General Rules

1. The Wetpixel.com and DivePhotoGuide.com International Photo Competition and DEEP 2007 competition are open to entrants of all skill levels, including amateurs, professionals* (see #4 in "Additional Rules for Image Entries", below), and Wetpixel.com and DivePhotoGuide.com staff.
2. Entrants may enter images in both OWU and DEEP contests.
3. Photo contest staff and judges are not allowed to enter the contest.
4. Each individual can only win one prize. Entrants with multiple winning entries will be given priority in prizes by value.
5. For the OWU 2007 Competition, winners will be announced on stage at the 2007 Our World-Underwater festival in Chicago, Illinois (February 9-11, 2007). For the DEEP Indonesia 2007 Competition, winners will be announced on stage at DEEP Indonesia 2007( 8 - 11 Feb 2007).
6. We are adopting the Conservation Rules established by EPIC®. Marine life should never be stressed or endangered for the sake of a photo. Conservation rules will apply to all entries, and decisions will be final. Except for in the Environment and Conservation category and in videos where such subject matter is the ecological point of the video, entries suspected of exhibiting the following behavior will be disqualified:
    
   • Divers visibly damaging the environment (e.g. gear dragging or kicking up sand).
   • Animals with signs of stress (e.g. puffed puffers, inking octopus).
   • Animals moved to an unnatural environment or risky location.
   • Animals being fed (especially with artificial food from divers).
   • Marine life being touched (e.g. coral polyps, seahorse tails).
   • Divers exhibiting poor buoyancy control
7. Category descriptions are available at the home page of each photo competition. Scroll down until you see them.

Additional Rules for Image Entries

1. Professional photographers may not submit entries into the Compact Camera category. The definition of "professional photographer" shall be determinedsubjectively on a case-by-case basis by the judges.
2. All submitted images must have been taken by the entrant.
3. Images that have won or placed in photo contests with winning entries announced before December 15, 2006, may not be submitted. A winning image is defined as follows:
   • any image that has placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any contest that has resulted in prizes worth $100 USD or more.
   • any image that has placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in a "major" photography contest (to be determined subjectively by judges).
   • any image that has placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any "photo of the year"-type contest. Photos of the day, week, or month are fine, as long as they have not resulted in prizes worth $100 USD or more.
4. Photographers retain all copyrights to their images. Wetpixel.com, DivePhotoGuide.com, and UnderwaterCompetition.com retain the right to publish the contest entries in print or online to congratulate or feature the winners and their respecitve images, and to promote future events.
5. With the exception of the Environment and Conservation category, all images need to have been taken underwater. The Environment and Conservation category allows for topside images, as long as subject matter is appropriate.
6. With the exception of the Compact Camera category, entries may have been taken from any camera, film (as scanned slides) or digital. Entries in the Compact Camera category must have been taken with a non-SLR digital camera.

Additional Rules for Video Entries

1. All videos must be limited to 60 seconds long, not including titles or credits where underwater footage is not used. Absolute length including titles and credits may not exceed 80 seconds.
2. A minimum of 70% of the footage must have been taken underwater.
3. Videos should not show deliberate harassment of the marine creatures unless this harassment is the ecological point of the video.
4. Please ensure that you have all rights to any media that is used in your video(s) (music, visual footage, personal, copyright, or any other legal rights.
5. Multiple videographers and editors are allowed, but only the submitter will be awarded the prize. In addition, see #4.
   
   Special thanks to Steve Douglas for his help with video guidelines.