ORGANIZER
Othello Photo Awards Circuit 2023 is organized by Nicosia Photographic Society (NPS), Cyprus. The entry of this international photo exhibition is open to amateur and professional photographers all over the world.
It will be organized under the approved rules of PSA, GPU, IAAP, ISF, IIG and NPS.
PSA members are eligible for PSA Star Ratings, listing in the worldwide PSA Who’s Who of Photography and credited towards the PSA Distinctions of QPSA, PPSA, EPSA, MPSA, MPSA2 and GMPSA, GMPSA/B, GMPSA/S, GMPSA/G and GMPSA/P. Acceptances in this exhibition are also eligible for GPU, ISF, IAAP, IIG and Nicosia Photographic Society (NPS) Distinctions.


CHAIRPERSON
Ms. Buket Ozatay, EPSA, EFIAP/d2
POBox 21889
CY1514
Nicosia, Cyprus
Email: [email protected]

Rules & Submission: http://www.nicosiafoto.com/othello/

RECOGNITION
* Photographic Society of America ( PSA 2023-483 )
* Global Photographic Union ( GPU L230151 )
* International Association of Art Photographers ( IAAP 2023/208 )
* Image Sans Frontiere, France ( ISF 54/2023 )
* India International Group ( IIG 2023-45 )
* Nicosia Photographic Society, Cyprus ( NPS 2023-07 )

SECTIONS
There are four (4) sections, all DIGITAL:

A- OPEN COLOR (color only) PSA PIDC
B- OPEN MONOCHROME (monochrome only) PSA PIDM
C- PHOTO TRAVEL (color/greyscale monochrome) PSA PTD
D- PEOPLE & LIFE (color only) PSA PIDC

- The maximum number of works is four (4) per section.
- Total 16 photos with possibility of 48 acceptances.
- Each photo can be presented in only one section.
- NUDES are allowed.

Othello Photo Circuit consists of 3 salons:
1st International Salon Venus
1st International Salon Pandora
1st International Salon Medusa

CALENDAR

Closing Date: 22 September 2023
End of Judging: 12 October 2023
Notification: 26 October 2023
On-Line Gallery: 7 November 2023
Catalog & Awards Sending: 11 December 2023

Results, all accepted and awarded images will be posted on our website.

Public Showings: There will be a public projection of all the awards and a representative selection of the accepted in November 2023 Nicosia, Cyprus.

ENTRY FEES
Entrance fee per person for 4 Sections 3 Salons Euro 20

Group Discount 4 Sections 3 Salons 5 Persons: Euro 15

-For Group Discounts contact chairperson
Buket Ozatay [email protected]

-Group Participation Fee to Buket Ozatay at PayPal ID: [email protected]

-Single Participation Fee via PayPal through our web site: http://www.nicosiafoto.com/othello/

-by Bank Payment
For Cypriot Entrants: TL IBAN TR93 0006 4000 0016 8130 0351 45
For Turkish Entrants: TL IBAN TR93 0006 4000 0016 8130 0351 45
For EURO payments around the world: Euro IBAN TR57 0006 4000 0026 8130 0415 11 SWIFT: ISBKTRISXXX

-via Western Union. Please contact Buket Ozatay at [email protected]

** Images can be changed after payment **

NON-PAYMENT OF FEES
Entries for which no fee is received will not be judged.

EXHIBITION REQUIREMENTS
IMAGE AND ENTRY REQUIREMENTS This exhibition is open to anyone; however, an entry may be rejected when the Sponsor or the Exhibition Organizers, in their reasonable discretion, believes the entry does not conform to exhibition rules and these Conditions of Entry. Membership in any photographic organization is not required.
Penalties: Entries will not be accepted from any entrant who has put on the PSA Penalties List for Ethics Violation. Entry fees are not refundable in these circumstances.
PSA Star RatingsTo receive proper Star ratings credit from PSA, entrants must provide their names and country exactly the same way in each exhibition. Aliases are not permitted. Please contact PSA in the event of name changes or relocating to another country. Using one’s name differently in different exhibition exposes the entrant to the risk that many of their acceptances may not be recognized by PSA Star Ratings.
Image Creation
Entries must originate as photographs (image-captures of objects via light sensitivity) made by the entrant on photographic emulsion or acquired digitally.

Certification:
By virtue of submitting an image, the entrant certifies the work as his or her own. Images may not incorporate elements produced by anyone else (for example: clip art, images or art by others downloaded from the Internet). Aliases are not allowed.

