RULES

The KLPA 2025 is open to photographers - professionals and amateurs - from all countries

1. PHOTOGRAPHERS

a. Must be 16 years of age or over on 30 March 2025

Photographers may submit to

b. SINGLE IMAGE 'CRITICAL EYE : Portraits from the Street' theme : Up to 10 single images, with captions per submission. Only 2 submissions per photographer

ENTRY FEES

1 image USD$15.00

2 images USD$30.00

3 - 6 images USD$50.00

7 - 10 images USD$75.00

Entrants may submit through the KLPA website SUBMIT link or at the Picter.com page. Closing date for submissions : Sunday, 30 March 2025 Midnight Malaysian (UTC+8), unless extended.

2. CONCESSIONS FOR ENTRY

This year KLPA are providing 5 concessionary (free) entry to photographers who are based in countries where the use of credit and debit cards are unavailable. Please complete this online form with the your details by 28 February 2025 and 5 photographers will be selected at random and notified. They will be given a check out code to submit their entry on the Picter site. Only 1 image is allowed per concession per person.

STUDENTS Full-time enrolled students under-25 years : Submit 1 image for free to be entered to the Students Category. Proof of enrolment by student ID card or establishment letter is required to be uploaded.

3. PRIZES

The top three winners will receive :

MAIN CATEGORY

i. 1st Prize USD$2000.00 + invite to the *Artists HIN Residence Program at Hin Bus Depot, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.

ii. 2nd Prize USD$1000.00

iii. 3rd Prize USD$500.00

iv. The Top 35 finalists will have their images promoted online and screened at our partner festival venues. Promotions will include related social media accounts with a global reach. All finalists will have their portraits included in a downloadable online PDF catalogue. A public exhibition is scheduled to be held in Malaysia in September 2025 at Hin Bus Depot, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

*Artists HIN Residence Program - more info will be communicated with the winner. Residence is from 1 up to 3 months in 2025 and 2026. If this invitation cannot be taken up, it will be awarded to the next prizewinner

ZONTIGA KLPA PRIZE 2025 (for Malaysian entries only, selection by ZONTIGA

1st Prize RM200 books purchase + RM100 printing vouchers + 1 Lomo Reusable Film Camera & film

2nd Prize RM100 books purchase + RM100 printing vouchers

3rd Prize RM50 books purchase + RM50 printing vouchers

STUDENT ENTRIES

USD$200 each will be awarded to the three best entries.

4. RIGHT TO NOT AWARD

The organisers reserve the right not to award any of these prizes if the standards are not met as determined by the panel of judges. Partner festival's decisions on screening cancellations and rescheduling are final.

5. GENERAL

a. The organisers of the KUALA LUMPUR INTERNATIONAL PHOTOAWARDS are explorenation.net and KL Photoawards Malaysia and are Not-For-Profit organisations.

b. Entry fees are required to cover prize money, venue hire, catalogues, printing, and event organisation.

c. Entrants warrant to the organisers that they (the Photographer) own the work submitted, that the whole copyright in the work is vested in the Photographer or, if the copyright belongs to a third party such as an agency, that the Photographer has the right to submit the work free from encumbrances or restrictions and that if the work was commissioned for private and domestic purposes it is submitted with the permission of the person who commissioned it.

d. Entrants warrant that, if their work is selected for exhibition, they (the Photographer) have obtained the appropriate model releases from persons featured in their submitted photographs for all sales, marketing, educational and publicity uses and that no additional releases are required in respect of names, trademarks, designs or works of art depicted in the work.

e. USAGE 1: Entrants agree that their work may be exhibited by the organisers and festival collaborators at an appropriate venue, and subsequently at any other exhibition tour venues organised by them for 3 years from the close of the contest.

f. USAGE 2: Entrants agree that the organisers may use any entries featured in the exhibition without any payment to the Photographer, model or any third party for any sales, marketing, educational and publicity use on, and in, all media worldwide including catalogues, posters, postcards, the Internet and within a television documentary related to the exhibition for 3 years from the close of the contest. However, such free use shall only be in connection with the KL INTERNATIONAL PHOTOAWARDS and its promotion or featured activities by the organisers or third parties; and the photographer, and if appropriate their agency, will receive credit for such use.

