches the final round of the ten shortlisted projects and in case he/she is awarded in the BECA Photo Award, the participant hereby authorizes Before Creating Ltd. and third parties appointed by Before Creating Ltd., unlimited as to time, territory and content, irrevocably and also royalty-free:

• to use his/her photos for press, marketing and communication purposes in connection with the BECA Photo Award contest and the exhibition planned thereafter;
• to use, display or project his/her photos in the context of the BECA Photo Award contest (e.g. in advertising materials, publications, events, website, social networks, etc.) and the exhibition planned thereafter;
• to publish his/her photos in a print edition created after the end of the BECA Photo Award;
• to show his/her photographs in the exhibition planned afterwards;

Provided that, in each case, credit is given by stating either the participant first and last name, or his/her pseudonym (artist’s name). Before Creating Ltd. has no right to sell these photos.

7. Data Protection

Before Creating Ltd. collects, processes, uses and stores the personal data stated by the participants upon submission in accordance to the BECA Privacy Policy.

Participants reserve the right to request the removal of their personal data after the end of the submission period on 31 May 2021, thus withdrawing from their participation in the contest.

All personal data of the participants are processed and used by Before Creating Ltd. in accordance with legal regulations.

8. Miscellaneous

Should individual provisions of these Terms and Conditions of Participation be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining Terms and Conditions of Participation shall remain unaffected thereby.

Before Creating Ltd. may at any time change these Terms and Conditions of Participation without separate notification.

Staff