2022 RHS Photographic Competition

RHS Photographic Competition

The RHS Photographic Competition inspires young and old alike to get outdoors and record how enriching and inspiring gardens and plants can be. The 2022 competition is now open!

Prizes

Winner of the RHS Photographic Competition

£5,000

Young Winner of the RHS Photographic Competition

£750 Wex Photographic vouchers

Adult categories

First Place £500 + RHS Gift membership
Second Place £250
Third Place £150

Portfolio category

Best in Show £500 + RHS Gift membership
RHS Medals are awarded

Under 18s

First place £150 Wex Photographic vouchers
Second place £75 Wex Photographic vouchers
Third place £50 Wex Photographic vouchers

Under 11s

First place £150 Wex Photographic vouchers
Second place £75 Wex Photographic vouchers
Third place £50 Wex Photographic vouchers

RHS Photographic Competition rules

Terms and conditions of the 2022 RHS Photographic Competition

1 About the Competition

1.1 The RHS Photographic Competition is owned and run by the charity Royal Horticultural Society.
1.2 The competition is a multi-category, free to enter annual competition aimed at garden lovers, horticulturists and photographers alike.
1.3 The aim of the competition is to promote high quality and beautiful photography; and the RHS wants to inspire everyone to grow by encouraging people to share their two passions of gardening and photography.
1.4 The RHS Photographic Competition is free to enter.

1.5 Categories

1.5.1 Gardens
1.5.2 Welcoming wildlife
1.5.3 Plants
1.5.4 Creative
1.5.5 Macro
1.5.6 Indoor gardening
1.5.7 Under 18s (age 11-17)
1.5.8 Under 11s
1.5.9 Social Media
1.5.10 Portfolio

1.6 Dates
1.6.1 Competition opens for entries at 10am Thursday 1 April 2021.
1.6.2 The deadline for the entries is 10am, Tuesday 1 February 2022.
1.6.3 Winners of categories 1-9 will be announced and exhibited at an RHS Show in 2022 [TBC].
1.6.4 Medals for category 10 (Portfolio) will be judged and awarded at an RHS Show in 2022, and a ‘Best portfolio photography exhibit’ will be awarded. [TBC]
1.6.5 After the RHS Show exhibition, a selection of images from across all 10 categories will be on display at RHS Gardens in summer 2022 – dates to be confirmed.

2 Conditions of Entry

2.1 Categories 1-8 entry (excludes category 9, Social Media, and category 10, Portfolio)

2.1.1 All entries must be submitted through the RHS Photographic Competition website.
2.1.2 Entrants are permitted to enter 5 images to the competition via the website. If the RHS deems the entrant has exceeded the image entry limit, through multiple accounts or by any other means, the RHS may disqualify the entrant from the competition.
2.1.3 Entries must be submitted digitally. Scanned negatives are accepted but must meet the criteria of digital image file requirements.
2.1.4 Image entry file size must not exceed 4MB, and is recommended to be at least 1200 pixels on the longest length.
2.1.5 A high-resolution image with a minimum of 6MB, preferably over 10MB, will be requested if entries are shortlisted and entrants may be disqualified at the judge’s discretion if high resolution images are not provided when requested (with exception for entries to the Under 18s and Under 11s categories.)
2.1.6 Images must be submitted by 10am, 1 February 2022.
2.1.7 Images must not include watermarks, borders, or signatures.
2.1.8 Black and white images are eligible for all categories.
2.1.9 No single image may be entered into more than one category. For example, an image cannot be entered into All About Plants and Social Media categories.

2.2 Category 10, Portfolio, entry
2.2.1 This category is open to both amateur and professional photographers and is judged for RHS medals.
2.2.2 Images must be submitted by 10am, Tuesday 1 February 2022.
2.2.3 Entries which have been exhibited as printed photography at a previous RHS Show are not eligible.
2.2.4 Entry into Portfolio does not preclude the photographer entering other categories of the competition, however the same images must not be used.
2.2.5 To enter, send high-resolution digital files (4-10MB) of at least 6 images along with your name and email address using a file transfer tool such as WeTransfer to photoportfolio@rhs.org.uk. Scanned negatives/prints are accepted but should meet the file size requirement
2.2.6 All entries will be reviewed by the Photographic Art Portfolio Judging Panel to create a shortlist. Shortlisted entrants will be invited to print, frame and display their photography series.
2.2.7 Shortlisted entries will be exhibited and judged at an RHS Show in 2022. [TBC]
2.2.8 Shortlisted entrants must hang and remove their work, or arrange for a third party to do so. Dates to be confirmed.

