Call for Entries to 16th China International Photographic Art Exhibition

Please check: http://cipae.cpph.com/En/

The China International Photographic Art Exhibition (CIPAE), which is organized by the China Photographers Association (CPA), is the largest photographic competition and exhibition in China with the longest history, the most extensive international influence and the largest number of participants from home and abroad. Launched with the approval of the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China in 1981, the exhibition takes place every two years. The 15 exhibitions held so far have received over 430,000 entries submitted by about 70,000 photographers from more than 100 countries and regions.

The 16th CIPAE will be held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, in April 2016. The exhibition aims to showcase the achievements countries have made in photography over recent years and display the useful attempts and practices of photographers around the world in different categories of photography, thus promoting the exchange, integration and development of photographic cultures of all countries. With the development of science and technology of the world and the expansion of people’s knowledge of photographic art, the exhibition this year has unique features in terms of entries collection, awards, etc.

Photographic groups, veteran and young photographers, and photography lovers from all walks of life and in all corners of the world are welcome to submit their works to this competition.

I. Date:

Deadline: Dec. 1, 2015

Appraisal date: Dec. 2015

Result announcement date: Jan. 2016

Exhibition date: Apr. 2016

Date of delivery of awards (medals, certificates, prize, etc.): the end of May 2016

II. Organization

Sponsors: China Photographers Association

Zhengzhou Municipal People’s Government

Organizers: International Department, China Photographers Association

Publicity Department, Zhengzhou Municipal Committee

Zhengzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles

III. Rules
1. Entry submission: Please log on the CPA homepage (www.cpanet.org.cn), enter the English page, click “16th China International Photographic Art Exhibition” for registration, filling in all required information, and uploading your works by following online instructions. Or you may directly send your email to: gjbcpa@cpanet.cn, with the document name in the form of “country + name of the photographer + title of the works”. Only digital photos in JPEG format with the longest side of 1024 pixels will be accepted.

2. Categories: The exhibition is divided into themed and non-themed categories. Photos submitted under the themed category must carry the theme of “Children” (documentary works ONLY), while non-themed categories shall include documentary, art and commercial photos. Each participant may choose one or more categories, but any entry should not be submitted into more than one category. Both single photo and series are acceptable. The number of photos in each series should be limited to 4 – 12.

3. No entry fee will be charged for participation in the exhibition.

4. The exhibition does not accept awarded and selected works of previous CIPAEs.

5. Participants should make sure that they have finished their entries independently, and that they possess independent, complete, explicit, and non-controversial copyright on their works; they should also warrant that their works do not infringe upon any other person’s legitimate rights, including copyright, portrait right, reputation right and right to privacy.

6. Contents of raw images should not be added or deleted for works under the “Children” category and documentary category. In the post production, appropriate adjustment of chiaroscuro andtone should not result in distortion of objective and true attributes of the subject. A colorful photocan be totally (should not be partially) converted to a black-and-white photo (or a monochrome photo). Caption (100 words or less, including time, place and key points of an event) is required for each work/series, except for the title.

7. All or part of images of any other person should not be used for all entries by any technology or method. The participant should be legally liable for any dispute resulting from violation of the foregoing.

8. Statement: In case of copyright disputes and other serious violations of the rules, the organizing committee should disqualify the participants in question and withdraw all misplaced medals, prizes, certificates, ribbons, etc.

9. Note: The raw image files (original digital data or negatives) of the selected works under “Children” and documentary categories should be submitted to the organizing committee within the specified time for authentication by experts, production of exhibition photos, etc., so as to prove the authenticity of the works, and thereafter, such negatives should be returned. The raw images should be taken by the photographers themselves with equipment of photo-taking functions, such as cameras, mobile phones, and tablet PCs. The raw images should contain complete raw data about the model of equipment, shooting time and all relevant parameters, and should not be processed by any software. Failure to submit the required raw images within the specified time should be deemed giving up the candidacy.

10. With the sole act of submitting his/her images or files to a salon under FIAP Patronage, the entrant accepts without exception and with no objection that the submitted images can be investigated by FIAP to establish if these obey to FIAP regulations and definitions even if the entrant is not a member of FIAP;  that FIAP will use any means at its disposal for this undertaking; that any refusal to cooperate with FIAP or any refusal to submit the original files as captured by the camera, or failure to provide sufficient evidence, will be sanctioned by FIAP and that in case of sanctions following the non compliance with FIAP regulations, the name of the entrant will be released in any form useful to inform the breaches of the rules. It is recommended to leave the EXIF data in the submitted files intact in order to ease eventual investigations.

IV. Awards

The awards of the exhibition include the China Photographers Association Medal (CPA Medal) and the International Federation of Photographic Art Medal (FIAP Medal).

1. “Children” category

Gold Medal Award: 2 winners; each with a prize of RMB 50,000 (before tax), a CPA medal, a FIAP medal and a certificate;

Silver Medal Award: 4 winners; each with a CPA medal and a certificate;

Bronze Medal Award: 6 winners; each with a CPA medal and a certificate;

Excellence Award: 20 winners; each with a CPA ribbon and a certificate;

The aforesaid selected and awarded works total 150 and certificates will be granted to the corresponding photographers.

2. Non-themed categories

(1) Documentary

Gold Medal Award: 2 winners; each with a prize of RMB 20,000 (before tax), a CPA medal, a FIAP medal and a certificate

Silver Medal Award: 4 winners; each with a CPA medal and a certificate

Bronze Medal Award: 6 winners; each with a CPA medal and a certificate

Excellence Award: 20 winners; each with a CPA ribbon and a certificate.

