Frequently Asked Questions

Who can enter?
Open to professional and amateur photographers from any country worldwide shooting in all forms of black and white photography, using traditional or digital methods.

How do you classify Professional or Amateur?
Professional category is for photographers whose occupation and income is made as a photographer. The Amateur category is for photographers who do not make their main income from photography.

How do I enter?
Create your online Portfolio, upload your images and pay entry fees. Your entry is submitted when entry fees are paid. You will receive an entry confirmation email upon payment of entry fees.

What is the Final Deadline for submissions?
All entries must be submitted by midnight PST on Friday, February 22, 2013.

What are the Early Entry and Early Closing Deadlines?
The early deadlines offer discounts on entry fees! See Deadlines.

How much are entry fees to submit?
Entry fees are $35 (Professional) or $30 (Amateur) for a single image entry. Entry fee Specials provide discounts up to 50% - see Entry Fees. Your fees are automatically calculated using the best discount at time of payment. Entry fees are non-refundable.

How can I pay my entry fees?
You can pay by credit card, paypal or bank transfer. All payments are processed in US currency. The payment will appear on your statement as "World Photo Arts". You will receive a receipt by email when you pay, and a copy of your receipt is in your Portfolio.

What are the Entry Fee Specials and how do I get them?
You can submit 2 single entries for the price of 1 with the "2 for 1" special.
You can submit 5 or 10 single entries for a discounted price with the "Pack" specials.
(Entries do not have to be in same category). Upload all entries before paying entry fees.

What is the "Trade Discount" and how do I get it?
You receive 10% off entry fees if you are a member of a photography organization, club or trade group. To qualify, click link at checkout and input your assocation's name.

What are "Rewards" in my Portfolio?
You earn 10% Rewards on entry fees. Rewards are added to your Portfolio at the opening of next year. Rewards can be used to pay entry fees.

How many images can I enter?
There is no limit to the number of images you can submit.

Can I enter the same image into multiple categories?
The same image can only be submitted into one category.

Can I enter work that has been published?
Published and unpublished work is accepted.

Is there a time limit on when the photograph was taken?
There are no restrictions on the date of photograph.

Can I enter an image that has won or been nominated before at the Spider Awards?
Winning and nominated images cannot be entered again.

What size of files can I submit?
Digital images must be saved as jpg at 72ppi, 1024 pixels longest side in RGB. Files should be named lastname-firstname_title.jpg (no accented characters in the filename).

Can I submit prints, books or CDs?
We recommend submitting digital files. Prints are accepted and will be digitized and uploaded to your Portfolio. Books are not accepted. You can send a CD of digital files to our UK or USA address. Prints and CDs will not be returned.

Can I have my logo or name on the photograph?
Images must not have any embedded marks, logos, names or borders.

Do you accept toned images?
Photographs must be in black & white - no sepia or color toned images.

Do you accept digitally manipulated images?
Digitally manipulated images are accepted.

What happens to the copyright of the images and how will the images be used?
Copyright remains with the owner at all times. Submitted images may be used online and in print for promotional purposes. The photographer's name will always be credited.

How do I replace or delete my entries, or change the title and category?
You can replace any image by clicking on the image (give the new file a different filename). Entries that entry fees have been paid for cannot be deleted, they can only be replaced. You can change the title, caption or category by clicking on the image.

What is the caption?
The caption is for anything noteworthy about the photograph, such as when, where or why it was taken, subject, context, etc.

What is the biography for?
The biography is a short artist statement.

Privacy
We respect your privacy and your personal information remains private at all times. Only your name and country are shown publicly on the website alongside your image if you are a winner or nominee.

How are images judged?
Images are judged on artistic merit, originality, subject and style. Votes are tallied using the consensus-based Borda Count Method. Judges rank images in order of preference (1st, 2nd, 3rd, Honorable Mention) with each rank having a certain number of points.

When are the results announced?
Winners and nominees will be announced at the live online Photoshow.

I am a Winner or Nominee, what do I do now?
Prepare an Acceptance Speech to be posted on the website. Winning images will be requested at high resolution after the Photoshow.