2.3 Category 9, Social Media, entry
2.3.1 Entries to the Social Media category must be submitted via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by using the hashtag #RHSPhotoComp
2.3.2 Any images shared on social media platforms using #RHSPhotoComp are subject to these Terms and Conditions. Images which do not adhere to the Terms and Conditions may be disqualified from the competition.
2.3.3 The category will run monthly from April 2021 to January 2022. Each month’s draw will open and close at midday at the beginning and end of each month.
2.3.4 Each photographer is limited to submitting a maximum of 5 images in total per month
2.3.5 Each entrant may only win one monthly social media vote. Additional entries will not be selected for public voting.
2.3.6 Images cannot be resubmitted into more than one monthly competition. For example they cannot be entered into the following month’s draw or any thereafter.
2.3.7 Entries to the Social Media category do not account for the submissions limit via (up to five images) in the rest of the RHS Photographic Competition.
2.3.8 Entrants cannot enter the images submitted to the Social Media category into other categories, but are allowed to enter different images as they desire.
2.3.9 Images are permitted to have watermarks but the entrant will be required to provide a non-watermarked high res version if they are monthly winner.

3 Eligibility

3.1 The RHS Photographic Competition is open to all – apart from anyone associated with the competition including RHS employees (and their partners and family), board and committee members, ambassadors, media sponsor and judges.
3.2 The entrant must be the original artwork creator and solely hold the copyright.
3.3 Images must not be licenced or disposed of any rights that will conflict with the competition. Images that have been made available on stock libraries and that may have gained publicity from this may be disqualified at the judges’ discretion.
3.4 Images that have won or been commended or received notable publicity in any major competition before the submission deadline or judging will be disqualified at the judges’ discretion.
3.5 Any submitted image must not be entered into any other competition after being entered into the RHS Photographic Competition until the results have been announced.
3.6 The RHS requires that prior permission be sought before submitting photographs of private property or private gardens.
3.7 Visitors to RHS Gardens Wisley, Harlow Carr, Rosemoor and Hyde Hall are encouraged to capture and share photographic moments for personal, non-commercial purposes and do not require prior permission to enter the RHS Photographic Competition. Prior permission is necessary for any commercial and editorial usage of still or moving images.
3.8 It is the entrant’s responsibility to ensure that all necessary permissions are obtained from any person featured in a photograph.
3.9 Entrants for ‘Under 18s (11-17 years)’ must be between 11 and 17 years old on the day the competition closes.
3.10 Entrants for ‘Under 11s’ must be under 11 years old on the day the competition closes.

4 Categories

4.1 Gardens
4.1.1 Whether in your own private space or a spectacular RHS garden, a tiny city patch to a formal domestic outside haven – get out and about photographing the very best of any style of garden. Consider elevated overviews from an upstairs window or simply images that capture the enjoyment people get from being in an outside space. Let your photographic imagination flourish and celebrate the essence – and beauty – of a garden.

4.1.2 Visitors to RHS Gardens Wisley, Harlow Carr, Rosemoor and Hyde Hall are encouraged to capture and share photographic moments for personal, non-commercial purposes. Prior permission is necessary for any commercial and editorial usage of still or moving images.

4.2 Welcoming wildlife
4.2.1 Beautiful photographs of insects, birds and creatures found wild in your garden or garden surroundings. Images can be close up details or wider views of wildlife enjoying the outside environment.

4.3 Plants
4.3.1 If you love capturing plants, showing them happily growing in their location, then this is the category for you. Submissions should show a plant, tree or shrub as a whole entity – macro photography or tiny details aren’t right for this category. Instead, photographs could include the flower, stem and leaves of one single plant, or a clump of plants in their natural environment. Show us the beauty of plants and how they grow outside – make us think about why we should all consider growing more plants.