Reproduction
The entrant permits the sponsors to reproduce all or part of the entered material free of charge for publication and/or display in media related to the exhibition. This may include low resolution posting on a website. The Photographic Society of America (PSA) may request specific permission from entrants to reproduce entered images in its educational materials. The terms of that permission will be mutually agreed between the entrant and PSA except in the circumstances where the entered image is found to breach the PSA Ethics Policy. In those circumstances the image may be reproduced by PSA, without the entrant’s further permission, for educational purposes to illustrate serious exhibition rule violations. For those reproductions, the entrant’s name will be withheld.
Entries will not be accepted from entrants who indicate that their images may not be reproduced in materials related to the exhibition.” The exhibition assumes no liability of any misuse of copyright.

Alteration and Computer Generation Subject to Divisional restrictions (particularly Nature, Photo Travel, and Photojournalism) images may be altered, either electronically or otherwise, by the entrant; adjustments to enhance images or creatively modify images are allowed providing the underlying photograph is retained in a way that is obvious to the viewer. Images may not be constructed entirely with a computer, and must be the sole work of the entrant
Re-use of accepted images: Any image that has been accepted in this exhibition, past or present, may not be entered again in the same Division Star Ratings Class in any future instances of this exhibition. It may, of course, be entered in any other PSA recognised exhibitions but must always have the same title. Re-titling in another language is not allowed.
Entry: An Entry consists of, up to and including, four (4) images entered by a single entrant into the same Section. An entrant may only enter a specific Section once. Entrants may not enter identical or similar images into the same section or different sections of the same exhibition.
Titles:
Each image must have a unique title that is a description of the image. That unique title must be used for entry of that image or of an identical Image into any and all PSA-Recognized exhibitions. Titles must be 35 characters or fewer. No titles may be visible to the judges, and nothing in the image may identify the entrant. Titles may not include file extensions such as .jpg or .jpeg (or any other camera capture filenames such as IMG 471). Titles may not consist of personal identifiers possibly augmented by a number; or include words such as “untitled” or “no title”. Titles may not consist solely of numbers unless those numbers are prominently contained within the image, such as a contestant number in a race.
Color and Monochrome:
Color and Monochrome images from the same capture that share substantial pictorial content in common will be considered the same image and must be given the same title.

The Exhibition will be conducted in accordance with the rules of the PSA
An entrant’s images will not be presented to the judges consecutively. An entrant’s four images will be distributed throughout four rounds of judging in that section. Distribution of images will be in the same round order as submitted by the entrant. At no stage will a judge be able to view all the entrant’s images together.

JUDGING METHOD
- Judging will be ONLINE and the Salon Chairperson will ensure the PSA Guidelines regarding how the
judges view the images are followed.
- The judges will be using color-calibrated monitors.
- The monitors will be capable of displaying images at 100% of their resolution
- Award session will be done at the videoconference by a jury viewing the images together.

TARGET RANGE
The target acceptance rate will be between 29% and 35% in each section.

SUBMISSION OF WORKS
Authors must fill out an Online Entry Form on the official website and submit entries online:
http://www.nicosiafoto.com/othello/
Entrants will be receiving emails from [email protected]
Please ensure your SPAM filter will always accept emails from this address


- Maximum number of photographs per theme is 4. No title or identification of the maker shall be written anywhere on the face of an image. An entrant’s four images will be distributed throughout four rounds of judging for that section.
- Photos must be in JPEG format, dimensions no more than1920 pixels horizontal by no more than 1080 pixels vertical side max at 300 dpi, JPEG compression value 7-12. Maximum file size is 4 Mb. Please note, portrait images must be no more than 1080 pixels vertically
- Each Photograph must have a unique title. Words such as “Untitled” and “No Title” are not acceptable as part or all of an image’s title, nor are camera capture filenames. Titles must be 35 characters or fewer.
- No file naming is needed. Digital images cannot be altered, including resizing in either direction, by the exhibition or by the exhibition's equipment before or during judging.

An image may be entered in only one section.

