Sponsors:

This contest is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation and U.S. Embassy Hanoi.

Description of Contest Objectives:

Since 2001, the U.S. has sponsored 16 AFCP (Ambassadors Fund Cultural Preservation) projects totaling over $1.2 million to preserve cultural heritage across Vietnam. Projects range from intangible heritage, such as the Then music of Tay Minority People and Ethnic Cham Ceremonial songs, to tangible heritage, such as statues and religious objects, temples, paintings, and citadels. U.S. Government support for cultural preservation has helped Vietnam preserve their invaluable cultural assets and strengthened relations between the two countries. The Photography Contest aims at encouraging young people to pay more attention and to take action to protect the cultural heritage of their nation.

Top submissions will win prizes!

Platform(s):

Submit your photos at https://bit.ly/3bYrJzP Contest winners may also be announced on Embassy websites and Facebook pages. Contestants are reminded that by participating in the contest and uploading content to Zoho form, they are bound by Zoho’s Terms of Service and any agreement with Zoho contained therein.

Content:

The content of your photo(s) should be relevant to the below themes
(i)        the role of young people in preserving cultural heritage;
(ii)       the beauty or importance of the specific heritage preserved under the AFCP program (see list of the 16 AFCP projects in Vietnam);
(iii)     important heritage sites where future preservation efforts should be focused .

Contest Timeline:

Submission period is from August 25, 2022 to September 25, 2022
Judging period is from October 1, 2022
Winning entry announcement and awards ceremony in October 18, 2022

How to Enter:

Submit your photo(s) at: https://bit.ly/3bYrJzP (maximum 3 photos)
Once a photograph is submitted, it is considered a final submission and may not be modified, edited, or replaced. Individual contestants may submit no more than three photos.
By entering this contest, you agree that the images you submit may be used on U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, U.S. Embassy websites, social media sites, State Department’ events and publications … etc., for non-commercial purposes.
Participation in this contest is deemed as acceptance of these Official Contest Rules.
A submission must be an original photograph, digital or analog, taken by the contestant.

Contest Requirements:

Submissions must not contain obscenity, explicit sexual material, nudity, profanity, graphic violence, calls or incitement to violence, commercial solicitation or commercial promotion. Submissions must conform to local law and must not contain content or images that could be considered abusive, inflammatory, denigrating, or disrespectful to any of the Contest Sponsors, or to any groups, individuals or institutions. Submissions must adhere both in appearance and in fact to the norms of civil discourse. In other words, the content of all submissions must be suitable for a global, public audience.
Submissions must be original content created by the contestant and must not contain any elements that are protected by someone else’s copyright or otherwise subject to third party intellectual property or proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights (except as expressly permitted below in (d)). Contest Sponsors recognize no allowance for “fair use” of copyrighted material, nor do Contest Sponsors recognize allowance for use of licensed materials created or owned by a third party.
Contest Sponsors reserve the right to disqualify, at their sole and absolute discretion, any submission that does not adhere to these criteria and to the intent and substance of these Official Contest Rules.
In the event of any question or difference of views regarding compliance with, interpretation, or application of these content requirements or other provisions of these Official Contest Rules, Contest Sponsors reserve the exclusive right to resolve such questions or differences of views in their sole discretion.
By submitting a photograph to the contest, the contestant affirms that he or she has obtained written consent from all individuals whose image or likeness appears in the photograph (or from the individuals’ parent/legal guardian if any such individuals are considered a minor in their country of residence), and that he or she has obtained the necessary rights, licenses, consents, and permissions to use all material such as music, images, text and other content in the submission. The contestant further affirms that he or she is prepared to provide reliable documentation of any and all such consents, licenses, etc., upon request. Failure to obtain such rights, license consents, and permissions may result in the disqualification of the photo submission at the Contest Sponsors’ sole and absolute discretion.
Shortlisted contestants are required to submit a photo of their ID card for age verification.