4.4 Creative
4.4.1 Let your imagination, originality and creativity go wild. Image manipulation and graphic approaches are welcomed. We want to be wowed by amazing, unusual and never-been-seen-before images that challenge and make us think.

4.5 Macro
4.5.1 Celebrate and excite the senses through close-up photography of plants, flowers, stems, leaves, roots or any part of a plant. These photographs should be about the detail and intimate nature of the subject in question.

4.6 Indoor gardening
4.6.1 Show us everything that sums up the fun, beauty and interest of growing plants indoors. From windowsills to conservatories, terrariums to glasshouses, house plants to indoor edibles, there’s never been a better time to photograph plants that thrive indoors.

4.7 Under 18s (age 11–17)
4.7.1 Any photographs depicting something plant, garden or wildlife related that interests you.

4.8 Under 11s
4.8.1 Any photographs depicting something plant, garden or wildlife related that interests you.

4.9 Social Media
4.9.1 Any image can be entered into this category that is related to anything horticultural, gardening or wildlife. Images should be submitted via RHS Twitter, Instagramor Facebookaccounts using the hashtag #RHSphotocomp. The monthly shortlist will be selected by the RHS social media team and an RHS judge, and the winner will be voted for by our social media followers. Each monthly winner will then be fed into the competition judging for overall category winner.
4.9.2 Submissions to the Social Media category must be via either Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, and not via the RHS website. Images submitted in the Portfolio and Social Media categories do not preclude being entered into the other eight competition categories.
4.9.3 Entries on private accounts Twitter and Instagram accounts cannot be seen and therefore will not be judged.

4.10 Portfolio

4.10.1 This category is open to both amateur and professional photographers.
4.10.2 This category is judged for RHS medals and is therefore not included in the judging for the overall winner of the RHS Photographic Competition. A ‘Best portfolio photography exhibit’ will be awarded.
4.10.3 The category is for a set of a minimum of 6 images on a common theme that work together as an exhibition. There is no maximum number of images but the entry must fit into the allocated exhibition space if shortlisted.
4.10.4 Shortlisted entrants must print, frame and display their photography series. Photographers based outside the UK may engage a third party to hang and remove their work if shortlisted.
4.10.5 Shortlisted photographs will be exhibited and judged at an RHS Show in 2022. [TBC]
4.10.6 Portfolio entries must focus on plants, horticulture or gardens – entries may include wildlife but this should not be the dominant subject of the images. Wildlife-focused images are better entered into category 2 – Welcoming Wildlife.

• Read our guide for Portfolio entrants.

5 Ethics

5.1 Digital adjustments that maintain the integrity of the image are allowed.
5.2 It is not permitted to make any major physical change to the image apart from in the Abstract or Portfolio categories. You may not, for example add or remove plants, objects, animals, people, landscapes or any parts of animals, plants, people or landscape when submitting in the other seven competition categories.
5.3 Accepted digital adjustments include dodging and burning, changes to tone and contrast and cropping, as well as High Dynamic Range imaging techniques, stitched panoramas and focus stacking.
5.4 The RHS may request the RAW file(s) or original camera jpeg(s) for any shortlisted image, if it deems that image does not follow the restrictions on digital manipulation and reserves the right to disqualify any image that it feel lacks authenticity.
5.5 An image will be rejected if in the opinion of the judges it appears that the image has been taken in such a way that wildlife law or animal welfare requirements may have been breached; protected species or habitats have been compromised; or the image has been otherwise taken in an irresponsible manner.

