United Planet Day Photo & Video Contest

To celebrate United Planet Day, we hold a contest every year to seek visual submissions that exemplify our mission from all world community members and friends. 

If you have questions, please email us (contest@unitedplanet.org) or give us a call 800.292.2316.  To find out how you can celebrate with us in other ways, please read more about United Planet Day.

**Submissions are due by August 21st, 2013 at 11:59PM EST**

Guidelines

Each contestant may enter up to one video and three photo submissions. All entries should aim to illustrate the ideas of cross-cultural understanding, friendship, and supporting one another in their own community or abroad. Examples include visual submissions inspired by past volunteer Quests, community service, travel experiences, or other personal interactions that deal with the subject of intercommunication and friendship. 

**Important** In addition to the photo or video, the contestant should include a brief description of the photo or video and what the experience means to them. Please be sure to include the following information:

• Photo Caption
• City and Country where photo/video was taken
• Date photo/video was taken (best estimate is fine)
• Any applicable historical/cultural context
• What's taking place in the photo? 

While the submissions will not be judged based on the description, the explanation should offer enough information to capture the essence of the photo or video for other viewers to understand. This should be approximately 100 words long. Descriptions may be made in any language as long as the English translation is provided with it.

Photos must be in the jpeg format and be at least 440 pixels wide in order to guarantee the highest quality in its display on our website. 

Judging

The contest will consist of two rounds of evaluation. In Round One, all submissions will be placed on our website for public voting. Public voting will be open beginning August 23rd, 2013, through September 17th, 2013 at 11:59PM EST. The top five most popular submissions will continue to Round Two.  In Round Two, the United Planet organization will vote on one grand prize winner and one runner up. Judging criteria include visual quality and relevance to United Planet's mission of cross-cultural understanding. Winners will be chosen on or around September 22nd, 2013, and notified by email. 

Prizes

One grand prize winner and one runner-up will be chosen. 

The grand prize is a choice of either one United Planet Volunteer Abroad Quest for up to two weeks to selected short-term locations around the world (valued up to $2000; airfare not included); or $300.

The prize for the runner-up winner will be $150 and a United Planet T-shirt.

The winning pieces will also be published on United Planet's website and in an upcoming newsletter!!!

Note: With entry of submissions, all contestants hand over their copyright interests to United Planet. United Planet reserves the right to use any submitted materials for promotional purposes. This includes sites we promote on such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. Also, please be advised, contestants may only submit work that is their own original material.

Thank you and good luck!