Rules and Regulations of the Photographic Contest within the Municipal Photographic Service

Rules and Regulations defining the principles of the photographic contest within the Fotoportal in 2025

§ 1 General Provisions

The organizer of the contest is the City of Poznań with headquarters in Poznań, 61 - 841, Pl. Kolegiacki 17, NIP (Tax Identification Number): 2090001440.
Supervision over the proper course of the contest will be carried out by a contest committee appointed by the organizer.
By participating in the contest, the participant agrees to the contest conditions contained in these rules and regulations.
Whenever these rules and regulations refer to:
1. 1) rules and regulations – this shall mean the rules and regulations of the photographic contest within the Fotoportal in 2025;
2. 2) work – this shall mean a photographic picture;
3. 3) committee – this shall mean the contest committee appointed by the organizer to supervise the proper course of the contest and select the laureates;
4. 4) contest website – this shall mean the website supporting the contest, i.e., the Fotoportal, located at: www.fotoportal.poznan.pl;
5. 5) organizer – this shall mean the City of Poznań;
6. 6) personal data administrator – this shall mean the Mayor of the City of Poznań (Prezydent Miasta Poznania);
7. 7) participant - this shall mean a person participating in the contest by submitting a work to the contest;
8. 8) laureate – this shall mean a person who won the contest or was distinguished in it.

§ 2 Contest Participants

Any person with full legal capacity and meeting all participation conditions specified in the rules and regulations may take part in the contest.
Employees of the organizer and members of the immediate family of these persons are excluded from participation in the contest.
Immediate family members of the organizer's employees, referred to in paragraph 2, are understood as their: ascendants, descendants, siblings, spouses, parents of spouses, and persons who are in an adoption, guardianship, or custodianship relationship with the persons referred to in paragraph 2.

§ 3 Contest Rules

The type and form of the contest is established as a multi-stage, open photographic contest.
The contest takes place throughout the entire year (in individual months of the year, in accordance with paragraph 3), with the proviso that the selection of winners for the month of December takes place in January of the following year.
A themed contest takes place every month – the contest theme is announced by the organizer on the contest website at the beginning of the month, and works submitted in a given themed contest must comply with its theme.
The contest consists of 2 stages:
1. 1) first stage – involves submitting works within the themed contest organized in a given month, referred to in paragraph 3, and selecting the work of the month and monthly distinctions;
2. 2) second stage – involves selecting the work of the year and two annual distinctions from among the laureates of the themed contests organized throughout the entire year.
The selection of the laureates of a given month (one work of the month and monthly distinctions) will be made by the committee. The number of distinctions awarded in a given month is determined each time by the committee after reviewing the works submitted to the given themed contest.
The selection of the work of the year and two annual distinctions will be made by the committee after the end of the calendar year. The selection will be made from among the works of the laureates of the themed contests conducted during the year (including any additional themed contests, referred to in paragraph 7), meeting the criteria referred to in § 7 sec. 2.
The organizer reserves the right to organize additional themed contests during the year, for which prizes will be awarded.
The organizer reserves the right not to select laureates in a given contest and not to award prizes in it, in the event of an unsatisfactory level of submitted works.
Information regarding the resolution of the contest will be made public on the contest website and sent by electronic mail to the email address of the contest laureates, provided during account registration on the contest website.

§ 4 Image of Third Parties

The participant ensures and guarantees that they have obtained consents from persons whose image is included in the works submitted to the contest (if the organizer in a given contest consents to the submission of works containing the image of persons) for the use of their image by the organizer and other entities that may order the work on the contest website, in accordance with the principles set out in the Fotoportal Rules and Regulations available on the contest website, including its public dissemination, provided that legal provisions require such consent in a given case, in all activities, and in particular for educational, informational, advertising, promotional, and marketing purposes. The participant is obliged to immediately inform the organizer of any possible withdrawal of consent to the use of the image of the person whose image is included in the work submitted to the contest (also if the withdrawal of consent occurs after the contest ends).
Furthermore, the participant ensures that the works submitted by them to the contest will not infringe the image rights and personal rights of other persons.
In the event of claims by third parties against the organizer arising from possible infringements of their image rights or infringements of their personal rights, the participant undertakes to take, at their own expense, all factual and legal steps ensuring the organizer due protection against such claims, in particular, the participant undertakes to step into the organizer's place or, if this is not possible - to join all proceedings against the organizer on the organizer's side and indemnify the organizer against all claims raised by third parties. Within the scope of this declaration, the participant bears full liability for damages towards the organizer, including in particular direct damage, legal assistance costs provided to defend the organizer's interests, and the equivalent of benefits satisfied by the organizer to settle third-party claims.

