Attention photographers!

The U.S. Embassy in Madagascar, USAID Madagascar, and the Madagascar Ministry of Tourism announce their “The Natural Beauty of Madagascar” postcard photography contest. The event is free to enter and entrants may submit up to ten (10) photos for consideration. Winning submissions may be included in a public photography exhibition in Antananarivo and select images deemed best-suited to support a message of Countering Wildlife Trafficking will be printed as postcards and distributed throughout the country.

How to enter: To enter, simply send your high-quality (2MB+; at least 1024 pixels or larger - tall or wide - or around 300 pixels per inch) digital photograph to info.madagascar@usaid.gov along with your full name, your telephone number, and a description of the image captured (where it was taken, when it was taken, the type of equipment used, and any other details you’d like to share). Each person may submit up to ten images. Anyone submitting more than ten photographs will only have their first ten photos considered for the contest. The image must be your own work and should convey the theme “The Natural Beauty of Madagascar”.  The photograph should be of subjects located within Madagascar and be free of watermarks, time stamps, logos or other branding (photographs will be attributed to the photographer if used). Digital entries only. No printed entries will be accepted. Only high quality JPG and JPEG formats will be accepted.

Who can enter: Everyone is welcome to enter, immediate family members of the judges excluded.

Deadline: Entries will be accepted between September 27 and October 16, 2017.

Judging: Photographs will be judged by a panel consisting of U.S. Embassy, USAID Madagascar, and Ministry of Tourism staff.  Photographs will be judged and ranked on four subjective criteria: the quality of the image, the uniqueness of the image, the composition of the image, and how well the image conveys the theme “The Natural Beauty of Madagascar”.

Prizes: Up to ten finalist images will be printed and displayed for a limited exhibition in the gallery of the American Center in Antananarivo (Galerie SMART Tanjombato, Antananarivo 102, Madagascar) with credit attributed to the photographer.  The photographer for each winning image will receive a certificate commemorating his/her achievement and a prize package from the U.S. Embassy/USAID. The three (3) submissions judged to best support a message of Countering Wildlife Trafficking will be made into postcards and distributed in tourist destinations throughout Madagascar.  The postcards will have an anti-wildlife trafficking message printed on the image to remind tourists to preserve Madagascar’s natural beauty.

Rights to images: By submitting a photograph, entrants certify that the photograph is his/her own work and that s/he has unrestricted rights to the image. Entrants agree that their submitted images may be used without compensation for promotional purposes online and/or in print by the U.S. Embassy Madagascar, USAID Madagascar, and the Madagascar Ministry of Tourism. Rights to all images remain the property of the individual photographers and photographer attribution will be marked with each use.