Technical Format Requirements:

Photo submissions must be in jpeg format, 5 megabytes or smaller, but photo size must be no smaller than 2048 pixels. Submissions should not have any visible watermarks, signatures, or personally identifiable information.
Retouching of Photos: The submitted photograph cannot be significantly retouched: nothing in the photograph (people, animals, scenery, objects, etc.) may be altered, removed, augmented or rearranged. Cropping is permitted, as is modest darkening or lightening of parts of the image.

Eligibility:

Contestants must be at least 15 and no more than 35 years old on the date of entry into the contest. Parental or legal guardian consent is required for individuals under the age of 18.
The individual submitting the entry will be considered the contestant and will be the only individual eligible to compete for the prize. Organizations are not eligible to compete for the prize, either as an entity, or through representation by an individual. In order to be eligible for the prize, the contestant must provide complete and accurate information.
The following individuals are not eligible to participate in the contest: Employees, interns, directors, and officers of the Contest Sponsors, or the U.S. Government; or any employees, interns, directors, or officers of any agencies, companies or entities involved in the administration, advertising, judging, creation, development, execution, and/or fulfillment of this contest, and the immediate family members (defined as spouse, recognized partner, parent, child, sibling, and spouse or “step” of each) and those living in the same household of each such individual.
Once a submission has been accepted for entry into the contest, the contestant’s name (or User ID, if the contestant wishes to remain anonymous) and country may be publicly identified at the sole discretion of the contestant.

Selection of Winners:

All photos are subject to pre-screening by Contest Sponsors to ensure compliance with these Official Contest Rules. Any photos out of compliance will not be posted. Contest Sponsors reserve the right in their sole and absolute discretion to verify in the final analysis whether a potential finalist or potential winning photo submission has fully complied with these Official Contest Rules before posting to the contest site, awarding prize, recognizing a winner, etc.
Judges: Embassy officials and staff
Judging criteria: Criteria for judging photographs and drawings include but are not limited to:

Relevance to Theme	20%
Technical Elements: composition, balance, lighting, focus, and subject matter	20%
Creativity and Originality	20%
Storytelling	40%

Finalists: For the top 10 individuals who are designated as finalists, they will be asked to make a short video clip sharing their inspiration behind these photos as well as the messages they want to convey through their photos.
Winners: Each winner and/or finalist will be required to sign and return to Contest Sponsors a statement of eligibility and liability/publicity release, and provide a short bio(where applicable), and a brief statement about the submission; otherwise the winner and/or finalist will be ineligible for any prize. Winners and finalists may choose to use an alias instead of their real name and may request other identifying information be kept private.
Winner(s) will be contacted via e-mail at the e-mail address they provided for registration. The inability of Contest Sponsors to contact a potential winner may result in disqualification and/or selection of an alternate winner from among all remaining eligible submissions.

Prize(s)

Grand prize: GoPro Hero 9 camera and U.S. Embassy certificate
First runner-up: Fujifilm Instax Square SQ6 and U.S. Embassy certificate
Second runner-up: Sony digital frame and U.S. Embassy certificate
People’s Choice: Fujiflim Instax Square SQ06 and U.S. Embassy certificate
Winning photographs may be displayed on Embassy websites, social media properties and/or in the Embassy itself.
Winners have to confirm the acceptance of the prize in an email reply within three calendar days. If the acceptance is not confirmed by the required date, the Contest Sponsors reserve the right to select an alternate winner. Each winner must provide a valid physical mailing address where a prize, if any, is to be shipped. Contest Sponsors are not responsible for any problems related to the shipping of any prize, including, but not limited to, theft, delay, damage, or destruction/accidental loss by the shipping carrier.
Any unused portion of the prize is not transferable, convertible, or exchangeable and cannot be taken as cash. All taxes on or in connection with any prize, and the reporting consequences thereof, are the sole and exclusive responsibility of the winner.

