Parallelozero S.r.l. – legally headquartered in Milan in Via Donatello 19/A, C.F. and P.IVA 06957920967 (hereinafter referred to as the “Organizer”) – has launched the fourth edition of the “Italian Sustainability Photo Award” (hereinafter, “ISPA”). The contest is open to photographers of any nationality who are 18 years of age or older at the time of entry.

The ISPA contest intends to judge and reward the images submitted based on the following criteria: photojournalistic quality, originality of documentary content, and adherence to the themes and mission stipulated by the award. Prizes will be issued to the best submission in the three categories: Single Photo, Photo Story, and Grant. The Terms and Conditions for entry as well as the Rules and Regulations for the ISPA contest are established in the present document (hereinafter, “Official Rules”).

The ISPA is a contest for the promotion of artistic work and, as such, is exempt from the legislation regulating prize contests pursuant to article 6, sub-section 1.a of Presidential Decree 430/2001.

By entering the ISPA contest, the Applicant authorizes the Organizer to handle their registration data. All personal information will be used by the Organizer in accordance with its privacy policy, available at www.ispaward.com. By participating in the ISPA contest, the Applicant accepts the contest’s Official Rules and its Terms and Conditions, which can be consulted at www.ispaward.com.

Taking part in the ISPA contest is free of charge. It is open to photographers of any nationality who are 18 years of age or older at the time of their entry. Photographers interested in participating in the contest must submit their entries by 11:00 p.m. (Italian time, GMT+1) on March 20, 2023 for the Grant category, and by 11:00 p.m. (Italian time, GMT+1) on September 4, 2023 for the Single Photo and the Photo Story categories. In order to submit an entry, the Applicant must register and upload all their images solely and exclusively on the ISPA website (www.ispaward.com).

Photographers who are founding members of the Organizer may not enter the contest. Photographers who work with the Organizer may participate solely and exclusively with material that was not distributed and is not already contracted to the Organizer.

ISPA was created in order to tell positive stories and describe courageous solutions and conscious choices inspired by the world of sustainability in Italy, in environmental, social and governance sectors. The photographic work presented must therefore be strictly inspired by principles such as positivity, growth, innovation and the search for solutions.

The images selected as finalists in the three categories (and the names of their respective photographers) may be used by the Organizer and by PIMCO (the ISPA’s main sponsor, hereinafter referred to as “Main Sponsor”) for a period of five years staring from the announcement of the finalists’ nomination. The Organizer or the Main Sponsor may use the images in a non-exclusive manner (without requiring a copyright transfer from the photographer) solely for the promotion of the ISPA in the following contexts: on the ISPA website in all its iterations, for press and public relations, social media, publications (printed and online), prints and photo exhibitions, contest catalogs and calendars, promotional publications, technical partner, various marketing and advertising material (printed and online), and award ceremonies.

The use of the finalist images will not entail payment other than the prize awarded to the winning project in each of the categories set forth in the Official Rules.

All the images can be used by the Organizer, free of charge for a period of two years, only and exclusively for ISPA promotional purposes, and only and exclusively on the contest’s social media networks.

January 17, 2023: opening day of the contest.

March 20, 2023 at 11:00 p.m. (Italian time, GMT+1): deadline to register and submit entries for the Grant contest. The winning project must be completed between May 2, 2023 and October 31, 2023.

September 4, 2023 at 11:00 p.m. (Italian time, GMT+1): deadline to register and submit contest entries for the Single Photo and the Photo Story categories.

November 28, 2023: Announcement of the Single Photo and Photo Story winners, and presentation of the Grant Project.

The Organizer will award the following prizes:

• Single Photo Winner: €1,500;
• Photo Story Winner: €3,500;
• Grant Winner: €10,000.

In the event of two projects tying for the award, the prize will be divided between the two winners.

The technical partner Nikon will, at its own discretion, award a special “Nikon – Capture Tomorrow” prize to a single photo (or photo story) that best “captures tomorrow”. The prize will consist of a Nikon Z6 camera and a 24-70mm f/4 S lens.

The technical partner Lowepro, at its own discretion, shall offer the role of “Lowepro Ambassador” to one of the winning or finalist photographers. The selected photographer shall reserve the right to accept or refuse the conditions proposed by the technical partner for this appointment. The technical partner shall also provide all winners and finalists in the Single Photo and Photo Story categories with professional Lowepro equipment. Specifically: the winner of the Single Photo category will receive a ProTactic 450 backpack and a Gitzo Traveler tripod; the winner of the Photo Story category will receive a PhotoSport 55L backpack and a Gitzo Traveler tripod; the four finalists in the Single Photo category and the four finalists in the Photo Story category will receive a PhotoSport 24L backpack.

