Terms and conditions

This competition is administered by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

1.       Entrants may only enter the competition online and by submitting their entries (“entry”) in accordance with the instructions set out on the “website”. There are no monetary costs to enter the competition.

2.       The closing date for entries is the one indicated in the relevant competition call.

3.       The competition is open to citizens of the following countries: EU 27 Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkiye; under the stabilisation and association agreements: North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

4.       All entrants must be over 18 years of age.

5.       Proof of citizenship and age will be required from all winners.

6.       Should a winning entry be the result of a team effort, the citizenship and age requirements shall apply to each team member. The team shall appoint one representative among its members to whom the prize will be awarded.

7.       The photos must be taken in one of the countries listed under point 3.

8.       The entry must be submitted in English. Entries submitted in other languages will be disregarded.

9.       EEA employees and all members of their immediate family are not eligible to enter the competition.

10.   A defined number of entries per person are allowed, please refer to the relevant competition webpage. Each entry must include the title, name, country of citizenship, age, email address, telephone number, competition category, a photograph meeting the specifications outlined in the competition rules, an indication of the location where the photograph was taken, title and accompanying text.

11.   Entries must be submitted through the completion of the designated online form.

12.   Any entry submitted must be the work of the individual or team submitting it. It is the responsibility of each entrant to ensure that any photographs they submit have been taken with the permission of the subject(s) and/or venue/location and does not infringe the copyright of any third party. The entrant warrants that they own the copyright for the photographs and that their entry does not infringe the privacy rights, copyright or any other rights of any person. The entrant shall be liable and provide compensation in the event of any action, claim or proceedings brought against the EEA by a third party as a result of the infringement of existing copyright caused by the entrant in participation in the competition.

13.   The entrant warrants that they have obtained the permission of those pictured in the photograph (or, where the photograph shows any persons under 18 years of age, the consent of their parent/guardian) for the usage rights required by the competition and will indemnify the EEA against any claims made by any third parties in respect of such infringement. You may download and use a generic consent form for this purpose.

14. Manipulation rules: Photographs submitted to the EEA photo competition must adhere to our rules on manipulation.  Only single-frame photographs will be accepted. The content of a photograph remain unaltered, with no additions, rearrangements, reversals, distortions or removals of people and/or objects within the frame. Light cropping, colour adjustments and grayscale conversion that do not alter content are permissible. However, processed colours should not deviate significantly from the original colours, and changes in density, contrast or saturation levels must not obscure or eliminate essential information in the photograph. All submitted photographs must be captured using camera, artificially generated images are not allowed, nor is the use of artificially generative fill.  The EEA reserves the rights to verify compliance, request original and unedited files, and disqualify entries that do not respect the above conditions. Applicants must be prepared to submit the original and unedited photographs (including RAW file, original unedited JPEG images, and EXIF values associated with the photograph) upon request from the EEA. Failure to comply within the specified timeframe will result in automatic disqualification of entries.

15. Entrants retain the copyright to the materials they submit for this competition. However, as a condition of participation, each entrant grants the EEA a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual license to showcase any or all submitted materials across various media channels for publicity and wider environmental communication purposes. The EEA reserves the right to feature entries or elements from the entries at future events, subject to its discretion. Additionally, in potential collaborations with other institutions related to the photo competition, the EEA reserves the right to share entries—either partially or wholly—with partner institutions, as determined on a case-by-case basis. In such instances, copyright owners (the entrants) will be credited as ‘Copyright: (NAME), (photo competition name)/EEA.’ By participating in the competition, entrants acknowledge that their entries may be used in publicity efforts without any additional payment. This publicity may include without limitation the entrant’s submission itself, along the freely provided information such as their name, location, artistic materials, text, biographical information, and any statements made by them regarding the competition or prizes. The EEA and its licensees have the discretion to utilize these elements in perpetuity across all media worldwide, but they are under no obligation to include any specific entrant in publicity materials.

