It’s time for our 7th Annual Whale SENSE Photo Contest! Let’s celebrate responsible whale watching by highlighting some staff and passenger photos from previous years!
FACEBOOK PHOTO CONTEST RULES
Eligibility
This is NOT a professional photography contest, but rather an opportunity for ANY whale watching enthusiast to share exciting moments they’ve captured. Any photo of marine animals taken by passengers or crew members aboard a boat that participates in the Whale SENSE program (Atlantic and Alaska regions!) is eligible for submission, provided that they fit one of the categories listed below and meet the Whale SENSE responsible advertising criteria. You will be disqualified if your photo shows any of the following:
- People touching, pursuing, chasing, attempting to swim with, or closely interacting with wild marine mammals or any activities that would violate the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Endangered Species Act or other regulatory measures.
- Pictures taken from a vessel underway within close approach zones: In the Atlantic, the close approach zone is 100-300 feet from whales, or less than 3 boat lengths. In Alaska, the no wake zone is 300-600 feet.
- Photos should be taken while following all regional whale watching guidelines.
- We will not accept photos of North Atlantic right whales due to the 500 yard approach regulation. We also will not accept photos of Alaskan humpback whales that don’t comply with the 100 yard approach regulation.
- Photos submitted for the photo contest in previous years.
Make sure your whale watch company participates in the Whale SENSE program here.
How To Enter
1. Submit Your Photos
Submit your photos along with the required information via this Google Form by MONDAY February 26. You can enter up to one photo per category.
Our 5 categories this year are:
- Surface active marine mammals (breaching, feeding, other active behaviors)
- Tail shot
- Mobile phone captures
- Non marine mammal (birds, fish, sharks, turtles)
- Seals, sea lions, & sea otters
With each photo include: 1) your name, 2) the name of the whale watch company with which you were onboard, 3) date the photo was taken, 4) type of camera/device used and zoom (image metadata usually has the zoom setting at time of capture. If yours does not, a zoom range of your lens, if applicable, will suffice), and 5) a brief caption of no more than 20 words.
Please make sure your photo is a high enough resolution for re-posting and that your name is part of the file name.
2. Vote
Voting will be done one category at a time and will begin Monday, March 4th on the Whale SENSE Facebook page. Make sure you “like” or “follow” us to see how your photo(s) ranks. Each category will be open for voting until Friday at 5PM ET of its respective week.
Winners will be determined based on a scoring system that combines reactions AND shares. When voting opens, each like/reaction on a photo in the contest album is worth 2 points, and each share of a photo is worth 1 point. Participants can like and share as many photos as they want. The photo with the highest point total in each category wins! Runners-up will also be acknowledged.
We will officially notify the winners within 72 hours of the contest ending date. Winning photos will be featured on our Facebook page, Instagram, and website, and winners will receive a prize courtesy of Whale and Dolphin Conservation!
*Note: By submitting photos to the contest you agree that your photos may be used in future photo contest promotions, as well as for informational purposes on the Whale SENSE website and Facebook page. If you do not wish to have your photos used for these purposes, please notify us when submitting to the contest. We will NOT use submitted photos for any other purpose without first contacting the photographer for permission. Any additional questions/concerns regarding photo use, please email whalesenseww@gmail.com.
