On July 11, 2022, Americans and Romanians will celebrate 25 years since the launch of the Strategic Partnership between the United States and Romania. Throughout these past 25 years, our two countries have worked together to strengthen bilateral relations, foster democracy, build prosperity, and ensure security for all our citizens. To highlight this inspirational democratic journey, the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest wishes to celebrate our shared accomplishments and invites you to participate in a contest dedicated to capturing and preserving photos of the Romanian-American friendship over the past 25 years.
We invite you to review your personal photo archive, choose a favorite, and send it to us in electronic format. The photos should illustrate memorable instances that you or your family have witnessed since 1997; they will contribute to recognizing and celebrating our uniquely trans-Atlantic friendship.
The most relevant photographs will be included in a photo exhibit that the U.S. Embassy will compile next year in celebration of our Strategic Partnership.
Official rules
Prizes:
You can win one of the following:
- 1st Prize: SAMSUNG Galaxy A22 Smartphone
- 2nd Prize: SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab A7 Tablet
- 3rd Prize: Kindle Paperwhite
Additional prizes may be awarded to recognize all contest finalists.
The winning photos may be posted on the Embassy’s and its partners’ websites and social media platforms. (Please see additional details in the “Terms & Rights” section)
Eligibility:
- Contestants must be Romanian nationals residing in Romania and must be at least 18 years old.
- The contest commences on November 12th, 2021, and closes at 23:59 on December 3rd, 2021. The person submitting the photo will be considered the contestant, sole owner of the submitted photography, and will be the only person eligible to compete for any prize.
- Employees of the U.S. Government and their families are not eligible to participate in this contest.
How to Enter:
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- Choose a photo that reflects your or your family participation in an event relevant to the Romanian-American friendship. Photos must belong to you.
- Send your photos to infobuch@state.gov with “Romanian-American Friendship” in the subject line, until December 3rd, 2021 at 23.59. Please include your full name in the file description. If your entry is received and accepted, you will receive a confirmation e-mail. If you receive no confirmation, call 021-200-3693 for details on re-submission.
- Once you submit your photo, it will be considered a final submission, which you cannot replace. You may submit no more than two photos, only one will be eligible for a prize. Participation in this contest is automatically deemed as acceptance of the “Terms & Rights” section.
- After the expiration of the submitting period, the judges will have 2 weeks to deliberate. The winners will be announced during a virtual ceremony announced via e-mail, and the results will be featured on Facebook and the Embassy’s webpage.
Winner Selection & Judging Criteria:
All photos will be viewed by a panel of judges.
The criteria for judging in order of importance are:
1) Effectiveness in portraying events relevant to the Romanian-American friendship and partnership;
2) Originality.
Content Requirements:
Entries CANNOT:
- Contain sexually explicit or suggestive material, or inappropriate language relating to ethnicity, race, gender, religious preference, professional background, age group or disability;
- Promote or contain the use of alcohol, drugs, tobacco, weapons, or any activities that may appear unsafe or dangerous;
- Promote any particular political agenda, message, or party;
- Defame, misrepresent, or contain disparaging remarks about other people, companies, or organizations;
- Contain any prominent use of trademarks, logos, or trade dress (such as distinctive packaging or building exteriors/interiors) owned by others as determined by the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, or advertise or promote any brand or product of any kind, or contain any personal identification, such as license plate numbers, personal names, e-mail addresses or street addresses;
- Contain prominent copyrighted materials owned by others (including photographs, sculptures, paintings and other works of art or images published on or in websites, television, movies or other media) as determined by the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest;
- Contain materials embodying the names, likenesses, photographs, or other information identifying any person, living or dead without permission;
- Communicate messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or goodwill with which the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest wishes to associate;
- Depict a legal violence, nor itself be in violation of any law or regulation;
- Depict or otherwise identify a minor without parental or guardian consent.
Terms & Rights:
By entering the contest, you represent and agree that:
You own and submitted the photograph(s) (“Entry”). You have received permission from any person(s) depicted in the photos (“Third Party
Participant”) (if applicable) for them to appear in the submitted photos and that all elements of your entry are your original work, are not copied from any other work, and do not infringe upon the rights of any third party. To the extent any elements were created by a third party (“Third Party Participant”), your submission attests that you own all rights, titles, and interests to said elements which are part of your Entry to enable you to grant the rights granted herein. If a Third Party Participant is a minor, you have secured written permission from said minor’s parent or legal guardian.
You retain ownership of the photos you submit, however, by entering the contest, you, on behalf of yourself and any Third Party Participants, grant the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest the perpetual, fully-paid, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to publish, print, reproduce, prepare derivative works of, distribute, display, exhibit, transmit, broadcast, televise, digitize, otherwise use, and permit others to use throughout the world the photos in any manner, form, or format now or hereinafter created, including on the Internet, and for any purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising or promotion of Contest Entities and Contest all without further consent from or payment to you, including for those Entry/ Entries not selected.
Each Entry must not infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity. If the Entry contains any material or elements that are not owned by the entrant and/or which are subject to the rights of Third Parties, the entrant is responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the Entry, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the use and exhibition of the Entry by the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest in the manner set forth in these Official Rules. The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest reserves the right to request proof of these permissions in a form acceptable to them from any entrant at any time. By submitting an Entry, all entrants warrant and represent that they consent to the submission and use of the Entry in the Contest, and to its printing and posting on the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest or other USG web pages and social media platforms.
By submitting your Entry, you agree that the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest has no obligation to post or publish your Entry, that all such postings or publication, if any, will be in the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest’s sole discretion and that the posting or publication of an Entry does not guarantee the Entry will be selected as a winner. By submitting an Entry, each entrant understands and grants to the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest permission for his/her Entry to be posted on the Embassy’s and USG’s social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.), and web pages in perpetuity throughout the world for viewing by visitors. The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest is not responsible for any
unauthorized third party use of any Entry. Entries will not be acknowledged and will not be received or held “in confidence” and a submission does not create a confidential relationship or obligation of secrecy between you and the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest or any of its affiliates.
The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest reserves the right to disqualify any Entry for any reason, in its sole and absolute discretion. The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest is under no obligation to disclose why an Entry has been disqualified other than the Entry was ineligible under these Official Rules. Furthermore, the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest reserves the right to not award any prize if, in its sole and absolute discretion, it does not receive a sufficient number of eligible and qualified entries in the entry period.