JUDGES
1st International Salon Venus
Adela Rusu, EFIAP/p. EPSA, MAAFR, EDIPA/p (Romania)
Paolo Stuppazzoni, EFIAP, PPSA, EFIAF/B, B.F.A. Bronze (Italy)
Florentino Molero Guterrez, GMPSA, EFIAP/s, CR5-VIP5 (Spain)

1st International Salon Pandora
Robert Lie, EFIAP/b, PPSA, A.FPSI**, P. FPSI, GPU Hermes (Indonesia)
Subrata Bysack, APSA, GMPSA/P, EFIAP/d2, GPU CR5 (India)
Ali Samei, MFIAP, ESFIAP, EFIAP/g (Iran)

1st International Salon Medusa
Francis King, GMPSA/P, EFIAP/G (Canada)
Angela Poggioni, MPSA2, EFIAP/s, M.APS (USA)
Bob Chiu, GMPSA/S, GPSA, ARPS, EFIAP/S (USA)

AWARDS
The jury will accord a total of 180 High Quality Awards

48 Medals – 36 Ribbons – 24 Diplomas - 72 e-HM pdf


1st International Salon Venus
COLOR MONO NATURE PEOPLE & LIFE
PSA GOLD PSA GOLD PSA GOLD PSA GOLD
GPU GOLD IAAP GOLD IIG GOLD ISF GOLD
IAAP SILVER NPS SILVER NPS SILVER NPS SILVER
PSA HM PSA HM PSA HM PSA HM
IAAP RIBBON IAAP RIBBON IAAP RIBBON IAAP RIBBON
GPU RIBBON NPS RIBBON IIG RIBBON IIG RIBBON
2x ISF DIPLOMA 2x ISF DIPLOMA 2x NPS DIPLOMA 2x NPS DIPLOMA
6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF



Best Author Award IIG Gold Medal
Best Club Award I NPS Gold Medal
Best Club Award II NPS Silver Medal
Best Club Award III NPS Bronze Medal


1st International Salon Pandora
COLOR MONO NATURE PEOPLE & LIFE
PSA GOLD PSA GOLD PSA GOLD PSA GOLD
ISF GOLD IAAP GOLD NPS GOLD NPS GOLD
IAAP SILVER NPS SILVER IAAP BRONZE NPS BRONZE
PSA HM PSA HM PSA HM PSA HM
IAAP RIBBON IAAP RIBBON GPU RIBBON NPS RIBBON
IIG RIBBON IIG RIBBON IIG RIBBON IIG RIBBON
2x NPS DIPLOMA 2x NPS DIPLOMA 2x NPS DIPLOMA 2x NPS DIPLOMA
6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF

Best Author Award IIG Gold Medal
Best Club Award I NPS Gold Medal
Best Club Award II NPS Silver Medal
Best Club Award III NPS Bronze Medal


1st International Salon Medusa
COLOR MONO NATURE PEOPLE & LIFE
PSA GOLD PSA GOLD PSA GOLD PSA GOLD
ISF GOLD NPS GOLD NPS GOLD NPS GOLD
NPS SILVER NPS SILVER NPS BRONZE NPS BRONZE
PSA HM PSA HM PSA HM PSA HM
GPU RIBBON NPS RIBBON NPS RIBBON NPS RIBBON
IIG RIBBON IIG RIBBON IIG RIBBON IIG RIBBON
2x NPS DIPLOMA 2x NPS DIPLOMA 2x NPS DIPLOMA 2x NPS DIPLOMA
6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF 6x NPS eHM PDF

Best Author Award IIG Gold Medal
Best Club Award I NPS Gold Medal
Best Club Award II NPS Silver Medal
Best Club Award III NPS Bronze Medal

- NPS e-HM is Nicosia Photographic Society Honor Mentions (PDF certificate).
e-certificates will not be posted. Entrants are responsible for downloading and printing their e-certificates.
- The bases of the Best Author Award is the collective points of Medals, HMs and Acceptances.
- Best Club Awards would be given to the photographic clubs with the most members accepted.
- The jury reserves the right to grant additional awards depend on the total number of the entrants.
- The decision of the Jury is final and irrevocable.
- e-certificates for every acceptance & award.

DISTINCTIONS NPS
The photographic distinctions of Nicosia Photographic Society (NPS) are established to reward
the participants who take part in the exhibitions of NPS patronage.
The NPS distinctions are Artiste A.NPS, Excellence E.NPS, Master M.NPS, Grand Master
GM.NPS, GM.NPS/b, GM.NPS/s, GM.NPS/g and GM.NPS/p. These distinctions are free of
charge. NPS will record all acceptances and share the distinctions to the eligible photographers
by email. For more info please visit: http://www.nicosiafoto.com/othello/

