Announcing the 13th Annual Upstate Gardeners’ Journal Winter Photo Contest!

Winter in upstate New York can feel very long, especially if it’s spent mostly inside. We’re encouraging all of you amateur photographers to get out there in the garden and capture it in its winter beauty!

Here are the rules/details:

1. Photographs must be (or have been) taken between December 21, 2022, and March 20, 2023, and submitted by April 1, 2023. Five entries are allowed per person, and there is no fee to enter. Please include with each entry:
   • Location photo was taken
   • Photo title
   • Photo category (see #9)
   • Your name
   • Address
   • Email address
   • Phone number
2. Photographs must be taken in upstate New York, roughly within the circulation area of the magazine—use your best judgment here.
3. Digital images should be uploaded using the form below OR saved onto a USB drive and mailed to Upstate Gardeners’ Journal, 1501 East Avenue, Suite 210, Rochester, NY 14610. Unfortunately, we cannot accept printed entries.
4. Digital images should be in JPG format, no smaller than 1 MB and no larger than 10 MB. Because of bandwidth constraints, images larger than 6.5 MB must be compressed in .ZIP format when using online upload form.
5. All images submitted will be subject to use by the UGJ in any format or medium, for any editorial or promotional purpose. Photographer will receive credit for UGJ magazine use and elsewhere as is possible and appropriate.
6. There will be prizes! The top winner in each category will receive a prize, as well as the overall winner, whose work will also be featured as the cover image on the November-December 2023 UGJ.
7. Contest is for amateurs only.
8. Previous year (2022) contest winners are NOT eligible to win in 2023, but may enter the contest again in 2024.
9. Categories are as follows:
   – Scenes
   – Plants
   – Wildlife
   – Enhanced*
   *Images may be adjusted as needed to achieve an optimum realistic appearance. That is, the same things you would control when making a straight-forward physical print, e.g. exposure, contrast, color balance, cropping, etc., you may also modify in a digital file. Manipulation beyond that, whether manual or digital, puts the entry into the “Enhanced” category. Again, use best judgment.
10. Contest will be judged anonymously, on the basis of creativity, quality and effectiveness in conveying the beauty of winter by:
    Michael Hanlon, professional photographer
    Jessie Richards,  artist and photographer
    Brian Eshenaur, horticulturalist, technical editor, Upstate Gardeners’ Journal.

Ready? Enter here:

****