§ 5 Prizes

Prizes are provided for the laureates of the contests referred to in § 3 sec. 4, as listed in the appendix to the rules and regulations.
Cash prizes will be paid to the laureates after the laureate has properly completed the relevant documents sent by the organizer, and delivered them (personally, or via post/courier) to the organizer, within the deadline specified in paragraph 4.
The payment of the cash prize will take place no later than 21 business days from the day the documents referred to in paragraph 2 are delivered to the Poznań City Hall – Office of the Mayor of the City of Poznań, pl. Kolegiacki 17, 61-841 Poznań.
Failure to complete and transfer the relevant documents to the organizer within 10 business days of receiving them from the organizer is equivalent to the laureate forfeiting the right to receive the cash prize. In the case of sending documents via post or courier, the deadline referred to in the first sentence is considered met if the shipment was sent to the organizer within this deadline.
Monthly distinctions in the form of souvenirs from the official city gadget line will be transferred to the laureate only in person, at a time convenient for the laureate and the organizer (the laureate and the organizer will agree on the prize collection date), no later than within 21 business days from the day the contest is resolved, at the headquarters of the Poznań City Hall – Office of the Mayor of the City of Poznań, pl. Kolegiacki 17, 61 - 841 Poznań.
The organizer is not responsible for the inability to contact the laureate due to the laureate providing incomplete, outdated, or incorrect personal data.
The contest qualifies as a contest in the field of art within the meaning of art. 21 item 68 of the Act of July 26, 1991, on personal income tax (thus, prizes whose one-off value does not exceed PLN 2000 are exempt from income tax).
A list of prizes is also available on the contest website.

§ 6 Submission of the Work to the Contest

The submission of the work to the contest occurs at the moment of:
1. 1) posting the work on the contest website in the contest tab;
2. 2) supplementing additional information about the place where the work was taken and its nature;
3. 3) clicking the checkbox titled “I accept the Service Rules and Regulations” and “Privacy Policy”, visible at the bottom of the contest website;
4. 4) clicking the checkbox titled “I want my photo to take part in the Contest ……………. (month name) 2025, which is equivalent to accepting the Contest Rules and Regulations”, visible at the bottom of the contest website;
5. 5) clicking the checkbox titled “Add photo”, visible at the bottom of the contest website.
Authentic personal data must be provided during registration. This information is necessary for determining, among other things, the copyrights to the work submitted to the contest.
Providing inauthentic data will result in the inability to hand over the prizes to the laureate in the contest.
The organizer informs that impersonating another person in order to cause them material or personal harm is subject to criminal liability.
Registration on the contest website takes place by filling out the registration form located on this website, in accordance with the principles set out in the Fotoportal Rules and Regulations available on the contest website.

§ 7 Requirements for Works, Qualification and Assessment Criteria for Works, Selection of Laureates

Files in JPG format with the maximum possible size and print resolution should be submitted to the contest.
The work of the year will be selected from among laureates who submitted works to the contest that allow for printing in a format similar to A2, with a print resolution of 300 dpi (i.e., a minimum size of approx. 6000 x 4500 pixels at 300 dpi print resolution should be maintained; at a lower print resolution, e.g., 250 dpi, the size of the work must be proportionally larger and amount to 7800 x 3276 pixels).
Additional markings must not be applied to the works submitted to the contest.
The works submitted to the contest should be current, i.e., created during the season corresponding to the theme of the given calendar year.
A given work may be submitted to the contest only once.
The title and/or description of the work should include information about the address of the location in Poznań where the work was taken (street, house number).
The committee selects laureates by a majority vote.
In the event of an equal number of votes, the deciding vote is the vote of the Organizer's Representative, referred to in § 8 sec. 1 item 1.
When assessing the works submitted to the contest, the committee will be guided by the following criteria:
1. 1) the work's fulfillment of the contest's ideological assumptions, in particular the work's compliance with the contest theme;
2. 2) the timeliness of the photos and their uniqueness compared to previous contests;
3. 3) the work's fulfillment of technical conditions, i.e., size, resolution;
4. 4) the quality of the work's aesthetic and artistic values.

§ 8 Contest Committee

The committee includes:
1. 1) Organizer's Representative – Deputy Director of the Office of the Mayor of the City of Poznań for social communication or an authorized person substituting;
2. 2) Administrator of the Fotoportal – an employee of the Office of the Mayor of the City of Poznań for promotion coordination;
3. 3) Committee Member – (min. one) employee of the Office of the Mayor of the City of Poznań for promotion coordination.
In the event of organizing an additional themed contest, as referred to in § 3 sec. 7, it will be resolved by the committee referred to in paragraph 1.

