FCCT Photo Contest 2010

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) is now accepting photo entries for this year's contest. Win $1000 cash prize for 1st place in the spot news, feature photography and photo essay and $2000 cash for 1st place in Human Rights category. An additional $1000 goes to photographer of the year.


Any photographer with images shot in the Asia-Pacific region are eligible to join. Photographers do NOT need to be members of the FCCT. This region includes the following countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, or Vietnam.

Contest rules and guidelines (from the FCCT contest page)

Who’s Eligible? Any photographer with images shot in the Asia-Pacific region. Photographers do NOT need to be members of the FCCT.

What Kind of Photos? All photos must be taken in the Asia-Pacific region. Judges will accept submissions in four categories:

* Spot news - for the best single image photograph taken at a news event in the Asia-Pacific region. No more than five photographs per photographer may be submitted in this category.

* Feature photography - for the best single-image non-news “feature” photograph taken in the Asia-Pacific region. No more than five photographs per photographer may be submitted in this category.

* Photo essay - for the best collection of up to 12 photos on a single topic taken in the Asia-Pacific region. No more than three photo essays per photographer may be submitted in this category.

* Human Rights – A special category, sponsored by the European Union, for the best single photo or photo essay of up to 12 images focusing on human rights in the Asia-Pacific region. No more than five single images and/or three photo essays per photographer may be submitted in this category.

* In addition, the judges will select one Photographer of the Year to recognize either the best single image or the most impressive collection of work submitted by a single photographer in 2010.

What Can You Win?

First-place winners in spot news, feature photography and photo essay: $1,000 cash and 1 round-trip ticket for economy-class air travel in Asia, courtesy of Star Alliance, the global airline network whose members include Thai Airways and other carriers.

First-place winner, Human Rights, sponsored by the European Union: $2,000 cash

Photographer of the Year: an additional $1,000 cash prize and round-trip ticket for economy-class air travel in Asia, courtesy of Star Alliance.

Winners will also receive a selection of travel vouchers for leading hotels in Southeast Asia, including Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, the Amari Emerald Cove resort in Koh Chang, the InterContinental Bangkok and the Holiday Inn Bangkok, as well as dining awards Espresso InterContinental Bangkok. Cash awards are courtesy of Pfizer (Thailand) Ltd., the contest’s principal sponsor.

In addition, all winners and finalists will be recognized in a special edition of FCCT’s quarterly magazine, Dateline, published to profile their work. Winning photos and finalists will also be displayed in a two-month exhibition at the FCCT gallery in Bangkok, including a Friday-night reception attended by local photographers and media.

What’s the Deadline? Photos must be submitted to FCCT and received by Sept. 24, 2010. Winners will be announced in late 2010.

Contest Rules:
Photos must be submitted on compact disc or DVD. All photos must be digital images saved in JPEG format and be 3 MB or greater in size. Submissions can be published or unpublished work taken within one year of the contest submission deadline. Photos taken earlier are eligible ONLY if they are part of a photo essay in which a significant portion of the work occurred within a year of the contest deadline.

Photographers must provide their name, a brief biography, full contact information (including phone and email address) and short photo captions (including location, subject matter and date of photograph) for all photos.

Photographers may submit entries in more than one category, but individual images can only be entered once, either as a single image or as part of a photo essay; images submitted more than once will not be accepted. Individual images entered as part of a photo essay are eligible for an award in other categories but cannot win more than one prize.

Images must be free of manipulation other than ordinary changes that might be made using conventional darkroom techniques, such as spotting dust and scratches, changing colour balance, contrast and other levels. Composite images and photos with special effects, borders, added backgrounds, and/or embedded names (such as photographer names or agency names) are not permitted.

Photos must be taken in Asia-Pacific, defined as: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, or Vietnam.

Submissions that do not meet any or all of these requirements will not be considered.

Photographers retain copyright to any images they submit to the contest.
By submitting images, photographers agree that the FCCT and its contest sponsors will have the right to reproduce any winning images - with attribution to the photographer - for use in marketing efforts related to the contest, including future contests and on the FCCT website. The FCCT also has the right to distribute winning images to the media to promote the contest. Submissions cannot be used by the FCCT or its sponsors for any commercial purposes or other uses unrelated to the contest.

Photographers agree that prints of the winning images may be produced by FCCT and may be exhibited by the FCCT and its sponsors provided that such use is related to the contest.

Submissions will not be returned and FCCT has the right to destroy all entries.
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Personal Notes: The drawback of this contest is that you have to submit your entries on a DVD, meaning you will have to mail your entries to the FCCT office. There is no online submission.

Mail your entries to:
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand
Penthouse, Maneeya Center Building
518/5 Ploenchit Road (connected to the BTS Skytrain Chitlom station)
Patumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02-652-0580-1
Fax: 02-652-0582
E-mail: info[at]fccthai.com
Web Site: http://www.fccthai.com

Hours of Operation - All departments are open Monday-Friday and closed Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays

If you want to know the level of competition for this international photo contest, you may check out the winning entries of last year's. My opinion on the entries? Most paint a very vivid picture of the harsh realities of life, and their works leave a lasting impression.

Some from the Philippines won last year's contest. Their works can be found in the FCCT 2009 contest page. Hopefully more would take interest in submitting their work this year.

Based on last year's entries, the level of competition is quite high. photojournalists will have a better chance winning this, but amateur photographers are always welcome to try.

Deadline for submission is on Sept. 24, 2010.