(2) Art

Gold Medal Award: 2 winners; each with a prize of RMB 20,000 (before tax), a FIAP medal and a certificate

Silver Medal Award: 4 winners; each with a FIAP medal and a certificate

Bronze Medal Award: 6 winners; each with a FIAP medal and a certificate

Excellence Award: 20 winners; each with a FIAP ribbon and a certificate

(3) Commercial

Gold Medal Award: 2 winners; each with a prize of RMB 20,000 (before tax), a FIAP medal and a certificate

Silver Medal Award: 4 winners; each with a FIAP medal and a certificate

Bronze Medal Award: 6 winners; each with a FIAP medal and a certificate

Excellence Award: 20 winners; each with a FIAP ribbon and a certificate

The aforesaid selected and awarded works total 500 and the corresponding photographers should be granted certificates.

3. Recommender Award: multiple winners. The recommender is entitled to a prize of RMB 10,000 (before tax) and a certificate if the work recommended by him/her wins a Gold Medal in the competition.

Professionals such as curators and photo editors are encouraged to recommend high-quality photographic works to the competition. A recommender is entitled to the “Outstanding Recommender” certificate if the work recommended by him/her wins a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal in the competition. Please log on the CPA homepage (www.cpanet.org.cn), click “16th China International Photographic Art Exhibition,” and enter the Recommendation section for registration and recommendation.

The recommenders should seek prior consent of the photographers before recommendation. No recommendation should be accepted on works already submitted. Where an entry is submitted repeatedly, only the entry submitted by the photographer should be deemed a valid entry.

4. Outstanding Organization Award: 10 winners

Organizations and individuals with a significant contribution to the exhibition should be granted the Outstanding Organization Award.

The organizing committee may adjust the award arrangement in light of the actual situation. In case of cancelation of an award or disqualification for such reasons as violation of rules, no replacement should be made to fill the vacancy in award winners list.

V. Category Description

1. “Children” category refers to documentary works taken after 2000, which show the living conditions of Children around the world in a genuine, comprehensive and objective fashion, in the hopeof calling the attention of the public, government and media to children’s growth through photography.

2. Documentary category refers to the works that objectively record social life, ecological environment and folkways. Photos in this category include news photography, photography for special reports, social documentary photography as well as nature documentary photography.

3. Art category refers to the works that give expression to esthetic sentiments and emotions. Its subject matters include cultural landscape, folkways, figures, inanimate subjects, animals and plants. This category also covers creative, conceptual and experimental photography, without restriction on the artistic technique.

4. Commercial category refers to those works aimed at promoting a product, a concept of service or a way of consumption. Its subject matters include but are not limited to advertising, studio portraits, fashion shows and urban buildings, without restriction on the artistic technique.

VI. Appraisal

The organizing committee will form an expert team consisting of several famous photography experts from home and abroad, so as to carry out fair and impartial appraisals of all submitted entries that comply with the rules provided in this notice.

VII. Relevant Matters

1. The awarded and selected works of this exhibition constitute one of the qualifications for the photographers to apply for FIAP distinction.

2. The appraisal and selection results will be made public on the CPA website and other CPA-affiliated media organizations in Jan. 2016.

3. Winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals and their recommenders, and winners of the Outstanding Organization Award will be invited by the organizing committee to the opening ceremony of the exhibition and to carry out a one-week source material collection in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China in April 2016. The organizing committee will cover board and lodging expenses and transportation expenses of the participants during their stay in Zhengzhou. The cost of travel from and back to the invitee’s place of residence is borne by him/her.

4. Each participant will receive an e-catalogue of this exhibition.

5. The organizing committee is entitled to displaying relevant entries to this exhibition on the CPA website, and use the awarded and selected works in the exhibitions, yearbooks, catalogues, art books, CDs as well as media promotion and other online or offline activities free of charge.

6. The participants who have submitted their works should be deemed agreeing to all the rules provided in this notice. The appraisal committee has the right to reject any work that fails to comply with these rules.

7. The organizing committee reserves the right of final interpretation on this notice and all matters in relation to the exhibition.

VII. Address of the Organizing Committee

China Photographers Association, 48 Dongsi Shi’ertiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing, People’s Republic of China (Please mark “International Photographic Art Exhibition”)

Postal code: 100007

Tel/fax: 0086-10-65255117, 0086-10-65141380

Contact persons: Zhou Jing and He Shan

VIII. Relevant Statements

This exhibition will further increase the level of opening and integration to the outside world for Chinese photography art, scout for and cultivate photographic artists, photography art critics and curators with international perspectives at home and abroad and form a market-oriented platform of modern photography in an exploratory manner to make a useful attempt for the development of the industrialization of culture and art in China.

The strategy to jointly build the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” (hereinafter referred to as “One Belt and One Road”) has drawn high attention of the international community since it is proposed. The building of “One Belt and One Road” can help promote the economic prosperity of the countries along the Belt and Road and regional economic cooperation, strengthen exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations, and promote world peace and development. “One Belt and One Road” is not only a carrier of regional economic cooperation, but also a bridge for integration and exchange of Chinese and Western arts andculture.

With unique geographical location and convenient transportation system, Zhengzhou is an important economic development region to strengthen infrastructure connectivity with China’s neighbors, simplify customs clearance procedures and build international logistics gateways for “One Belt and One Road”. Meanwhile, Zhengzhou is also a city featuring the inheritance of historic context. Itis the territory of central plains culture and also the origin of Eastern culture.

With the trend of globalization today, Chinese photography art is confronted with opportunities and challenges from tradition and contemporary era, East and West, and society and individuals. We are trying to make arts cross over racial and national boundaries, to break down the exchange barrier with lens language, to have Eastern culture known to the world, and to achieve the integration of Eastern and Western civilizations here.

Today, let’s start from Zhengzhou, the origin place of Eastern civilization ……
Registration Form, please check DOWNLOAD