When will I receive my brief?
Your 24 Hour Challenge brief will be announced by your chosen Masterclass host on Day 1 of your Masterclass Event following the 3 hour instruction component of the class. Note that you will have exactly 24 hours to plan, shoot and upload a photo that best meets this brief.
There will be a unique brief for each Masterclass as they have been personally designed by your host.
How will I receive my brief?
During Day 1 of your Masterclass event, your chosen host will announce your brief in person around midday – you will then have 24 Hours to submit your entry.
How do I submit my entry?
When you receive your brief details on your email, a unique URL will be provided, where you can upload your entry. You can only enter the brief to the masterless you have attended.
Depending on the brief you may be required to include captions to help explain the story behind your image.
What’s not permitted?
We want you to create an image that means a lot to you. But it’s important that those images aren’t:
• discriminatory, racist, hateful, violent, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, profane or indecent, sexually explicit, offensive or otherwise unlawful. We encourage entries from those as young as 13, so we ask that you keep our audience in mind. When considering what’s appropriate, if you wouldn’t show your entry to a 13 year old, or say, to your work colleagues, it probably won’t be acceptable for this competition.
• featuring nudity, alcohol, drugs or cigarettes
• infringing on any other person’s copyright or moral rights – we ask that you steer clear of capturing other people’s artworks including substantial parts of street art, or substantial branding in your imagery
• an advertisement, or designed in any way to sell a product or service or increase traffic to any other website; or
• in breach of the competition rules.
If your image is seen to be any of the above, there’s every chance we’ll have to disqualify it. Note that we won’t have time to notify you if your entry is disqualified so please read the
terms and conditions carefully.
Am I allowed to include people in my image?
We ask that you always act with courtesy and so we recommend you try to seek permission from all those you photograph (even if it is after you captured the shot).
However, if your image features any recognisable person who is:
• captured in a private or domestic setting or on private land (e.g. in their home, at work or at a studio shoot);
• a well-known person (e.g. a celebrity or politician); or
• under the age of 18,
You’ll need permission from the person (or their parent or guardian if they are under 18) to enter the image in the competition and you must be able to demonstrate that you have this permission if requested (e.g. by providing us a model release, a letter or email from the person, or by getting them to telephone us).
Am I allowed to include children in my image?
If any recognisable person is under the age of 18, you’ll need permission from their parent or guardian to enter the image in the competition. You may also be required to demonstrate that you have obtained this permission (e.g. by providing us an email from the parent).
We also ask that you are sensitive when capturing images of children. We intend to upload entries into a gallery on the Competition website so we are likely to disqualify any images containing nude or partially nude children for safety reasons – even if their parent or guardian consented to it. Even when these images are uploaded with the best of intentions, this content could be re-shared and used by other people in unanticipated and inappropriate ways.
What happens if I can’t provide proof of approval to use the people in my image?
If any recognisable person is under the age of 18, you’ll need permission from their parent or guardian to enter the image in the competition. You may also be required to demonstrate that you have obtained this permission (e.g. by providing us an email from the parent).
We also ask that you are sensitive when capturing images of children. We intend to upload entries into a gallery on the Competition website so we are likely to disqualify any images containing nude or partially nude children for safety reasons – even if their parent or guardian consented to it. Even when these images are uploaded with the best of intentions, this content could be re-shared and used by other people in unanticipated and inappropriate ways.
Can I submit an image that can or has been purchased?
We want you to pick up the camera and capture something that grows your skills in photography. That’s why you can’t enter an image that’s already up for sale, has already been used commercially, has won some sort of prize or recognition in another competition, or that you have purchased from someone else.
Will my personal information be kept private?
We know your privacy's important. That's why the only personal info we'll make public is information about who the winners are– and entrant’s names and images We might also post some of the judges’/masterclass hosts’ feedback Finally, we might share some details with trusted third parties to help us with conducting the competition. You can find out more about how we handle your info in our
Privacy Policy.
What information will be available to the public?