g. COPYRIGHT : The Photographer always retains the copyright of all submitted images at all times, except in relation to the previous provision (e &f), that is, any free use shall only be in connection with the promotion of KL INTERNATIONAL PHOTOAWARDS by print, web or projection by the organiser, its partners, sponsors and media companies.

h. All photographs must have been taken between 2024 and 2025. Proof may be required at the verification stage.

i. Entries may be disqualified if any of the above criteria are not adhered to. The judges' decision will be final. No correspondence will be entered into.

j. Employees of the organisers and sponsors may not enter.

6. SAFEGUARDING OF MINORS AND CHILDREN DEPICTED IN SUBMISSIONS

a. KLPA treat the exploitation of vulnerable children in photographic submissions seriously and will reject any images submitted where the subject of children within the portrait image is deemed by our panel of judges to have been physically or mentally abused, exploited, coerced to pose (list not exhaustive), and/or inferred to by the attached title or statement.

b. We urge all photographers to adhere to the guidelines on the ethical reporting of children as set out by Unicef.org (see https://www.unicef.org/eca/media_1482.html) and by United Nations Human Rights Convention (see http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx) and (http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPSCCRC.aspx)

c. Photographers should, wherever possible, seek and obtain consent from the child and their legal guardian when taking their photographs.

7. SUBMISSION OF PHOTOGRAPHS

a. Submissions must be received by Sunday 30 March 2025, (Midnight UTC+8) only, unless otherwise extended officially, as announced on this website.

b. All photographs must be the photographer's own works. 'Portrait' may be interpreted in its widest sense, in relation to 'photography concerned with portraying people with the emphasis on their identity as individuals in relation to their surroundings, status, and humanity'.

c. Commercial and advertising images, heavy digitally manipulated or post-processed, HDR (High Dynamic Range) or digitally montaged images are not permissible. eg. heavy vignetting, extreme darkening of skies, toning, filter effects. In-camera multiple exposures are allowed.

d. In all categories, minimal digital enhancement is advised, subject to basic darkroom techniques e.g. levels, curves, dodging, burning, minimal sharpening, and colour correction. Photographs can be Black and White or Colour, in any format. Photographs must not have any digital borders, keylines, names, personal logos or watermarks. Scanned film images must be free of dust marks and borders. Alternative or vintage processes are allowed and must be appropriately stated, along with the technique and process.

e. AI prompt-generated digital images are not permissible, in whole or part of any submission. We rely on photographers' integrity and honesty not to submit AI-created images.

f. Images deemed by the organisers to be exploitative, obscene or pornographic will be disqualified. Nudity is permissible but subject to local sensitivities and venue discretion for public display.

g. Submission dimensions 1,500 pixels at its longest edge, saved as .jpg at high quality, approximately 1,500kb in size in SRGB colourspace, Quality 8 and above. Submission is via online uploads from the website.

h. Filenames

All photographs must follow this format of naming, in lowercase: surname.firstname.number.jpg

  For example : James TAN entering 3 images -

  tan.j.01.jpg, tan.j.02.jpg, tan.j.03.jpg

i. Finalists may be required to submit their original RAW or JPEG files for verification.

j. The judges' decisions are final and no discussion or correspondence can be entered into. The organisers reserve the right to vary the awards or not to make any awards. All submitted entries will be judged blindly (ie. without the names or identities of the photographers) by the panel of judges, in a live situation.

8. TIMELINE

a. Submissions open : 15 January 2025. b. Submission close : 30 March 2025, Midnight (UTC+8) Malaysian time, unless otherwise extended.

c. Judging will take place in April 2025. Photographers whose entries are shortlisted by the judges will be notified by email or by post within 14 days.

d. A shortlisted finalists gallery will be available on this website from mid-May 2025.

e. Only shortlisted finalists and winners will be contacted by email.

f. The sponsors, the exhibition venues or the organisers shall not be liable for any loss or damage, whether or not caused by their negligence.

9. CONTACT

a. Please email info@klphotoawards.com if you have any other questions relating to entry or the KLPA 2025 open call.