6 Judging

6.1 – Categories 1-9
6.1.1 A panel of judges will be appointed by the RHS to judge a shortlist of entries from each category
6.1.2 The competition judges will then choose from the selected shortlisted entries, to select winners of each category, an overall winner who will be chosen from the seven adult category winners (Gardens, Welcoming wildlife, Plants, Creative, Macro, Indoor gardening and Social Media) and an overall winner from the two children’s categories (Under 18s and Under 11s).
6.1.3 In addition, second and third places will be awarded; and where considered appropriate by judges ‘highly commended’ and ‘commended’
6.1.4 Judges hold the right to move entries to another category.
6.1.5 The judges reserve the right not to make any award if, in their opinion, none of the entries meet the required standard.
6.1.6 The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
6.1.7 The Social Media category will be judged in the following manner:
6.1.8 The monthly shortlist (for each month April 2021 to January 2022) will be selected by the RHS social media team and an RHS judge, and the winner will be voted for by our social media followers. Each monthly winner will then be fed into the competition judging for overall category winner.
6.2 – Category 10 – Portfolio
6.2.1 All Portfolio entries will be reviewed by the RHS Photographic Art Portfolio Judging panel to create a shortlist.
6.2.2 Shortlisted entrants will be invited to print, frame and hang their entry at an RHS Show in 2022. [TBC](Installation to be confirmed)
6.2.3 Judging of displayed entries will take place at an RHS Show in 2022 and RHS medals will be awarded by the judges. [TBC]
6.2.4 A ‘Best portfolio photography exhibit’ will be awarded to the best overall entry.

7 Shortlist

7.1 Shortlisted entrants will be contacted by the RHS to send a high-resolution copy of the image in.
7.2 The high-resolution image will preferably be over 6MB.
7.3 This must be sent by the requested date – failure to do so may result in removal from the shortlist.
7.4 Monthly finalists from the Social Media category will be shortlisted for the overall winner.
7.5 For the Social Media category – the original image and photographer information will be requested from monthly finalists.

8 Winners

8.1 The overall ‘Winner of the RHS Photographic Competition 2022’ will be chosen from the seven adult single image category winners (this excludes the two children’s categories, and Portfolio) and will receive both category and overall winner prizes.
8.2 The winners of each single image category will be chosen from the shortlisted entries.
8.3 The winners will be announced during an RHS Show in 2022 (Installation to be confirmed)
8.4 The ‘Young Winner of the RHS Photographic Competition 2022’ will be chosen from the two children’s categories: Under 18s (11-17) and Under 11s.

9 Prizes

9.1 Prizes will be awarded to winners of each single image category and to the Portfolio ‘best in show’
9.2 Second and third places will also win prizes in each single image category (excluding the Portfolio category).
9.3 RHS Medals will be awarded to the Portfolio category only.
9.3 Monthly winners of the Social Media category will not receive prizes.
9.4 The prizes are non-transferable.
9.5 The RHS reserves the right to substitute the whole or part of any listed prize with an alternative of equal monetary value (but the entrant shall not have any right to demand this).
9.6 The prizes must be claimed within one year of the competition winners being announced or will be forfeited.

10 Copyright and Usage

10.1 Entrants remain the copyright holder to any images submitted by themselves.
10.2 Awarded (including commended and medal winners in Portfolio) entrants agree to grant the RHS Photographic Competition and its partners and sponsors to a nonexclusive irrevocable licence to reproduce, enlarge, publish and exhibit for any purpose related to the competition in any medium, including print and digital.
10.3 This includes, but is not restricted to; exhibiting, competition calendar, competition book, for use in press and on websites. The RHS Photographic Competition and its partners and sponsors will not use awarded entries outside the scope of the photographic competition.
10.4 The entrants agree to RHS free usage sublicensing the shortlisted images for press articles or any other external communications related to the competition.
10.5 After the winners have been announced entries will be deleted, apart from those that have been shortlisted.
10.6 The RHS Photographic Competition will try to ensure the photographers will be credited on all mediums, but in the event of inadvertent omission of the credit, the photographer agrees that the Royal Horticultural Societyare not to be liable.
10.7 The entrant is responsible for any claim made by a third party against the submission.

11 Disclaimer

11.1 The information given in these Terms & Conditions is correct, but the RHS reserves the right to change any of it without prior notice. By entering the competition, entrants will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by these Terms & Conditions. Any breach of these Terms by an entrant will void their entry. If a breach has occurred, but is discovered after the award of a prize, then the organisers may require the return of that prize.

12 Data protection

12.1 In entering the RHS Photographic Competition, you agree to the RHS using your details to process your application, only.
12.2 By entering, you also agree that if selected as a winner of any prize or medal, the RHS may share your details with any potential future sponsor for the purpose of publishing the details of all winners (including the winning images), only.
12.3 Further information can be found in the RHS Privacy Statement. We respect your privacy and will never sell your data to any third party.

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相關連結：

• The RHS Photographic Competition