NSW National Parks photo competition Terms and Conditions

Terms and conditions

1. Introduction
1. The NSW National Parks Photo Competition (“the Photo Competition”) is conducted by Department of Planning and Environment (ABN 20 770 707 468) (“the Promoter”). NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is part of the Department of Planning & Environment.
2. The photograph entered must be taken in land reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW) or on Lord Howe Island.
3. It is a condition of entry that you grant the Promoter a licence to use the image in its website, social media channels, promotional materials, online or in-print media at any time in the future (see clause 8).
4. When taking the photograph you must comply with all laws including the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW) and the National Parks and Wildlife Regulation 2019. This means, among other things, you must ensure that you do not harm or damage any animal, vegetation or land within a national park or reserve or enter any area that is closed to the public.
5. All photographs must be taken safely and from a location that is open to the public. When taking photographs, you must not put any person or property at risk of harm or damage.


2. General
1. Entry into this competition deems acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
2. If there is any inconsistency between these Terms and Conditions and any other reference to this competition, these Terms and Conditions prevail.
3. The Promoter may close this competition early, cancel, or suspend this competition for any reason.
4. A licence is needed to carry out any commercial photography in NSW national parks and reserves. If the photograph entered into this competition will also be used commercially a licence will be required.


3. Who can enter?
1. The Photo Competition is open to any persons, except for employees, licensees, lessees, contractors and commercial partners of the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and their immediate families.
2. The Competition is open to all Australian and overseas residents.
3. The Photo Competition is open to both professional and amateur photographers. However, see clause 2.4 in relation to the requirement to have a licence for commercial photography in NSW national parks and reserves.
4. There is no age limit on entering. For participants under 18 years of age parent or guardian consent is required.


4. How to enter
1. Entries will be accepted from 13 December 2022 to 31 January 2023. No entries will be accepted after 11:59pm 31 January 2023.
2. All entries are deemed to be received at the time of receipt by the Promoter and not the time of transmission by the entrant.
3. Entrants must follow the instructions provided online. Entries submitted other ways will not be considered.
4. The entrant may enter as many images as they like into the competition across the 4 categories: Landscapes and Vistas, Animals and Plants, Enjoying Nature and Remote Country.
5. Each entry must comply with these Terms and Conditions, including the Submission Guidelines in clause 5.
6. Each photograph must be submitted separately and must individually meet the technical specifications as follows:
1. File format: jpg maximum quality, tiff
2. Minimum pixel length on the longest side: 2000 px
3. Maximum 20 MB size. The Promoter reserves the right to request a higher-original file if the submitted file does not meet the high-resolution quality requirements.
4. Digital photographs must have the name of the national park, and where possible, the precinct in the photograph name. For example, Wattamolla Beach, Royal National Park.
5. If possible, images should be 300dpi and 8-bit for best printing quality.
7. There is no entry fee for this competition.
8. Entries must be photographs taken on land reserved under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW) or on Lord Howe Island. Please refer to list of parks and reserves online.
9. Photographs should avoid showing people whose faces are recognisable, unless suitable model release documentation is provided for every person included. The Promoter may contact the entrant and request that a model release be supplied. The Promoter reserves the right to reject the entry if relevant model release form is not supplied when required.


