The contest is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered. Gulfshore Life subscribers can now vote for their favorite here.
Gulfshore Life is looking for professionals and passionate amateurs alike to participate in our inaugural photo contest. Submit your images here illustrating the best of our paradise, and you could see your work in our August issue—and win the prize of $5,000! Whatever you love about Southwest Florida—whether that’s people, places, animals, landscapes—we want to see it.
Participants may submit until 5:30 p.m. on Friday, May 10, 2019. Then, Gulfshore Life subscribers can check back here May 20-31 to vote on their favorite finalist. In determining the contest winner, the subscriber choice will count as one vote out of five, and four professional judges will each receive one vote out of five.
Please read the rules below thoroughly before submitting at the bottom of this page. Thank you and good luck!
Gulfshore Life $5,000 Photo Contest Rules
No purchase is necessary. Void where prohibited. All federal, state, and local regulations apply.
- All contest entries must be submitted by 5:30 p.m. EST on Friday, May 10, 2019, for consideration. By submitting an entry, each contestant agrees to the rules of the contest.
- Contestants must be at least 13 years of age as of Jan. 1, 2019; a resident or part-time resident of Lee or Collier County, Florida; and a legal U.S. resident with a valid Social Security number at the time of entry to be eligible to participate in the contest. Winners under the age of 18 must have a legal guardian claim any prize.
- Contestants may be amateur or professional photographers. The contestant also certifies that he/she is the sole creator and copyright owner of the submitted photograph.
- Employees of Gulfshore Life, its affiliated companies and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering the contest. The term “immediate family members” includes spouses, parents, siblings, grandparents, children, grandchildren and cohabiting significant others.
- Contestants may enter up to three (3) images. Only the first (3) three image will be considered; any additional entries will be removed from the contest.
- Each photo entry must be submitted individually and include a caption including when and where the photograph was taken.
- Only photos taken in Collier or Lee County, Florida, are eligible for submission.
- Submissions must not have been previously published.
- Color and black and white photos are eligible for submission.
- For photos in which a person is recognizable, you must be prepared to provide a model release from the subject or, in the case of a minor, the subject’s parent or guardian, to Gulfshore Life upon request.
- Cropped photos are eligible.
- Digitally enhanced or altered photos are NOT permitted. (Minor adjustments, including the removal of sensor dust or scratches on scans of negatives, dodging and burning, sharpening, contrast, toning, slight color adjustment and conversion to grayscale, are acceptable.)
- The addition and subtraction of objects is NOT permitted.
- If Gulfshore Life determines that a photographer has altered his/her photo beyond minor adjustments, Gulfshore Life reserves the right to remove the image from the contest. Contestants whose work has been excluded for altering content in the contest will be prevented from entering another photo contest for five (5) years.
- Photos that contain sexually explicit, nude, obscene, violent, or other objectionable or inappropriate content, as determined by Gulfshore Life’s sole discretion, are NOT permitted.
- Images may only be submitted digitally.
- Screen resolution for entry is acceptable; however, FINALISTS will need to provide their each image formatted to a minimum of 1,800 pixels by 1,200 pixels at 300 dpi (TIFF, JPG or PSD format) within 72 hours of notification, or Gulfshore Life reserves the right to remove the image from the contest.
- Gulfshore Life staff will select the 12 finalists from among all eligible submissions. The 12 finalists will be notified of their status via the contact information provided at the time of entry and appear on our website on May 20, 2019.
- From May 20 to May 31, subscribers to Gulfshore Life may select the best image at www.gulfshorelife.com from among the 12 finalists. Each subscriber may vote only once. All additional votes by the same subscriber will be excluded. The top three vote-getters will be ranked in order as the “Subscriber’s Selection."
- A panel of four (4) photography professionals will each select their top three (3) choices, in rank order based on the image’s creativity, quality and originality.
- Among the Subscriber’s Selection and each photography professional; the photo with most first-place votes will be the Winner. In the event of a tie, the tied photos with the most second-place and then respectively third-place voted will be tallied and ranked.
- The Winner will be published in the August 2019 issue of Gulfshore Life and receive a $5,000 USD Prize. U.S. residency and Social Security number will be required to claim prize. Gulfshore Life will notify the Winner prior to publication via the contact information provided at the time of entry.
- Gulfshore Life reserves the right to publish all photo contest entries to utilize them in the marketing and promotion of Gulfshore Life.
- Gulfshore Life reserves the right to publish photo contest entries for editorial purposes in Gulfshore Life and on gulfshorelife.com.
- Entries that fail to comply with the official photo contest rules will be removed from the contest.