SUBJECT MATTER AND SECTION DEFINITIONS
"Statement on Subject Matter - applicable to all sections"
The fundamental rule that must be observed at all times and applies to all sections offered in exhibitions with PSA recognition is that the welfare of living creatures is more important than any photograph. This means that practices such as baiting of subjects with a living creature and removal of birds from nests, for the purpose of obtaining a photograph, are highly unethical, and such photographs are not allowed in any exhibition with PSA recognition. Under no circumstances may a living creature be placed in a situation where it will be killed, injured or stressed for the purpose of obtaining a photograph. Images that show live creatures being fed to captive animals, birds or reptiles are not permitted under any circumstances.
There are also concerns about the use of aerial photography, drones, helicopters, low flying aircraft. These should not cause any interference with other individuals or animals which causes a disturbance in their normal activity or disrupt the way any individuals or animals interact with their environment. Entrants in PSA recognized exhibitions should comply with all relevant laws and regulations, associated with aerial photography, in the country in which the image was taken.
Entry into PSA recognized exhibitions is conditional on accepting these policies. The content of images must comply with the General Conditions and with the Division and Section definitions listed in these conditions. Images that - in the sole opinion of the judges or the Exhibition Organizers - do not comply, will be disqualified so the entrant may be aware of the problem when considering entry into other exhibitions with PSA recognition

PSA Monochrome Definition
An image is considered to be Monochrome only if it gives the impression of having no color (i.e. contains only shades of grey which can include pure black and pure white) OR it gives the impression of being a greyscale image that has been toned in one color across the entire image. (For example by Sepia, red, gold, etc.) A greyscale or multi-colored image modified or giving the impression of having been modified by partial toning, multi-toning or by the inclusion of spot coloring does not meet the definition of monochrome and shall be classified as a Color Work.
Greyscale Monochrome images may be entered for Photo Travel but toned images are not permitted for these sections.

Monochrome images may not be entered in PID Color Sections


Editing Guidelines for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel
These sections require images to be truthful records, so there are limits on the amount of manipulation allowed.
Editing Guidelines
Processing or editing must be limited to making the image look as close to the original scene as possible, except that conversion to grayscale monochrome is allowed.

Allowed editing techniques:
• Cropping, straightening and perspective correction.
• Removal or correction of elements added by the camera or lens, such as dust spots, noise, chromatic aberration and lens distortion.
• Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene.
• Complete conversion of color images to grayscale monochrome.
• Blending of multiple images of the same subject and combining them in camera or with software (exposure blending or focus stacking);
• Image stitching – combining multiple images with overlapping fields of view that are taken consecutively (panoramas);

Editing techniques that are not allowed:
• Removing, adding to, moving or changing any part of an image, except for cropping and straightening.
• Adding a vignette during processing.
• Blurring parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
• Darkening parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
• All conversions other than to complete grayscale monochrome.
• Conversion of parts of an image to monochrome, or partial toning, desaturation or over-saturation of color

For the purpose of this exhibition any border added to a digital file must be a single border of white or grey, no greater than 3-5 pixels in width.


PSA Photo Travel Definition
A Photo Travel image is a portrayal of the real world we live in, as it is found naturally. There are no geographic limitations.
Content guidance:
1. If the image is predominantly or exclusively a land-, sea- or cityscape, these “scapes” must include characteristic, distinctive and recognizable physical features, although it is not necessary that the image identify the exact location;
2. Images that predominantly or exclusively depict people and their activities must illustrate a distinctive culture of a country, region, or continent;
3. Images that predominately or exclusively depict animal populations are allowed, if the animals are in their native environment and are characteristic of that country, region, or continent;
4. Portraits or other close-ups of people or objects, in addition to meeting the above paragraphs as applicable, must include elements depicting some of the surrounding environment to make it obvious that the image was not taken in a studio setting;
5. Images from events or activities arranged for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography, are NOT allowed.
6. Time exposures are allowed, if they do not dominate the image as a special effect (star trails, for example, are a dominating effect).
7. Highly distorted images such as those produced by fish eye lenses are NOT allowed.

Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections and to the Editing Guidelines for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel

People & Life Definition PIDC
Images show us people in all situations; such as man, woman, child/children, single or group persons, daily life, street photography, traditions, portraits, people at work, social events, human relations etc.
Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections.

Only Color images are allowed in People & Life section.

Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections

CATALOGUE
Online PDF Catalog (Downloadable from Website).
Salon Chair will send an email to all entrants to notify that Catalog is ready to download from Website http://www.nicosiafoto.com/othello/

NOTIFICATION CARD
Each entrant will receive via e-mail an auto scoring report card with the results of his/her submitted photos. All results will be uploaded in the website of the Salon.

CHAIRPERSON
Ms. Buket Ozatay, EPSA, EFIAP/d2
POBox 21889
CY1514
Nicosia, Cyprus
Email: [email protected]

Rules & Submission: http://www.nicosiafoto.com/othello/