BASES

The theme of the contest exclusively focuses on photographs of marked wild birds under the umbrella of scientific bird ringing'.  Such marks comprise official metal rings associated with recognized ringing schemes (in the case of Europe, see the schemes belonging to EURING) , wing bands, collars, radio transmitters, GPS, etc. Photographs of birds in the hand will not be accepted, except in the 'Projects' category.

The scope of this contest is international.


The contest will be open on March 4, 2024. The deadline to submit photographs is September 2, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. (CET). The awards will be given in October 2024, coinciding with the commemorative events of the 75th Anniversary of the Aranzadi Ringing Scheme. The winning photographs will be announced a few days before.


Photographers from all over the world, both professional and amateur, may participate, as long as they are of legal age (>18 years old). There is a special category for people younger than 18 years old. Photographs of this last group of people will only be judged within this category.

Members of the organization (paid staff assigned to the Ringing Scheme) and family members of the Jury will not be allowed to participate in this contest.

Each author may submit a maximum of 3 photographs per category.

To participate in the contest, photographs must be sent along with a document indicating, for each photograph, the following: name of the file, title of the work, category to which it is submitted (general, conservation, artistic, projects or under 18 years of age), country where the photograph was taken. If possible, a short text will be added to explain the history of the marked bird. In the 'Projects' category this explanatory text is mandatory. In addition, the author of the photographs must indicate his/her personal data: name, surname, contact postal address, contact telephone number, email and official identification document (passport or similar).

The photographs, together with the attached documentation, will be sent to the following email address: ibrpc@aranzadi.eus


Photographs in which a live bait has been used to attract birds will not be accepted.

Images in which the Jury suspects that the well-being of the birds has not been respected or that practices that may pose a threat to the reproduction, survival, normal behavior or conservation of the habitat of the photographed species will be disqualified as well.


Participants in the contest will be eligible for the following categories:

For further details see the 'Categories' section.


The winning photopgraph within each category will be awarded a prize. For more details see the 'Awards' section.

The prizes will be subject to the corresponding tax treatment.


Only images in color and made in digital format are accepted. The files will be presented in JPG, Adobe 98 color space, long side size 1920 px and a resolution of 72 dpi. Crops of up to approximately 20% of the original size of the photograph will be accepted. The image format must be adjusted to the 3:2 ratio.

Images made with artificial intelligence, double exposures, or retouched images beyond minimal editing of brightness, contrast, levels, curves, noise reduction or speckle cleaning are not admitted.

The Organization will request the original RAW camera file and the high quality file of the finalist images. If these files are not received, the work will be disqualified.


The participant declares and guarantees to the Organization that he/she is the sole owner of all copyrights on each of the photographs with which he/she participates in the contest, stating that he/she has not contracted and will not contract commitments or encumbrances of any kind that may violate the rights of the Organization or third parties. In this regard, the participant is responsible to the Organization for all pecuniary charges that may arise for it in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts derived from the non-compliance with these obligations by the participant.

In the event that a winning photograph does not meet all of the previous requirements, the Organization reserves the right to disqualify it and replace it with another photograph, which will be chosen by the Jury from among all the finalists.

The participants, by the mere fact of participating in this contest, unconditionally and fully accept the rules, as well as the criteria of the Jury for the resolution of any issue arising from the execution of these rules.


The participation in this contest entails the non-exclusive transfer, by only the winners and finalists, in favor of the Organization, of the rights of reproduction of the photographies on all kind of supports and media, as well as on the website https://www. ibrpc.eus, always citing the author and with the purpose of promoting the contest. Submission to digital publications by the Organization will be done at low resolution and embedding the name of the author and/or the contest. The submission to the press will be accompanied by a delivery note specifying that the photos can only be used to disseminate the contest, that they must mention the name of the author in a visible place and that they must be destroyed once published.

The participation in this contest entails that participants authorise the use of their name and photos in those media considered to be appropriate by the Organization for the sole purpose of promoting the contest.


Email: ibrpc@aranzadi.eus.