Regulations of the Leica Street Photo Contest – hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations.”

Leica Street Photo Contest Rules

§1. Organizer

The Leica Street Photo Contest (hereinafter referred to as the “Contest”) is organized by 6×7 Sp. z o.o., with its registered office in Warsaw (postal code: 01-684), at ul. Rudzka 28 lok. uż 2, entered into the register of entrepreneurs kept by the District Court for Warsaw, XIII Commercial Division of the National Court Register, under the KRS number 0000330803, with a share capital of PLN 200,000, NIP 118-199-76-92, (hereinafter referred to as the “Organizer”).

§2. Duration of the Contest

The Contest runs from its announcement on November 20, 2024, to January 10, 2025, at 7:59 PM CET. The registration form will be closed at that time, and the Jury voting will begin. The contest results will be announced on February 6, 2025, and the work that receives the Grand Prix will be announced during the vernissage of the exhibition at the Leica Gallery Vienna in March 2025.

§3. Contest Theme

  1. The contest is dedicated to broadly understood street photography. Street photography is understood as a type of photography that documents everyday life in public space, including interactions between people, architecture, events, and the atmosphere of the city.

§4. Contest Committee

The Organizer shall appoint a contest committee (“Jury”) consisting of at least three members. The composition of the Jury will be announced on the contest website (leicastreetphoto.pl). Jurors will be selected based on their experience in photography, art, and knowledge of trends in street photography. Jurors are not entitled to submit their own works to the contest. The Jury will be responsible for evaluating the submitted works and selecting the finalists and the winner of the Contest. The jurors will be provided with a gallery of submitted works. Voting will take place using an online system equipped with a verification system. Thirty works that receive the most votes from the Jury members will be included in the group of finalists. The work that receives the Grand Prix will be selected as a result of a so-called play-off – a separate vote of the jurors on one of the works from the group of finalists. The work that receives the most votes from the jurors will win. Decisions made by the Contest Jury are final and cannot be appealed.

§5. Prizes

  1. Main Prize: The main prize in the contest is a Leica Q3 camera. The winner will be selected by a jury vote. The main prize will be awarded in accordance with Polish tax regulations.
  2. Sanctions-Related Restrictions: Due to sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation and Belarus in connection with the war in Ukraine, individuals residing in territories subject to these sanctions are ineligible for the prize, even if they win.
  3. Exhibitions: Finalist works will be exhibited at the Leica Gallery Vienna and will be part of the Leica Street Photo post-contest exhibition presented in other collaborating galleries. The Organizer will cover all costs associated with printing, displaying the works, and organizing the exhibition and the vernissage.
  4. Additional Monetary Prize and Tax: For each physical prize, the Participant will receive an additional monetary prize amounting to 11.11% of the value of the awarded prize. This amount will be allocated by the Organizer to cover the lump-sum income tax on the prize won. Consequently, the monetary prize will not be paid directly to the Participant. The Organizer, as the payer of the lump-sum personal income tax, will calculate, withhold, and remit the applicable lump-sum personal income tax to the appropriate Tax Office before awarding the prize. (Legal basis: Article 30, paragraph 1, point 2 of the Act of July 26, 1991 on personal income tax (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2018, item 200, as amended)).