Liability and Rights:

Contest Sponsors do not endorse any submissions or messages expressed therein, and Contest Sponsors expressly disclaim any and all liability in connection with the submitted photos including disputes between collaborators related to a submission.
The contest and its sponsors do not permit copyright infringing activities or infringement of any other intellectual property rights, and Contest Sponsors reserve the right to remove and disqualify any submission they deem to be in violation of another party’s copyright or other intellectual property rights.
Contestants retain sole ownership of their original work. The submission remains the intellectual property of the contestant, and the Contest Sponsors and U.S. Government make no claim of copyright as to the work of any individual who enters the contest. Contestant specifically agrees to give the Contest Sponsors permission to use all content submitted for purposes of judging the contest. Finalists and/or winners will be required to grant Contest Sponsors, with proper attribution through whatever means they deem appropriate, a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, and/or display the submission in any media formats and through any media channels in perpetuity in connection with the activities and operations of the contest.
Contestant assumes sole responsibility for the contest submission and the material contained in it, and for any consequences of submitting or posting it.
Contest Sponsors reserve the right at any time to verify the validity of entries and of contestants and to disqualify any contestant or entry deemed not in compliance with these Official Contest Rules. Contest Sponsors also reserve the right to request further documentation, at their sole and absolute discretion, to verify eligibility and compliance with these Official Contest Rules.
If a prize or any portion thereof is unavailable, Contest Sponsors, in their sole discretion, reserve the right to substitute the prize with another prize of equal or greater value and/or specification.
Contest Sponsors reserve the right, at any time and in their sole discretion, to disqualify and/or deem ineligible any individual who they reasonably believe (i) has violated the Official Contest Rules; (ii) has violated the terms of use of platform, or (iii) is acting in a bad faith, or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person.
Contest Sponsors reserve the right to modify, suspend, terminate or cancel the contest at their discretion for any reason.
Contestant agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Contest Sponsors, their parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, officers, directors, employees, interns, and agents, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debts, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney’s fees) arising from (i) violation of these Official Contest Rules; (ii) violation of any third party right, including without limitation any copyright, trademark, intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other proprietary right in connection with the contest; or (iii) any claim that a contest submission caused any harm, including financial, to any third party. These indemnification and hold harmless obligations will survive indefinitely beyond the conclusion of the contest.
The conduct, judging, and awarding of prizes will be carried out in full compliance with applicable U.S. law and host country law. In the event of a conflict between U.S. law and host country law, U.S. law shall apply.
Contest Sponsors and the U.S. Government will take reasonable measures to protect privacy data, personally identifiable information, and other sensitive data of contestants. Contact information provided by contestants may be stored by the U.S. embassy and may be used to contact contestants for other purposes in the future. This information may be shared with the co-sponsor of the contest and/or made available to third parties to the extent permitted by law.
Contest Sponsors assume no liability or responsibility for any loss or harm resulting from any user’s participation in or attempt to participate in the contest or ability or inability to upload, download, or otherwise access any information in connection with participating in the contest. Contest Sponsors assume no responsibility or liability for technical problems, or technical malfunctions arising in connection with the operation of the contest, including: hardware or software errors; faulty computer, telephone, cable, satellite, network, electronic, wireless or Internet connectivity, or other online communication problems; errors or limitations of any Internet service providers, servers, hosts or providers; garbled, jumbled or faulty data transmissions; failure of any email transmissions to be sent or received; lost, late, delayed or intercepted email transmissions; inaccessibility of the contest site in whole or in part for any reason; traffic congestion on the Internet or the contest site; unauthorized human or non-human intervention in the operation of the contest, including without limitation, unauthorized tampering, hacking, theft, virus, bugs, worms; or destruction of any aspect of the contest, or loss, miscount, misdirection, inaccessibility or unavailability of an email account used in connection with the contest.
Use of contest site is at user’s own risk. Contest Sponsors are not responsible for any personal injury, property damage, or losses of any kind which may be sustained to computer equipment resulting from participation in the contest, use of the contest site or the downloading of information from the contest site. By participating in the contest, the contestant releases Contest Sponsors from any and all claims arising from or relating to such contestant’s participation in the contest, whether directly or indirectly.
Contest Sponsors are not liable in the event that any portion of the contest is cancelled or delayed due to weather, fire, strike, acts of war or terrorism, or any other reason.