§ 9 Complaints

Complaints regarding the course of the contest should be submitted in writing to the address: Office of the Mayor of the City of Poznań, pl. Kolegiacki 17, 61 - 841 Poznań, with the annotation “Konkurs Fotograficzny” (Photographic Contest), within 10 days of the announcement of the contest results (in the case of sending a complaint by post or courier, the date of sending the shipment is decisive). The complaint should include the participant's personal data and must describe the grounds for the complaint.
Complaints that do not meet the requirements specified in paragraph 1 will not be considered.
Complaints will be considered by the organizer within 10 days from the date of their receipt. The date of sending the reply by the organizer is decisive for meeting the deadline for considering the complaint (in the case of sending the reply by post or courier, the date of sending the shipment is decisive).

§ 10 Copyright

At the moment the participant submits the work to the contest, all proprietary copyrights to the work are transferred to the organizer free of charge, on all fields of exploitation known at the time the work is submitted, and in particular:
1. 1) in the field of recording and multiplying the work - the right to produce copies of the work using any technique, including printing, reprographic, magnetic recording, and digital techniques, introducing the work into computer memory and multimedia networks;
2. 2) in the field of trading in the original or copies on which the work has been recorded - introducing into circulation, lending, or renting the original or copies;
3. 3) in the field of disseminating the work in a manner other than that specified in item 2) - public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, as well as broadcasting and re-broadcasting, and public sharing of the work in such a way that everyone can have access to it in a place and time chosen by them, which includes dissemination in guides, catalogs, promotional and advertising prints, press announcements and advertisements, on posters including large-format posters, placing on the Internet, as well as sharing the work using webcasting, simulcasting, videocasting, and all other forms of internet transmission and dissemination via telephone networks (in fixed or mobile networks), in particular using: mobile phone (including WAP) and digital devices (e.g.: decoders, VOD, PPV, personal computers and others), dissemination in all other forms of communication, promotion, or advertising (e.g., on gadgets);
4. 4) sharing them with other persons for commercial purposes in publications and studies describing the organizer;
5. 5) the right to translate, adapt, make all changes, adaptations, corrections, alterations, format changes, abbreviations, and elaborations of the work, including changing the layout or any other changes to the work, in particular changing the arrangement and size of individual graphic elements composing the work, as well as using elaborations of the work in the form of alterations, fragmentation, and/or re-editing even if the effect of these actions were to be the loss of the work's individual character;
6. 6) the right to permanent or temporary multiplication of the work in whole or in part, by any means and in any form;
7. 7) the right to use the work and its modifications and adaptations in all kinds of available forms, including in advertising means, including television, radio, press, internet, outdoor advertising (Outdoor), advertising materials not intended for presentation in the media (BTL), posters, advertising leaflets, brochures, and other advertising accessories.
From the moment of acquiring the proprietary copyrights to the work, the participant allows the organizer to exclusively exercise derivative copyright within the meaning of art. 2 of the Act on Copyright and Related Rights in relation to the work, i.e., consents to making changes and modifications to the work and creating elaborations of the work, using, disposing of, and disseminating the elaborations of the work; furthermore, at the same time, the participant transfers to the organizer the exclusive right to authorize the exercise of derivative copyright. The exercise of the above rights will take place on the fields of exploitation listed in paragraph 1.
The participant grants the organizer consent and authorization regarding the exercise of moral copyrights to the work on behalf of the participant, in particular in the scope of the right to the work's integrity, the right to supervise the way the work is used (the exercise of moral copyrights will be primarily related to making all elaborations, changes, and modifications to the work, of which referred to in paragraph 1 item 5).
The organizer has the right to freely dispose of the acquired proprietary copyrights, including transferring them to another entity, without any additional fees or remuneration to the Participant both domestically and abroad.
By submitting the work to the contest, the participant declares that:
1. 1) they hold all, exclusive, and unlimited proprietary copyrights to the work;
2. 2) they can dispose of the proprietary copyrights to the work;
3. 3) the proprietary copyrights to the work held by them are not seized in the meaning of the provisions on enforcement proceedings.
The participant ensures and guarantees that the works submitted to the contest will be original and will under no circumstances infringe the proprietary copyrights or other rights of third parties (including industrial property rights). The organizer is not liable for infringements of the aforementioned rights of third parties. In the event of claims by third parties against the organizer arising from possible infringements of their rights, the participant undertakes to take, at their own expense, all factual and legal steps ensuring the organizer due protection against such claims, in particular, the participant undertakes to step into the organizer's place or in the event of lack of such possibility – to join all proceedings against the organizer on the organizer's side and indemnify the organizer against all claims raised by third parties. Within the scope of this declaration, the participant bears full liability for damages towards the organizer, including in particular direct damage, legal assistance costs provided to defend the organizer's interests, and the equivalent of benefits satisfied by the organizer to settle third-party claims concerning the infringement of their rights.