§6. Contest Procedure

  1. Eligibility: All adults who are not financially, personally or professionally affiliated with the Organizer may participate in the contest. Minors may participate with the consent of their parents or guardians.
  2. Personal Data: Providing accurate personal data is a prerequisite for receiving any prize.
  3. Submissions: Entries to the Contest are accepted via the registration form on the website www.leicastreetphoto.pl
  4. Submission Deadline: Contest entries will be accepted from the date of the Contest announcement until January 10, 2025, at 7:59 PM CET.
  5. Number of Entries: Each Contest Participant may submit a maximum of five photos.
  6. Photo Requirements: The technique used to create the photographs is unrestricted. The subject matter should relate to street photography. The primary evaluation criteria are originality and quality. The photo must have been taken between January 1 and December 31, 2024.
  7. Image Manipulation: Contest entries must depict real scenes captured in a single frame. Basic color corrections and cropping are permitted. Combining multiple photos, adding or removing elements, or any other manipulation that significantly alters the original image is prohibited. In particular, works created using AI image generators are not allowed.
  8. Image Format: Submitted photos must be in jpg format with a resolution of up to 2000 pixels along the longer side. The Participant must provide an unedited original format file of the submitted photo upon the Organizer’s request. Failure to comply may result in disqualification.
  9. High-Resolution Files: Winners will be required to promptly provide digital files in the highest available resolution, suitable for high-quality printing in a format of 50 cm along the longer side. Failure to provide such files within 72 hours of being notified of qualification may result in the Organizer’s decision to revoke the prize and the work’s qualification for the final.
  10. Copyright and Rights: By submitting a work, the Participant declares that they are the author and hold all rights to the intellectual property associated with the work. Additionally, the Participant declares that the submitted work does not infringe upon the rights of any institutions or third parties, especially those individuals appearing in the photo/video, and that these individuals have consented to the use of their likeness in the Contest and its dissemination. In the absence of such consent, the Participant assumes responsibility for any justified claims from these individuals or institutions.
  11. Content Restrictions: Submitted works must not contain content intended solely for adults, including erotic content, content promoting alcohol or tobacco products, or any other content that is prohibited for public display.
  12. Jury Decision: The Jury will decide whether the submitted photograph meets the contest’s theme.
  13. Notification of Winners: The Organizer will inform the winners of the contest results via email.
  14. Publication Rights: By participating, the Participant grants the Organizer and its Partners an unlimited right to publish the submitted works during and after the Contest on their electronic information platforms, social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), and through collaborating media, solely in the context of the Contest, its promotion, and the announcement of results.

§7. Licenses

  1. The Author grants the Contest Organizer a free, unlimited in time and territory license to use the submitted photos/videos for purposes related to conducting the Contest, its promotion, and the promotion of future editions, including publication in the press, on websites, and at Leica Street Photo exhibitions.
  2. The license is granted for the following fields of exploitation:
    1.  In the field of fixing and reproducing works – producing copies of the work using any technique, including printing, reprographic, magnetic recording, and digital techniques;
    2.  In the field of disseminating the work in a manner other than that specified in point b above – public exhibition, display, reproduction, and broadcasting and rebroadcasting, as well as making works publicly available in such a way that everyone can access them at a place and time of their choosing. In particular, it entitles the Contest Organizer to use the works free of charge by placing them on the Internet and in press publications related to the Contest, post-contest exhibitions, posters and other advertising materials promoting the Contest and its future editions, and any publications related to the Contest.

§8. Final Provisions

  1. Verification of Eligibility: The Organizer reserves the right to verify whether the Contest winners meet the conditions specified in these regulations and applicable law. To this end, the Organizer may request the participant to submit specific declarations, provide certain data, or present specific documents.
  2. Ineligibility: Employees of the Organizer, as well as entities and employees of entities providing services to the Organizer in organizing the Contest on the basis of civil law agreements, in particular employees involved in the development and conduct of the Contest, and members of the immediate family (spouses, ascendants, descendants, and siblings) of the aforementioned persons, are excluded from participating in the Contest.
  3. Force Majeure: In the event of force majeure, the Organizer has the right to cancel or terminate the contest.
  4. Governing Law: Polish law shall apply to these regulations.
  5. Dispute Resolution: Any disputes arising from the implementation of the Contest shall be settled by the common court competent for the registered office of the Organizer

§9. Personal Data Protection

  1. Data Controller: The Organizer is the data controller of the Contest participants’ personal data within the scope related to the implementation of the Contest.
  2. Purpose of Processing: Participants’ personal data is processed solely for the purpose of conducting the Contest, its promotion, and informing about the results, and in accordance with its regulations.
  3. Legal Compliance: The Organizer processes personal data in accordance with applicable law, in particular Polish personal data protection laws and the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (GDPR).
  4. Data Security: The Organizer ensures the security, protection against unauthorized or unlawful processing, and accidental loss, destruction, or damage of all data in its possession in connection with the implementation of the Contest.