Action Center

Hidden Gems photo contest

Calling all photographers! Images are now being accepted for the fall/winter round of the Hidden Gems Photo Contest. The deadline is March 15.

This is a great incentive to get out into proposed wilderness areas, flex your photographic creativity, and help the campaign by providing us with great images that show why it’s so important to protect these special wild places.

Submissions are invited from amateurs and professionals alike. Entries will be judged by a panel including renowned landscape photographers John Fielder and David Hiser and Aspen Music Festival photographer Alex Irvin.

Submitted images must be of, or taken in, one of the Hidden Gems proposal areas. For detailed information about the areas, explore the “Proposal Areas/Maps” section of this website.

Contest rules

Divisions and prizes

• Prizes will be awarded in two divisions, Amateur and Professional. In addition, there will be an overall People’s Choice Award.
• Amateur division: The top two winners in each seasonal cycle (or more than two, at the judges’ discretion) will, together, participate in a one-day photo workshop with one of the contest judges in the summer of 2010. Their images will be featured in Hidden Gems gift cards and in a future exhibit.
• Professional division: The winning image in each seasonal cycle will be presented as a large-format print to one or more members of our Colorado Congressional delegation (Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet and Reps. John Salazar and Jared Polis) and will be used as an official Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign poster.
• People’s Choice Award: The photographer of the winning image, as chosen by votes through the Hidden Gems website, will receive a $250 gift certificate from the Ute Mountaineer in Aspen.

Submission guidelines

• Deadlines for submissions:
  • Sept. 18, 2009 for summer cycle
  • March 15, 2010 for fall/winter cycle
• Images must be of, or taken in, a Hidden Gems proposal area. All types of images – general landscape, macro/closeup, people, wildlife, etc. – will be considered. Special consideration will be given to images capturing the essential “hidden gemness” of the areas and of images showing people and families enjoying nature.  Images should not show roads, structures or activities incompatible with wilderness designation.
• Digital images only.
• Minimum image resolution:
  • Amateur division: 2000 x 3000 pixels (about 6 megapixels)
  • Professional division: 3600 x 5400 pixels or 150 dpi @ 24” x 36”
  • Please note that these are minimum sizes – larger images are always preferable.
• Submit images to melanie@wildernessworkshop.org.To avoid clogging up our email, do not send images larger than about 1 MB file size. If necessary, downsize images to a lower resolution for submission. The preferred file format is jpg, but tiff, png and bmp are also acceptable.
• For each image, provide title, location where taken (with GPS coordinates, if known) and a brief description.
• Limit 4 submissions per person per cycle.
• Rights: Entrants grant the Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign permission to use their image(s) in any publication, marketing or fundraising materials and on the Hidden Gems web site. Winners additionally grant the Campaign permission to use their winning image(s) as described above. All photos used will receive photographer credit.
• Hidden Gems partner organizations’ staff and board members and their families are welcome and encouraged to submit entries, but are not eligible to win.