5. Submission guidelines
1. Each entry must be a photograph that has been taken in accordance with the requirements of all laws. This includes the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW) and the National Parks and Wildlife Regulation 2019.
2. Each entry must be an original photograph produced entirely by the entrant. It must not contain any intellectual property, trademark or copyright material owed whole or in part by a third party or violate any persons’ rights of privacy.
3. Entries must not be photographs taken using drone technology.
4. All entries must have been taken within the 2 years prior to the competition closing date.
5. All entries must not have been previously used in any other competition or media.
6. All details provided by the entrant must be true and accurate.
7. Entries must not contain any name or other identifying material of an individual, without that individual’s consent.
8. The image must not contain any identifiable information of the entrant. Images submitted with watermarks or branding on them will not be considered for judging.
9. The image must not contain any material or content that:
1. is threatening, false, misleading, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic, profane or otherwise objectionable; or
2. could constitute or encourage conduct which would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any law either of the jurisdiction or any other country whose laws may apply to the entry. 
10. You must not upload or send any content which might disturb or damage the Promoter’s website or reputation.
11. Photographs that have been digitally altered beyond standard optimisation (removal of dust, cropping, reasonable adjustments to exposure, colour and contrast, etc.) will be disqualified. Multiple exposures that have been combined to produce a single “High Dynamic Range” image are acceptable.
12. Entries that are found to have been derived from the designs or work of a third party, or otherwise breach these Terms and Conditions, will be considered invalid and, if awarded a prize, that prize must be returned to the Promoter.
13. The winners may be required to sign a statutory declaration regarding the originality of the entry.
14. The Promoter reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual who the Promoter has reason to believe has breached any of these conditions or engaged in any unlawful or other improper misconduct calculated to jeopardise the fair and proper conduct of the competition.
15. The winner may be invited by the Promoter to participate in media including but not limited to, being interviewed and photographed, attending an award event, filmed and having their name and photograph published at the absolute discretion of the Promoter. By submitting an entry, you agree that if the judges select their photo as a winner, you will participate in and co-operate as required with all reasonable media editorial requests made by the Promoter at no cost to the winner. The Promoter is not obliged to invite the winner to participate in any such media campaign and the invitation is at the absolute discretion of the Promoter.
16. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for lost, late, incomplete, incorrectly submitted or misdirected entries, including entries not received or delays in delivery due to technical disruptions, network congestion or for any other reason.
17. The Promoter will determine entry eligibility in its sole and absolute discretion.


6. Judging
1. The initial review of images will be done by the Promoter. Shortlisted finalists will not win a prize as a result of being determined to be a shortlisted finalist.
2. The final winners will be decided by a panel of judges representing the Promoter.
3. If any of the shortlisted images are found to be in breach of these Terms and Conditions, they will be disqualified.
4. Where the Promoter or judges disqualify an entry, they have no obligation to notify the entrant or provide any justification for it or enter into any correspondence regarding it.
5. The judging process will be a streamlined system with no element of chance. There will be no correspondence between entrants and judges throughout this process.
6. The judges’ decision is final and binding on each person who enters. No correspondence regarding any decision of the judging panel will be entered into.


7. Prizes
1. Winners of each category will receive a stay in their choice of the NSW National Parks hard roof accommodation options listed in clause 7.ii, valued between $1,200 and $2,100 depending on the accommodation chosen.
2. Accommodation options for the winner include:
1. Assistant Lighthouse Keepers Cottages, Cape Byron State Conservation Area (3 nights); Excludes Peak: Easter (7 April 2023 to 10 April 2023 inclusive) and Christmas (25 December 2023 to 1 January 2024 inclusive);
2. The Chalet, New England National Park (7 nights); Check-in on Monday or Friday only;
3. Middle Head Officers Quarters, Sydney Harbour National Park (3 nights); Excludes Christmas (22 December 2023 – 1 January 2024 inclusive);
4. Galong Cabins, Blue Mountains National Park (4 nights); Check-in on Monday only;
5. Post Office Residence or Stables, Hill End Historic Site (5 nights); The Stables is not suitable for children;
6. Creel Bay Cottages, Kosciuszko National Park (4 nights); Off Peak only: 3 October 2023 to 6 June 2024 inclusive;
7. Judges House, Murramarang National Park (4 nights mid-week (Monday to Friday); or 3 nights over a weekend (Friday to Monday)); Excludes NSW school holidays.
3. The length of stay, value and timing of when the accommodation is offered will depend on the option chosen by the winner and is subject to availability of the accommodation. The Promoter will contact the winners within 2 weeks after the winners are announced with details about how to claim their prize and conditions in relation to each accommodation option.
4. Winners will have 12 months to claim their prize.
5. Accommodations can be booked up to 6 months in advance.
6. When claiming their prize winners must comply with the booking terms and conditions and any accommodation rules that apply to the accommodation chosen.
7. Winners will be announced on 28 February 2023.
8. The prize includes accommodation only. It does not include other expenses or travel costs.
9. The Promoter reserves the right to redeem all unclaimed prizes and proceed as they deem fit. Any winner subsequently found by the Promoter to have breached these Terms and Conditions must return any awarded prize within 30 days of a request to do so. The Promoter will not enter into correspondence regarding such a request.
10. Prize winners are advised that tax implications may arise from their prize winnings, and they should seek independent financial advice prior to acceptance of monetary prizes.
11. Prizes not transferable or exchangeable or redeemable for cash.