16.   All visual elements embodied in each entry must be fully cleared by the entrant for the EEA’s use as part of the competition and for any promotional use by the EEA. Entrants must ensure that such use of their entry or elements of their entry as part of the competition and any use by the EEA shall not infringe the rights of any third parties or any applicable law, regulation, code, order, direction or by‐law and entrants shall indemnify and keep the EEA fully indemnified from and against any claim, damage, loss (whether foreseeable or not), liability or cost including reasonable legal fees in respect thereof.

17.   By entering the competition, entrants agree that if an entry does not comply with the technical, artistic or legal specifications set out herein or if the EEA in its sole discretion requires, the EEA shall be within their rights to disqualify any such entries.

18.   By entering the competition, entrants agree that the EEA shall be under no obligation to exploit, distribute and/or exhibit any submission and the entrants shall have no claim against the EEA in this regard.

19.   The winners will have provided an entry in accordance with the Terms and Conditions. Winners will be the entrants who submit the best entry, as determined by the EEA in accordance with the criteria outlined in the competition rules.

20.   The winners of the photo competition will be selected following the close of the competition submission stage, and will be announced on the date indicated in the relevant call.

21.   A list of winning entries will be available on the website for a period of at least 3 (three) months from the closing date of entry to the competition. Entrants shall note that by submitting an entry, they are deemed to have agreed that if selected as a winner their name may be disclosed to any third party, by the EEA, when providing a list of the names of the entrants where requested.

22.   The prizes are as set out on the competition website.

23.   The winners will be notified by email within 7 (seven) working days of the winner being selected.

24.   The EEA will actively endeavour to contact the winner with arrangements for the prizes for a period of 1 (one) month following the announcement of the competition winners. In the event that the EEA is unable to contact the winner in this notification period, the EEA reserves the right to reallocate the cash prize.

25.   The EEA’s decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

26.   The EEA reserves the right to select an alternative winner in the event that the EEA has reasonable grounds for believing that a selected winner has contravened any of these Terms and Conditions of entry. The defaulting entrant will be given the opportunity to express his/her observation on such a decision.

27.   The EEA can accept no responsibility for entries lost, delayed, misdirected, damaged or undelivered.

28.   Incomplete and/or illegible entries will be disqualified. The EEA shall not be responsible for technical errors in telecommunications networks, Internet access or otherwise, preventing entry to the competition.

29.   The prizes are as stated and are non‐transferable. If due to circumstances beyond the EEA’s control, the EEA is unable to provide a stated prize, the EEA reserves the right to award a substitute prize of equal value.

30.   The EEA shall not be liable to the winners and/or their guests for any loss or damage howsoever caused (whether in contract, tort or statutory duty or otherwise) arising out of or in connection with the competition and/or prize and the entry submitted by such winners and/or their guests. This exclusion does not apply to damages caused by gross negligence or intent of the EEA and/or its legal agents and/or its servants. By entering the competition, entrants waive to the full extent permissible by law, any and all claims that they may have against the EEA.

31.   The EEA shall not be liable for any delay in performing or partial or total failure to perform any of its obligations to the winners and/or their guests under these competition Terms and Conditions if such delay or failure is caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control including without limitation delays, changes, disruptions, cancellations, diversions or substitutions howsoever caused, including without limitation, as a result of war, terrorist action or threatened terrorist action, strikes, hostilities, civil commotions, accidents, fire, flood or natural catastrophes or arising, without limitation, out of or in connection with the activities of third party event organisers. For the avoidance of doubt, the affected winners and/or any guests shall be solely liable for any additional costs incurred as a result.

32.   Any personal information, including without limitation, the entrant's age, nationality, address (including postcode), and email address will be used solely in connection with this competition and as set out in these Terms and Conditions and will not be disclosed to any third party, except for the purpose of fulfilling the prizes where applicable and providing a list of the names of the winners. Any personal information held by the EEA in respect of any competition will be held on record for a short period for the purpose of ensuring the fulfilment of the competition and then destroyed. For further information, please refer to our privacy statement.

33.   All entrants agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions, which may be amended or varied at any time by the EEA without notice.

34.   These Competition Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the European Union, completed where necessary by the national substantive law of Denmark and the courts of Copenhagen (Denmark) shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any disputes arising therefrom.