ONPA Student Quarterly Contest Rules

Students members of the Ohio News Photographers Association now have a dedicated contest to showcase their best work. This contest will be judged quarterly and is open to any photojournalist enrolled as a student during the quarter for which they enter. Once a student graduates, they are not eligible to enter this contest, but can enter the Monthly Clip Contest. Entrants into the Student Quarterly Contest may enter published or unpublished work.

This contest will be judged four times a year, and work must be entered in the correct quarter to be eligible. Images must have been shot during the quarter in which they are entered, which are January-March, April-June, July-September and October-December. The only exception to this rule are images entered into the story category, which may be entered in the quarter in which they were shot, the quarter in which they were published or the quarter in which they were submitted to an instructor for a grade.

Images must be submitted into their appropriate category. Images submitted into the incorrect category will be disqualified. Photographers are limited to 12 entries per quarter, with a picture story constituting one entry. Should a photographer submit more than 12 entries, all entries after the first 12 will be disregarded.

Entries can be submitted via the ONPA website beginning on the first day of that quarter’s deadline month, and must be submitted by the following days. After the 15th of the month, the entry system will close.

January – March quarter: April 15 deadline
April – June quarter: July 15 deadline
July – September: October 15 deadline
October – December: January 15 deadline

Category Descriptions
01 News: A single image of a spot news event, for which no advance planning was possible, or a single image of a general news event, for which advance planning was possible.

02 Sports: A single image of a sports action photo that emphasizes action in competitive events, or a single image, unposed, sports-related photo.

03 Feature: A single human-interest image.
04 Portrait: A single image of a person that reveals the essence of their character. This can be news, feature or sports-related in content.

05 Story: A multi-image photo story, essay or sequence of any subject matter. Stories must be at least three images but no more than 12 images.

Entry Preparation

File names must start with the two-digit category code number listed next to the category name above, followed by an underscore, a one-word slug, another underscore, then the photographer’s three initials. A picture story must have a number at the end of the slug that orders the images. For example, a sports picture from photographer John Q. Smith would be named 02_fumble_jqs.jpg. A picture story from John Q. Smith would be named 05_story01_jqs.jpg, 05_story02_jqs.jpg, etc.

All submitted images must have a caption in the “Description” or “Caption” field in the IPTC metadata. The photographer’s name must be included in the “Author” or “Photographer” field. The photographer’s school or publication name should be entered in the “Source” field.

Images should be submitted as JPG and sized no larger than 10 inches on the longest side, at 200 ppi. File sizes should be between 1-2 MB.

Questions concerning the contest can be directed to Adam Cairns or Kyle Robertson