Step One:

Choose the category or categories you are eligible for and wish to enter. Select your images to fit the theme/s and make sure they are eligible (see below).

Step Two:

If sending prints: prepare your entry and label and package your images as outlined below.

If submitting images online: read the information below then follow the link to online entry.

Step Three:

Complete your entry as shown below and send it to TPOTY by the closing date of September 9th, 2008.

Portfolios			One Shot	First Shot	YTPOTY
Life	Call of the Wild	Joy of Travel	Destination Anywhere	Wish You Were Here	Journey

STEP ONE IN DETAIL - Categories, Eligibility & Digital Manipulation

Awards and categories

• TPOTY 2008 has three Portfolio categories (Life, Call of the Wild and Joy of Travel), two single image categories, One Shot and First Shot, the Young Travel Photographer of the Year award and the Travel Photographer of the Year award. Entry fees for each category are shown in the Entry forms and entry fees section.

• You can enter just one category once, or you can enter all the categories that you are eligible for, as often as you like. To be eligible for the overall prize and title of Travel Photographer of the Year you must enter at least two different categories from the three portfolio categories.

• Full details are in the Categories and Prizes section.

• Useful information on selecting your images can be found in Selecting your Images.

Eligible images

• Images shot on film or digital cameras, but not on mobile phones, will be accepted for all other categories except First Shot.

• For the First Shot category, only images taken on compact digital cameras, basic DSLR cameras or on mobile phones will be accepted.

• Images that have won a single image prize in another national or international photographic competition are not eligible for the One Shot or First Shot categories. However, these images are still eligible as part of a portfolio.

• Portfolios that have won a prize in any other national or international photographic competition are not eligible. TPOTY keeps a watching brief on prizewinning images from other competitions and images that have been entered into TPOTY in previous year. During the judging, your images will also be assessed for originality and impact. You are, therefore, decreasing your chances of winning a prize if you enter images that the judges may already have seen.

Age of images

• Some images are timeless so entry is not restricted to images shot only within the past few years. However the judges will be looking for contemporary images so you should not enter outdated images - if an image depicts part of a city, for example, it should show a contemporary skyline, including any recently built major landmarks in the part you are photographing.

Digital manipulation

• You may use digital manipulation to optimise an image but you are not permitted to add or remove key elements of the composition (although cropping is permitted). Brightness, contrast, colour balance can all be adjusted. Dust spots and minor elements etc. can be retouched. Images can be sharpened before printing.

• Composite or montaged images, from more than one original image are not eligible. However, multiple exposure 'in camera' is permitted.

• Entrants submitting prize-winning digital entries will be required to produce the original image file before a prize is awarded.

STEP TWO IN DETAIL - Preparing Your Entry

Online Entry

• You now have the choice of entering online by uploading your images. When you submit images online you will also complete an online entry form and make your entry fee payment at the same time. Please note, if you are shortlisted for the final rounds of judging, you will be required to submit prints at that time.

Print entries

• If you prefer to submit your images as prints, that is also permitted. Prints produced on an inkjet, or similar printer, are acceptable provided that they are of good quality.

• We can only accept prints up to A4 (21cm x 30cm or, for US entrants, 8" x 12") in size. Prints produced larger than this will be penalised when judging. Prints should be unmounted (so please don’t stick them onto card!). Mounted prints will disqualified.

• Prints must be clearly labelled on the back. They must all carry your name, address and a caption clearly identifying the location of the shot. For First Shot entries, please also write the type of mobile phone or compact digital camera used.

• Each separate portfolio must be sealed in a separate envelope. Please write the portfolio category, your name and address and a very brief description of each image on the envelope.

• Each One Shot or First Shot entry must be sealed in a separate envelope. Please write One Shot or First Shot, your name and address and a description of the image/s on the envelope.

Journey Three book

• If you wish your images to be considered for inclusion in the next TPOTY portfolio book Journey Three, please also supply a CD or DVD of your images (high resolution), together with your print entry. If you submit your images via online entry, you should send in a CD or DVD of high res images via mail, to the address shown below, with a covering note, if you wish to be considered for Journey Three. If any of your images are chosen for the book this will enable us to reproduce them exactly as you wish them to be shown.

• Please note: our production schedule for the book is only four weeks so including a CD/DVD with your entry helps us tremendously. All disks will be destroyed after publication and we will notify you in advance if your images are selected.

STEP THREE IN DETAIL - Completing Your Entry

Closing date

• Entries close on September 9th, 2008.

