Chinese New year in the Netherlands. This is one of the three First Prize Winners for Just Share It - Happy Chinese New Year 2015. [Photo/Roy Poots]

Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) is the most important traditional festival of the Chinese people. The festival has a history of 4,000 years in China and its celebration has spread to the world in recent years.

With the upcoming the Year of the Monkey on Feb 8, 2016, Just Share It - Happy Chinese New Year global online photo contest 2016 is being launched. Chinaculture.org invites you to share your photos of Chinese New Year celebrations all over the world. The photos will be graded and all the nominees will be awarded certificates of honor and paid remuneration accordingly.

Official page of the contest: http://www.chinaculture.org/focus/focus/2016shareit/index.html

Sponsor

Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China

Host

Chinaculture.org

Organizers

Chinadaily.com.cn

Who

Anyone who is interested in Chinese culture and wants to share photos of the Chinese New Year.

What

1. All the photos are welcome, but the theme should be Chinese New Year celebrations. The images should show the programs and activities of Happy Chinese New Year (a worldwide celebration hosted by the Ministry of Culture of the PRC and other Chinese authorities) all over the world or capture the scene of people enjoying the Spring Festival overseas. The images should vividly depict the happy atmosphere of Chinese New Year celebrations, showing the influence of the festival abroad.

Note: Highlights of 2016 Happy Chinese New Year programs

2. Photographs must be of an event outside the Chinese mainland (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and all foreign countries), and the photographer can be of any nationality.

3. All the images must be real, not doctored or Photoshopped. The tone and color of the image could be slightly adjusted, and the color can be changed into black and white or monochromatic. Composition and clipping are allowed.

4. Photographs must be in digital format, either TIF or JPG files. And resolution of the photo should be 300 dpi. TIF file should be no smaller than 50MB, the highest compressed format of JPG file no less than 7MB, and the maximum of the length should be no less than 3,000 pixels. If submitting to Facebook, photos could be compressed, but please keep the original file. If the photo is shortlisted, the original file will be required.

5. The headline and caption (in Chinese or English) must be complete, accurate and authors should provide sufficient details, including the process and location of the shoot.

6. Photo could be single or in a group - a group counts as a single photo. Each group should only have four to eight photos.

7. Please provide photographer's nationality, address and phone number.

8. The author owns the copyright of the photo. Once the shortlisted photos are published, or the author is informed of being the finalist, it means that the author has agreed that the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China has the right to use the shortlisted photos. The author shall enjoy the right of authorship in the work. The sponsor of the contest has the right to keep the finalists with their captions in its photo gallery and use them in other cultural activities or cultural products, such as exhibition, publication, poster and photo alum design. The sponsor also has the right to recommend the shortlisted photos with their captions to related media and will not pay the author for use.

9. All legal responsibility and all losses resulting from any copyright infringement, trademark rights, privacy rights, and publicity rights shall be borne by the author himself. The organizer does not take any legal responsibility and all losses resulting from but not limited to any copyright infringement, trademark rights, privacy rights, and publicity rights of the selected works. 10. Once the shortlisted candidates are announced, the author should provide personal information and bank information to get remuneration; if personal and bank information is not provided, the winner will be disqualified.

When

Starts from Jan 1, 2016 Submission deadline: Feb 29, 2016

How

Please submit your photo to: contest@chinadaily.com.cn

Or you can submit your work to China Culture's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/China-Culture-1575300589358145/. Scan the QR code below to follow China Culture's Facebook page, and always remain updated with the newest Chinese culture news, events and information.

You can also upload your work directly under this thread on China Daily website's English BBS (Bulletin Board System): http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn

Notice: The author should use their real name, address, email and phone number. Anyone who provides incomplete contact information will be disqualified.

Awards and Prizes

1. The contest will select 200 photos (single or group), including:

First prize:  10 photos (single or group), remuneration for each 5,000 RMB

Second prize: 20 photos (single or group), remuneration for each 3,000 RMB

Third prize:  70 photos (single or group), remuneration for each 1,000 RMB

Other selected works: 100 photos (single or group), remuneration for each 500 RMB

2. All the winners will be awarded a certificate of honor, and the organizer will deduct any tax on the award money and pay the authorities on behalf of the winners.

The author agrees that the sponsor of the event has the right of final interpretation of rules and regulations. If one does not meet the requirements, the work will be disqualified. By submitting the works the author agrees to accept the rules.