The Jury consists of four members and a president. The Jury is independent from the Organizer and the ISPA’s sponsors, and its deliberations are final and incontestable. The Jury will evaluate the images submitted based on criteria such as photojournalistic quality and originality of documentary content. Furthermore, the Jury will also determine the disqualification of applications that do not adhere to the themes and mission stipulated by the ISPA or are considered damaging to the dignity of others. The identities of the photographers will remain concealed from the Jury during the evaluation phase. Applicants might be asked at any stage of the process to provide the following materials in order to verify their pictures’ authenticity: the original files (RAW) of the photos submitted; a series of images taken immediately before and after submitting the application; the negatives or original slides in case the images were taken in analog. In any case, the finalists will be required to provide the original files (RAW) of their photos.

There are three categories in the ISPA: Single Photo, Photo Story, and Grant. The images, stories, and projects must be uploaded in their entirety to a specific page of the website www.ispaward.com, choosing from the three respective contest categories. The same photo can be submitted as a Single Photo, be part of a Photo Story, and contribute to a Grant Project. The organization has the right to nominate in the Single Photo category an image that appears in an already nominated Photo Story. Every application must adhere to the themes and mission stipulated by the ISPA.

SINGLE PHOTO

• Each photographer may submit a maximum of 10 Single Photos.
• The pictures must have been taken after January 1st, 2020.
• The pictures must have been taken within Italy’s borders.
• Every image must be accompanied by a caption in English (obligatory) and Italian (optional), in which the candidate, in addition to providing essential information about the image in question, must justify the sustainability of its content.

PHOTO STORY

• Each photographer may submit a maximum of 10 Photo Stories.
• All the pictures in the Photo Story must have been taken after January 1st, 2020.
• At least half of the photos presented must have been taken in Italy.
• Photo Story must consist of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 12 images.
• Every picture must be accompanied by a caption in English (obligatory) and Italian (optional).
• Every Photo Story must be accompanied by a title and an explanatory note written in English (obligatory) and Italian (optional), between 800 and 1,000 characters, in which the candidate, in addition to providing essential information about the story in question, must justify the sustainability of the content in the sequence of images.

GRANT

• The Grant is intended as funding that is offered in order to develop or start a new photojournalism project that corresponds to the Award’s mission.
• Each photographer may submit a maximum of five Projects, which must include a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 30 images per Project. There are no time constraints on these photos and they must have been taken by the photographer in question. These images should preferably be linked to the Project that is to be developed. Alternatively, images that aren’t linked to the Project (but which offer a portfolio that is representative of the candidate’s photographic style) can be accepted.
• In all cases, the images must be accompanied by a caption in English (obligatory) and Italian (optional).
• The pictures in the Project may have been taken anywhere in the world.
• Each Applicant must also provide: a biography in English (obligatory) and Italian (optional), between 1,000 and 3,000 characters; an explanatory note on the work produced to date and the intentions for its development, in English (obligatory) and Italian (optional), between 1,500 and 3,000 characters; a draft business plan indicating how the Grant will be invested to implement the Project, in English (obligatory) and Italian (optional), between 1,000 and 3,000 characters. The business plan must include an estimate of the relative expenses, such as transport, accommodation, meals, rentals, assistance, equipment, post-production, research materials, fees for collaborators, as well as miscellaneous costs. The plan cannot include items such as the production of books, exhibitions, workshops and laboratories.
• The Projects must be produced and completed strictly within the timeframe, between May 2, 2023 and October 31, 2023. The final selection, to be submitted strictly at the end of the six-month period, must include a minimum of 50 images, 40 of which were created from scratch.
• The project must be realized within Italy’s borders.

All the images submitted (except for those in the Grant category and at least half of the photos presented in the Photo Story) must have been taken within Italy’s borders and after January 1, 2020. The images must be uploaded by 11:00 p.m. (Italian time, GMT+1) on March 20, 2023 for the Grant category, and by 11:00 p.m. (Italian time, GMT+1) on Sept. 4, 2023 for the Single Photo and the Photo Story categories.

