Photo and video competitions - Rules - Telling the CoE's story

The competition is open to young (Up to the age of 26 (included)) non-professional photographers and film makers, who are nationals or residents of one of the 46 member States of the Council of Europe.
The featured themes and message conveyed are relevant to the subject of human rights in Europe, and preferably touch upon domains dealt with by the Council of Europe.
Participation in the contest is free.
Contestants may submit more than one photo or video entry in each competition category.
Each photograph or video must comply with the required technical specifications detailed below and be accompanied by a title.
Participants publish their entries on Instagram by tagging the Council of Europe official Instagram account (@councilofeurope) and using the unique hashtags #CoE75 ; #75CoECompetition ; #75CoECompetition_AI
Use of AI tools or technology in the production of a photo or a video must be clearly indicated using the hashtag #75CoECompetition_AI
Participants must be the sole authors of their work.
Participants must have obtained the relevant consent from any persons featured in their work, in accordance with the applicable laws and comply with any other relevant legislation when producing their photographs or videos.
Photos or videos that may in any form or manner undermine the values of the CoE will be disqualified.
The contest organisers reserve the right to withdraw a photo or a video if there is any reason to believe that a participant has violated the competition rules.
Participants retain the copyright to their entries. By participating in the competition winners accept to grant a royalty-free licence to the Council of Europe to publish and/or exhibit the winning entries in any format and to feature the winners and their respective images. Such images may also be used to promote future events as well as for awareness-raising purposes for the work of the Council of Europe. Winners accept to enter into a licence agreement with the Council for the above purposes. Whenever the CoE makes use of the winning photographs and videos to illustrate materials of the Organisation, the competition and the name of the author will always be mentioned.
By submitting an image for the competition, the participants will be regarded as having agreed to be bound by the competition rules.

Selection

A panel composed of recognised professionals in human rights, youth and photography/arts, led by Ambassador Andrius KRIVAS, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the Council of Europe will select the runners-up and winners in the four categories: ‘Best photograph’, ’Best video’, ‘Best AI generated image’, ‘Best AI generated reel’ in accordance with criteria relating to the relevance of the message conveyed, the creativity and the quality of the photographic or video work. All AI generated images and reels will be also rated according to criteria, such as realism, the novelty and diversity of the generated images as compared to existing images.

Prizes

The four winners will receive a diploma. They will be invited to Strasbourg to take part in the World Forum for Democracy. They may also be invited to participate in other Council of Europe events, especially those held in other European countries to share their experience and their vision for human rights.

The Council of Europe will be able to use the winning photographs and videos to produce visibility material for the Organisation in accordance with the Licence agreement concluded with the Winners of this competition. In such cases, the name of the author and of the competition “Human Rights: Camera, Action!” will be mentioned.

The winners will allow the Council of Europe to use the winning photographs and videos to produce visibility material of the Organisation.

Organisational aspects

The competition will be organised in close cooperation with the national authorities of member States and other relevant partners, who will ensure the dissemination of information about the competition in schools, universities, and through media/social media, cultural institutes, youth organisations, etc., and, if interested, organise exhibitions of the best artworks with relevant national partners.

A note on AI images and reels

For the first time, the Council of Europe invites young people to express their creativity, using AI tools. Therefore, a dedicated section within this contest is open to young participants who wish to present images and videos generated by AI tools and software. The evaluation of these works will be done separately compared to the pictures and video in standard format.

AI generated images and reels must reflect the creativity and originality of the topic, and participants’ ability to explore new elements. More realistic or relevant images will be favoured.

Technical specifications

Photos and videos in the digital format can be produced using any camera or smartphone.

Photos

• Format:

Minimum image size required is :
1080 x 1350 px (portrait)
1080 x 1080 px (square)
All images will be cropped to a square in the feed preview. Please bear this in mind in your composition.
For the purpose of exhibiting the winning photos, authors will be asked to supply the same image with a superior quality of 4000 pixels with a dpi 300

• Post-processing:

Post-processing of images is permitted.
This includes overall adjustments to exposure, contrast, burn, dodge, crop, sharpness, noise reduction, and tonality.
Minor image cleaning is allowed, including removal of backscatter, dust, and scratches.
HDR, panoramas, focus stacking or other techniques involving multiple images taken at the same time and place are allowed.

• Titles and textual elements:

The titles of the photos are allowed in all official languages of the Council of Europe member states.
If produced in a language other than English or French, a translation of the title in the should be provided in English or French in the description of the post.

• Description of the post must feature:

The name of the author of the photo
A tag of the official Instagram account of the Council of Europe @councilofeurope
Translation (if the photo features text in a language other than English or French)
The official hashtags: 
For the category Photo:
#CoE75
#75CoECompetition

For the category Photo (AI generated):
#CoE75
#75CoECompetition
#AIgenerated

Videos

• Format:

Minimum video size required is : 1080 x 1920 px (reels format)

• Length:

Up to 40 seconds

• Cover photo:

When publishing your reel, use the cover photo size.
The recommended size for cover photos is 1080 x 1920 px

• Video production:

The precise style or mode of the films (i.e., participatory, reflexive, etc.) is to be decided by the video-maker. However, the underlying message should be positive, hopeful, and inspiring.
Videos can be produced in all official languages of the Council of Europe member states. However, if produced in a language other than English or French, a transcript of the video in English or French should be provided in the description of the post.
In case of a voice over recorded in local language, videos may be subtitled in English, French or the original language(s).
Participants are encouraged to make their videos more accessible by:
- Embedding subtitles into their video.
- Using sign language for people who are deaf or hard of hearing as a complement to subtitling.