• We will accept entries postmarked or sent by courier on or before September 9th and which arrive with us by September 16th, but, if possible, please send in your entries as early as you can. It helps us avoid a massive administration task if you don't all leave it to the last minute! We receive 90% of entries in the last week before the closing date so any entries that come earlier really do help us to prepare for the judging much quicker. Online entries must be uploaded by 12.00hrs (UK time) on September 10th 2008, to allow for differences in international time zones.

Online entries

• Click here to be taken to online entry.

Sending in your print entry

• Print out and complete an entry form (see Entry forms & entry fees)
• Work out your entry fees (entry is free to those aged 16 and under) and pay using the methods outline under ‘Entry forms & entry fees’.
• If you would like your prints returned, please supply either a suitably sized and strong stamped addressed envelope or a return envelope (again, of the right size and strength) and payment for return postage. See Return of Prints, below.
• Your sealed, labeled envelopes should then be mailed in one package, together with your entry form, an appropriate entry fee or proof of online payment and return envelope (if required) to:

Travel Photographer of the Year
20 Yew Tree Courtyard
Framlingham Road
Earl Soham
Woodbridge
Suffolk
IP13 7SG
England

• Please write your name and return address clearly on the back of the package.

Sending prints, CDs or DVDs by international courier

If you wish to send your entries by international courier, please follow these instructions:

• If you put a commercial value on the package, you must tick the box on the airway bill which says that you will be responsible for any import duties due when the package is delivered in the UK. If you do not do this, we will refuse to accept the package, as TPOTY cannot be responsible for paying import duties.

• If you need to put a TPOTY telephone number on your courier's airwaybill, please write: 01728 669185. This will allow your courier to contact us if they have any problems with your delivery.

Return of prints

• Prints will not be returned until the judging is complete and the winners have been notified. We always respond to requests from photographers who need their images back urgently – but the return is a huge administrative task and one that cannot be rushed. We will return all images by the end of March 2009 and earlier if possible - it is a very time-consuming process so please be patient - and we don't send images out between December 15 and January 1, to avoid the Christmas post when entries could easily be lost.

• If you would like your images returned, you must enclose a stamped addressed envelope of the appropriate size and postage when you submit your entry. You may provide just one return envelope for all your entries, provided it's large enough and carries sufficient postage. Please make sure it’s strong and reinforced as necessary to protect your images on their way back to you.

• If you provide a CD or DVD of your images (high resolution) along with your prints or transparencies, this CD or DVD will not be returned (we will destroy all surplus CDs/DVDs after book selection has been made). If your image(s) are selected for exhibition or inclusion in Journey Three, and no CD or DVD has been supplied, then the original will only be requested for scanning if time permits and your image(s) will not be included in the book if this can't be sourced in time.

• UK entrants - please either put 'real' stamps on your return envelope or add the cost of your return postage to your entry fee. Please do not use 'Smart Stamp' or other computer-generated postage or Post Office printed labels, as these expire the day after they are printed, and will not be accepted by Royal Mail some months later, when the images are returned to you.

• International entrants who wish their images returned, and who do not have access to British stamps, should weigh their total package and determine the postage cost from the UK by visiting www.royalmail.com. Follow the link to 'Postal Prices', followed by 'International – airmail'. Please add the cost of the return postage to your entry fee and tell us how much your return postage will cost. If you choose an option such as ‘Air Mail Small Packet’ (cheaper than usual Air Mail), or want a service such as International Signed For, please write this on your envelope and make sure you pay the appropriate postage costs. We will then add this postage to your envelope before returning your images to you. Please make sure that you include a suitably sized envelope for return - we cannot provide one for you.

Returning prints by international courier

• If you want your images returned by international courier, you must provide an airway bill for the return journey, clearly marked with the level of service that you require and clearly signed to show that you are responsible for the courier fees and for any import duties that may be payable when the package is received back into your country. If you do not do this, we will not be able to return your entry until you have sent us an appropriate airway bill.

KEEPING YOU INFORMED

• If you provide us with a current email address when you enter, we’ll keep you informed by acknowledging receipt of your entry and confirming return of your images.
• Please write your email address clearly - every year we have entrants who we're unable to email because their email address has been badly written! Your details will not be passed on to third parties and we won’t bombard you with irrelevant messages.

KEEPING US INFORMED

• Please remember to keep us informed should your contact details or email address change after you send your entry. If your address changes and you do not inform us, any prizes and/or your return entry will be sent to the address previously supplied.

All images © photographers as credited. No reproduction in any media without permission