The images must be relevant to the mission stipulated by the ISPA and to one of the three sustainability themes (i.e., environmental, social, or governance), which are discussed in detail on the website’s homepage at www.ispaward.com.

The Jury will select five Single Photo finalists, five Photo Story finalists, and one Grant winner. The finalists and the winner will be informed by email.

The names of the Single Photo and the Photo Story winners will be publicly announced on November 28, 2023. The winner of the Grant will be contacted privately and will have to maintain complete confidentiality until the end of the project’s production period, which will coincide with the official presentation of the Grant on November 28, 2023. The winner of the Grant will be publicly announced during the presentation, which will be accompanied by a detailed overview of the project and a selection of images.

Should any of the finalists or winners fail to reply, the Jury reserves the right to modify the order of the finalists or name another winner. If the winners refuse to accept the cash prize, the Jury reserves the right to donate the money in question to Pane Quotidiano Onlus (Viale Toscana 28 – 20136 Milano)). The Organizer reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify and remove any application that does not comply with the stipulated requirements, even if the Applicant completed the registration on the website correctly. Disqualifications may be applied retroactively if violations of the Official Rules should be revealed at a later date.

If the winning image in the Single Photo category was also included in the winning Photo Story, then the second-place finalist will be automatically designated as the winner of the Single Photo category.

The Jury reserves the right to unanimously assign honorable mentions to images that deserve public recognition for their unquestionable quality despite not receiving the prize in any of the three categories.

The Organizer assumes no responsibility for any incorrect or incomplete information provided during the online registration process or while uploading photos or captions, whether caused by errors, delays, or technical malfunctions.

The photographic material submitted to the contest must meet the following criteria:

• The pictures must be uploaded as JPEG files (JPEG or JPG extensions) with a resolution of 72 dpi, 1,500 pixels on the longer side, and high-quality compression.
• The technical specifications of the shot, the name and surname of the photographer and the caption, must be available in the metadata (Exif data) of the file; in particular, the name and surname of the photographer and the caption must be entered manually in the appropriate fields of the metadata through any photo consultation or editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, Bridge, Lightroom etc.
• The picture’s infofile must contain the metadata with the shot’s technical specifications, the photographer’s first and last name, and a caption. Every picture uploaded must have a caption. The caption must be written in English (obligatory) and Italian (optional), and contain the following information: date, location, a detailed description of the situation represented, and, where necessary, the names of the persons portrayed in the photo.
• The photographer’s first and last name must only appear in the specific field on the infofile; there must be no references to their identity in the file’s name, or in the caption, or as a watermark on the picture, in the metadata field (Exif data) of the file.
• If selected as finalists or winners, the Applicants agree to provide upon request the images in high-resolution and the original RAW files to the Organizer.
• Analog photographs that have subsequently been digitalized can also be submitted. In this case, in the metadata of the files, the name and surname of the photographer and the caption must be inserted manually.

Photos with multiple exposures and altered or manipulated images that exclude, add, or modify the objects or persons present in the shot will not be accepted. The only exceptions are cropping and removing dust traces from the sensor and/or negatives. Exceptions are also made for special cases of photographs - such as satellite images, microscopic images, nightscapes, astrophotography, star trails, etc., also provided by third parties - if these are related to the theme or project. Grayscale conversions and color corrections that do not alter the original are also permitted. Candidates may also submit "diptychs" and digitalized versions of analog images (also made by third parties), if these are related to the theme or the project.

By participating in the ISPA contest, every Applicant guarantees: authorship of the images submitted; that any person depicted has granted permission (when requested) to use their likeness; that the images do not infringe any copyright or anyone else’s intellectual property; that the images do not incite violence, crimes, or any illegal activity; that the images do not depict any obscene, vulgar, scandalous, pornographic, false, abusive, or slanderous content. Every Applicant guarantees that the events photographed were neither staged (except in the case of portraits) nor intentionally altered. Upon the Organizer’s request, the Applicant must provide proof of the permissions granted by the persons photographed in their ISPA entries.

The Applicant indemnifies the Organizer and the companies involved in this initiative and does not hold them accountable in any claim and/or action by third parties that could arise following a breach of the Official Rules. In such a case, the Applicant will be required to reimburse the Organizer and the companies involved in the initiative for any damages suffered.

Any dispute arising in relation to the Official Rules will be governed by Italian law and will fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Milan Tribunal.