8. Rights
1. All copyright remains with the photographer.
2. The Promoter asserts no claims to the rights of any image entered into the competition except as expressed in these terms and conditions.
3. By entering the awards, entrants grant the Promoter (including the State of New South Wales) a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicensable, irrevocable, royalty free licence to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, communicate to the public (including online), broadcast, distribute, publish and disseminate the photograph on multiple platforms, including but not limited to, website, social media channels, promotional materials, online or in-print media at any time in the future for any purpose. The Promoter will not sell the photograph to third parties.
4. If the Promoter uses any images through website, social media, publications, or any other channel, the photographer will be credited. Photographs will be credit as follows: Photographer's name / DPE. Entrants consent to the use of their images in this way.
5. It is the entrant’s responsibility to protect their work from third parties by entering (but not limited to) metadata into the image. The Promoter will not be liable for any misuse of images.
6. Each entrant acknowledges that the Promoter is under no obligation to use their entry.
7. Any use of the image in accordance with these terms and conditions will be at the discretion of the Promoter.
8. If the competition needs to be postponed all previous entries will be automatically included.


9. Indemnity and release
Each entrant releases the Promoter and their employees, agents, contractors and assigns from, and indemnifies them to the full extent permitted by law against any and all personal injury suffered or sustained in connection with this competition, liability, loss, costs and expenses which may arise from or be incurred in connection with the entrant’s entry and participation in the competition.


10. Privacy collection statement
1. The Promoter (National Parks and Wildlife Service) is part of the Department of Planning & Environment. The Promoter and its related entities collect entrants’ personal information for the purpose of conducting and promoting this competition (including but not limited to determining and notifying winners). The Promoter may use the entrants’ information to contact them for future competitions, the Promoter discounts or offerings, or to send the Promoter newsletters if they have opted into receiving them. The Promoter will not use the information for any other purpose, or share the information with any other entities, except with express consent or as required by law.
2. The provision of personal information by entrants is voluntary, however the Promoter may not be able to accept your entry if you do not provide the requested information. Entrants have the right to contact the Promoter at any time in order to access what information is held about you, or to correct or amend the information held.
3. All information collected for the competition will be held on the TINT platform and hosted in the USA for the duration of the competition, after which time it will be transferred to The Promoter and deleted from TINT. TINT operates under contract with the Promoter and adheres to NSW government requirements, including:
1. data is encrypted during transit, processing, and at rest, utilising TLS encryption
2. strong authentication mechanisms are implemented to validate user identity prior to accessing systems
3. all customer data files are encrypted
4. TINT will alert the Promoter to any security breaches.
By entering the competition, you agree to your data being held on the TINT platform.
4. The Promoter will otherwise handle your personal information in accordance with its privacy management plan and privacy policy.
5. For more information about what information is held or for further information about privacy, you can contact the Promoter’s privacy unit at:
   
   Information Access & Privacy
   Department of Planning & Environment
   Email: privacy@dpie.nsw.gov.au
   Phone: 02 9860 1440


11. Governing Law
The Competition is governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. Each entrant irrevocably agrees that the Courts of New South Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide any suit, action or proceedings and/or to settle any disputes which may arise out of or in connection with the Competition and, for these purposes, each entrant irrevocably submits to the exclusive and binding jurisdiction of the Courts of New South Wales.