1.1 The competition was open to all citizens or permanent residents from the EU Member States and the Southeast European Candidate Countries (Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey) or Potential Candidates (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/99).

1.2 Persons employed by the European Commission, organisers or members of the jury involved in the competition, were not eligible to participate.

1.3 Each participant may have submitted up to three photos to the competition.

1.4 The European Commission, Directorate General for Enlargement intended to use the 24 semi-finalist photos selected by the competition jury for its information and communication activities related to the information and communication project "Southeast Europe: People and Culture", including the publication of the photos on the "Southeast Europe: People and Culture" website and reproduction in related future promotional material. To that purpose, separate contracts were concluded with the semi-finalists.

A draft contract can be seen here.

1.5 The deadline for submission of photographs was 20 January 2010.

2.1 All participants had to register for the competition either by completing an online entry form on the website or by sending a filled in registration form, which could be downloaded here, with a copy of their photos on CD to the following address (date of postmark no later than the competition deadline 20 January 2010):

Southeast Europe People and Culture /
Photo Competition
MEDIA CONSULTA International Holding AG
Wassergasse 3
10179 Berlin, Germany

2.2 All personal information gathered during registration are held by the European Commission's Directorate General for Enlargement, who will use the data solely for the purpose of the competition.

The European Union is committed to user privacy. The policy on "protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions" is based on Regulation (EC) N° 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000.

3.1 The photo motif must have visualised the defined competition theme, "Southeast Europe: People and Culture" by depicting the culture, arts, sports and everyday lives of people living in today's Western Balkans (Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo*) and Turkey.

3.2 Pictures including explicit violent, sexist, prejudiced or in any way discriminatory content were excluded.

3.3 The photos could be in colour or in monochrome and could be taken with a digital or film camera (if film is used, the photographs must be submitted as digital scans). The participants had the right to edit the photos. This means that the presentation of the motif was allowed to be manipulated in colour or in composition (montage, collage, touching-up, etc). Sharpening and correction of the tonal value were also permitted.

3.4 The photos could only be submitted digitally. The photos had to be of the following quality:

• Minimum 2480x3508 pixel / 21x29,7 cm (DIN A4) or 8MP
• maximum 7016x9933 pixel / 59.4x84.1 cm in 300dpi – please do not extrapolate in either JPEG or TIF format.

3.5 When submitting entries, participants confirmed that the material is their own and copyrights have not been violated.

3.6 Participants had to get written consent from any individuals depicted in the photographs submitted. For people under the age of 18, formal authorisation of their parent/s were necessary. You can download the consent form in different languages here: en al bs hr mk sr tr

4.1 The jury evaluated the photos according to the following criteria:

• Visualisation of the competition theme
• Level of creativity and originality
• Photo composition
• Clarity of presentation
• General appeal of the image

4.2 The jury selected three winners. Moreover, after agreement with the photographers, the 24 semi-finalist photos selected by the jury were uploaded on the Southeast Europe: People and Culture website (www.southeast-europe.eu), where the public had the chance to vote on their favourite. The photo with most votes became the winner of the "Public's Favourite Award".

4.3 The jury’s decision is final.

4.4 The jury reserves the right to demand the photographers’ sources in cases where disrespect of photographic standards is suspected.