In the gallery post event, you will be credited by name. We might also post some of the feedback given by masterclass hosts / judges.
How many times can I enter?
You can only have one entry for the relevant brief. If you make a mistake you may submit another image. Only your final submission will be used for judging.
What if I want to attend multiple Masterclasses?
There will be 3 x Masterclasses run concurrently in each city (Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart). So, you can only attend 1 Masterclass in each city. If you want to travel around to attend other Masterclasses you can! You can also enter any brief for any Masterclass event you attend. However, if you are deemed a winner of any Masterclass, you will automatically be excluded from winning any subsequent Masterclass Competition.
Do I need to include a description when I upload my image?
Behind every great photo is a powerful story - and you have the option to tell us more about your image. Depending on the brief, your chosen Masterclass host might require you to add a caption to help you to explain the story behind your image.
Can I upload portrait or landscape photos?
You can submit images in either portrait or landscape - but make sure you've rotated the photo to the correct orientation before you upload it.
Can I watermark my image submission?
As part of the 24 Hour Challenge, we do not wish to add any potential bias during the judging process. This is why only clean non-watermarked entries will be considered. Post-event however, should your entry meet the eligibility criteria, your images will be uploaded to the gallery where viewers can identify the full name of each images’ photographer.
What resolution/size should my image be?
The file size should be 1MB - 5MB - but make sure you keep a copy of your original file in the highest possible resolution in case you're a winner..
What happens if the image I upload doesn't meet the size requirements?
If your image is too big, you may not be able to submit your entry. And if it is too small, it might be worth taking another photo within the size requirements.
What happens if I miss the deadline for submissions?
Unfortunately, if you miss the deadline your entry won't be considered in the judging, however you are still welcome to attend the second day of your event to listen in to the thoughts from your host on the competition. We recommend you don't leave things to the last minute so that you have plenty of time to allow for any unforeseen difficulties with the submissions process.
Once I've submitted a photo, can I change the photo, the description or any other information on the page?
Yes - you can change your entry once it's been submitted. Simply resubmit your entry again with your updated changes. Any resubmission will override your previous entry. Just make sure you do all this well before the close of the submission period to ensure your entry is accepted in time and is included as part of the judging!
Will my entry be valid if I use photo editing software (like Photoshop?)
Basic editing such as cropping and colour adjustment is permitted. However, entries must be true photographs and not composites or digital manipulations. Apart from cropping, we won’t accept images where pixels have been removed. We also won’t accept images that have selective colour adjustment, for example choosing only the sky of an image to enhance the blue colour.
The spirit of the Light Awards is that you should try to use tools that are available to you ‘in-camera’. Whilst you can make minor adjustments such as the above, we feel that the story you tell with your photography is what counts, not your skills at post production. If we feel as though your image has been substantially edited it may not be accepted.
Keep in mind to confirm you are a winner, you may need to send through the original file to show it is a true photograph, including all metadata to show that you took your photo before claiming any prize.
When I upload my image do I relinquish my copyright?
At Canon, we respect that your photo is just that - yours. That's why any photo submitted during the competition will still be the photographer's property.
Entrants and winners must provide us with a licence to use their Entry in various ways to conduct and promote the awards. For example, we'd like to post entries to our social media accounts to promote the awards and display entries at Light Awards events. You can find out more here.
We also ask entrants to let us know if they'd like to hear from us in case we love their image and would like to use it in other ways, such as in our marketing campaigns. If so, we are prepared to negotiate an appropriate licensing arrangement.
How do I search for image/s once it's been uploaded?
Images that meet the selection criteria will be available on the Gallery after each Canon Light Awards Masterclass. On the Gallery, you’ll be able to filter entries based on their city and Masterclass, and you can also use a Search Bar to find something specific.
Will I be provided with feedback on my image?
On Day 2 – Masterclass Hosts will provide live constructive feedback on the selection of images submitted for that Masterclass. All participants acknowledge and accept that their image may be the subject of live critique and review.