Annex 1: List of 16 projects preserved under AFCP

#	FY	Project	Location (Province)
1	2001	Preservation of 96 Statues and other religious objects at the Dau Pagoda, Bac Ninh ProvinceProvince Bảo tồn 96 pho tượng và các hiện vật tôn giáo khác tại chùa Dâu, Bắc Ninh.	Bac Ninh
2	2002	Preservation of traditional Then Music of the Tay Minority People. Bảo tồn di sản hát Then của dân tộc Tày	Cao Bang
3	2003	Restoration of Hy Hoa Temple-Hoi An Old Town. Tu bổ Miếu ngũ hành Hy Hòa – Phố cổ Hội An.	Quang Nam
4	2004	Restoration of the Kate Ceremony and Replication of Cham Traditional Costumes and Musical Instruments. Phục hồi nghi lễ Kate và nhân rộng trang phục và nhạc cụ truyền thống Chăm	Danang
5	2005	Preservation of two traditional lacquer paintings at the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts. Bảo tồn hai bức tranh sơn mài truyền thống tại Bảo tàng Mỹ thuật Việt Nam	Hanoi
6	2006	Preservation of 70 pieces of spiritual household furniture of the 18th and 19th centuries in northern Vietnam. Phục chế và bảo tồn 70 đơn vị hiện vật đồ gỗ sơn thếp thuộc thế kỷ 18 và 19 của miền Bắc Việt Nam.	Hanoi
7	2007	Restoration of Lacquer and Gilding of Buddha Statues, Museum of Vietnamese History-HCMC. Phục hồi sơn mài và mạ vàng tượng phật, Bảo tàng lịch sử Việt Nam-TP HCM	HCMC
8	2008	Vietnam: Preservation of Devotional Wooden Carvings at the Nam Dinh Provincial Museum. Bảo tồn các đồ thờ cúng bằng gỗ tại Bảo tàng Nam Định	Nam Dinh
9	2009	Preservation of the 18th-Century O Quan Chuong City Gate in Hanoi. Tu bổ di tích Ô Quan Chưởng thế kỷ 18 tại Hà Nội	Hanoi
10	2011	Restore and Preserve the Collection of Wooden Devotional Objects Which are Red-Lacquered and Trimmed with Gold in Thai Binh Provincial Museum. Bảo quản sưu tập đồ gỗ sơn thiếp tại Bảo tàng Thái Bình	Thai Binh
11	2013	Presevation of Early 19th-Century Royal Altars at Hue Imperial City. Bảo tồn Phục chế các án thờ hoàng gia thế kỷ 19 tại khu di sản thế giới – Triệu Tổ Miếu, Đại Nội, Huế	Hue
12	2014	Conservation of an Early 19th‐Century Communal House in Cam Gia Village. Tu bổ di tích đình Cam Giá, thôn Cam Giá, xã An Tường, huyện Vĩnh Tường, tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc.	Vinh Phuc
13	2014	Conservation of the Early 19th-Century Trieu To Temple. Bảo tồn, Trùng tu Triệu Tổ Miếu, phần Tiền Điện	Hue
14	2018	Conservation of the 14th century Citadel of the Ho Dynasty in Thanh Hoa Province Cultural Preservation. Tu sửa cấp thiết mái vòm và bảo tồn cổng thành phía nam, di sản thành nhà Hồ.	Thanh Hoa
15	2020	Conservation of 19th-Century Wood Printing Blocks of the Nguyen Dynasty. Bảo tồn Mộc bản Triều Nguyễn thế kỷ 1919.	Da Lat
16	2021	Collaborative Investigation and Dissemination of Ethnic Cham Ceremonial Songs, Ninh Thuan Province. Bảo tồn và phát triển hát nghi lễ của Dân tộc Chăm, tinh Ninh Thuận.	Ninh Thuan