§ 11 Personal Data

In accordance with art. 13 sec. 1 and sec. 2 of the General Data Protection Regulation of April 27, 2016:
1. 1) the personal data administrator, based on art. 6 sec. 1 lit. e of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 27, 2016, on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/WE (hereinafter referred to as the GDPR) in connection with the implementation of the budgetary task concept PRD/B/004.4 – Promoting and coordinating the building of the City's image, action PRD/B/004 – Supporting, implementing, and coordinating other promotional activities and events (Fotoportal and SKP), will process the following personal data: first name and last name, nickname, email address;
2. 2) the personal data administrator (of participants and laureates), within the meaning of the GDPR, processed in connection with conducting the contest is the Mayor of the City of Poznań (Prezydent Miasta Poznania) with headquarters at plac Kolegiacki 17, 61-841 Poznań;
3. 3) a data protection officer has been appointed, who can be contacted via e-mail: iod@um.poznan.pl or in writing to the address: plac Kolegiacki 17, 61-841 Poznań;
4. 4) the personal data (of participants and laureates) will be processed for the purpose of organizing, conducting, resolving, and settling the contest within the Fotoportal in 2025; for tax purposes (applies to laureates) – if tax obligations arise;
5. 5) after the purpose for which they were collected has been achieved, the data will be processed for archival purposes and stored for the period necessary to comply with the data archiving regulations binding on the personal data administrator;
6. 6) data subjects have the right to:
  1. a) access their personal data,
  2. b) request the rectification of data that is incorrect,
  3. c) object to data processing – for reasons related to the particular situation of the data subjects,
  4. d) request the erasure of data when:
    1. – the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected,
    2. – the data is processed unlawfully,
    3. – after raising an objection, if there are no overriding legitimate grounds for processing,
  5. e) request the restriction of processing when:
    1. – these persons question the correctness of the data,
    2. – the processing is unlawful, and these persons oppose the erasure of the data,
    3. – the personal data administrator no longer needs the personal data for processing purposes, but they are needed by the data subjects for establishing, asserting, or defending claims,
    4. – these persons have objected to data processing – until the personal data administrator's overriding interests over the grounds for such objection are determined;
7. 7) persons whose personal data will be processed have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority, which is the President of the Personal Data Protection Office (Prezes Urzędu Orony Danych Osobowych);
8. 8) the provision of personal data is voluntary but necessary to participate in the contest;
9. 9) personal data will not be processed in a manner based solely on automated decision-making, including profiling;
10. 10) the recipients of the data are entities authorized to receive personal data on the basis of legal provisions or agreements concluded with the personal data administrator, including entities dealing with the personal data administrator's IT services;
11. 11) the data of participants and laureates in the scope of first and last name will be made public and will be published on the contest website;
12. 12) the personal data referred to in item 1 will not be disclosed to external entities with the exception of the cases referred to in item 10, and those provided for by law.

§ 12 Final Provisions

The rules and regulations are available at the organizer's headquarters and on the contest website.
The organizer reserves the right to amend the rules and regulations, with the exclusion of changing the rules for selecting and awarding prizes provided for in § 5.
In matters not regulated by these rules and regulations, the provisions of the Civil Code Act and the Act on Copyright and Related Rights, and other generally applicable legal provisions shall apply.
Any disputes arising from the performance of obligations related to the contest will be settled by the common court with local jurisdiction for the organizer's headquarters. The participant may refer the matter to court proceedings after exhausting the complaint procedure referred to in § 9.
The organizer reserves the right to annul or not resolve the contest.
In disputed matters concerning the interpretation of the rules and regulations, the organizer makes the decision.
The rules and regulations are effective from January 2, 2025.

Appendix: List of Prizes

Prizes – photo of the year:
1. 1) Main prize – PLN 2500 gross
2. 2) Two distinctions – PLN 1500 gross each distinction
Prizes – themed contests:
1. 1) Monthly prize – PLN 1000 gross
2. 2) Monthly distinction – souvenir from the official city gadget line