Terms & Conditions — Hamont One Shot

1. The Competition

The 2026 HamOnt One Shot Photography Contest (the “Competition”) is a photography competition organized by T.H. Ponders operating as Ponders Studios (the “Organizer”), in Hamilton, Ontario. All eligible submitted photographs will be printed and exhibited in a public gallery show held from September 9–13, 2026 during Supercrawl in Hamilton, Ontario at CoLodge, 288 James St N, Hamilton, ON L8R 2L3 (the “Exhibition”).

By submitting an entry, entrants agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions in full. Entries that do not comply may be rejected at the Organizer’s discretion, as outlined in Section 5.

2. Eligibility

Open to both amateur and professional photographers who are 18 years of age or older.

Open to residents of Ontario, Canada.

Entrants must be the sole owner of the copyright in the submitted image and must hold all necessary rights to submit it.

3. Submission Requirements

Entry fee: $15 CAD per image, non-refundable, payable via the submission form.

Maximum submissions: 5 images per entrant.

Submission window: Entries open July 10, 2026 and close at 11:59 PM EDT on August 16, 2026 (the “Deadline”). Late entries will not be accepted.

File format: JPG only. Minimum 2000 px on the long edge. Maximum file size 50 MB. Submit at the highest quality your file allows within those constraints.

Required information: Image title, year the photo was taken, medium (digital / film / phone / etc.), and confirmation the entrant holds full rights to the image.

Submissions are made via Jotform. A link to the form will be published at hamontoneshot.ca when submissions open on July 10, 2026.

The Organizer is not responsible for entries that are lost, delayed, corrupted, or misdirected due to technical issues, including but not limited to internet outages, file corruption, or platform errors.

4. Artwork & Originality Requirements

HamOnt One Shot is a photography competition celebrating original human artistic vision.

Accordingly, AI-generated artwork is not eligible. Images created primarily through generative AI tools (e.g. text-to-image models) will be disqualified.

The photograph must be originally created by the entrant, from an original in-camera capture.

Minimal AI-assisted enhancement is permitted only for small, localized corrections to an otherwise original photograph (for example, minor blemish removal, dust-spot cleanup, or small distracting-element removal). The overwhelming majority of the final image’s content, composition, and detail must be the entrant’s own original photographic work.

Standard photographic post-processing is permitted and expected, including exposure, colour, and tone adjustment; cropping; dodge and burn; sharpening; and noise reduction, using tools such as Lightroom, Photoshop, Capture One, darkroom/film processing, or comparable software.

Additionally, cameraless photographic techniques (e.g. cyanotypes, photograms, radiographs, etc.), collages, or composite images that are not captured in camera are not allowed. In camera double exposures, both analog and digital, and other in camera effects are accepted.

The Organizer may request the original unedited file (e.g. RAW file, negative, or camera original) at any time to verify authenticity. Failure to provide this on request may result in disqualification.

5. Grounds for Rejection

The Organizer reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject, disqualify, or remove from consideration and/or exhibition any submission for any of the following reasons, without obligation to provide further explanation:

The image violates Section 4 (Artwork & Originality Requirements).
The image depicts, promotes, or contains hate speech, hate symbols, or content that demeans or discriminates against a person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or other protected characteristic.
The image contains graphic violence, gore, or content that sexualizes minors.
The image promotes illegal activity, self-harm, or is otherwise unlawful under Canadian or Ontario law.
The image infringes the copyright, trademark, privacy, or publicity rights of any third party, or the entrant cannot substantiate ownership and rights clearance on request.
The submission does not meet technical requirements (file format, resolution, or print-quality standards) such that it cannot be reasonably printed for exhibition.
The submission was received after the deadline, or the applicable entry fee was not paid.
The Organizer reasonably believes the entrant has violated these Terms & Conditions in any other respect.

Where practical, the Organizer will attempt to notify an entrant of a rejection and the general reason for it, but is under no obligation to do so before the Exhibition. Entry fees are non-refundable even where a submission is rejected under this section.

6. Exhibition & Printing

All eligible, accepted photographs will be professionally printed by 905 Print on behalf of the Organizer and exhibited at CoLodge, 288 James St N, Hamilton, Ontario, during Supercrawl from Wednesday, September 9 to Sunday, September 13, 2026.

Printing costs for the Exhibition are covered by the entry fee.

The Organizer will use reasonable care in printing and displaying each work but is not responsible for minor variations in colour or tone between the entrant’s digital file and the final printed piece, which can occur due to the nature of print reproduction.

At the end of the show, prints can be collected following the awards ceremony on Sunday, September 13, or retrieved from CoLodge during a designated window the week of September 14 (specific dates and times to be announced). Entrants may send someone on their behalf. Entrants who cannot collect in person may arrange postal delivery at their own cost. Prints that are not collected may be recycled or donated after 30 days from the exhibition’s close.

7. Image Rights & Usage

Entrants retain full copyright ownership of their submitted photographs at all times. By submitting, entrants grant the Organizer a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to:

Reproduce and print the submitted image for the sole purpose of the Exhibition described in Section 6; and
Reproduce the image at reduced/web resolution internally for cataloguing and administrative purposes related to the Competition.

Use of an entrant’s image for promotional or marketing purposes, including on the Competition’s website, social media channels, press materials, or future advertising for the Competition or related events, requires the entrant’s separate, explicit opt-in consent, collected via a checkbox on the submission form. Entrants who do not opt in will still have their eligible work printed and exhibited per Section 6, but their image will not be used in promotional materials.

Where an entrant opts in to promotional use, the Organizer will provide photo credit to the entrant (by name and/or listed handle) wherever reasonably practicable.

This license does not transfer copyright and does not permit the Organizer to sell prints or license the image to third parties for commercial purposes without further separate written agreement with the entrant.

Entrants may withdraw promotional-use consent at any time by written notice to the Organizer, effective for future use. This will not retract materials already published prior to the withdrawal request.

7.1 Photobook Inclusion (Optional Add-On)

Entrants may optionally choose to have their submitted image(s) included in a printed photobook documenting the Exhibition (the “Photobook”), for a fee of $15 CAD. This add-on is optional and separate from the base entry fee and from the promotional-use consent described above.

The $15 fee covers inclusion of all of the entrant’s submitted images in that year’s Photobook, and entitles the entrant to one (1) complimentary copy of the finished Photobook.

By opting into the Photobook, the entrant grants the Organizer a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce their image(s) in the Photobook and to print, distribute, and sell copies of the Photobook to the public, in physical and/or digital form, with no restriction on print run or sales channel.

Where a submitted image includes an identifiable individual as a clear, recognizable focal subject, the photographer must have a signed model release for that individual as a condition of including the image in the Photobook that must be produced at the Organizer's request. Incidental passersby, crowds, or non-identifiable figures (e.g. obscured, distant, or non-recognizable subjects) do not require a release. The entrant is responsible for obtaining and providing any requested release; the Organizer reserves the right to exclude an image from the Photobook if a required release cannot be provided.

The Organizer retains the right to sell the Photobook, and no royalties, revenue share, or other compensation will be owed or paid to entrants based on Photobook sales, regardless of how many copies are sold.

Entrants retain copyright ownership of their own images; this license does not transfer copyright and does not permit the Organizer to license an entrant’s image to third parties outside the Photobook itself.

Entrants who decline this add-on will not have their images included in the Photobook, but remain eligible for the Exhibition per Section 6.

8. Privacy

Personal information collected through the submission form (such as name, email, and payment details) is collected solely for the purposes of administering the Competition and Exhibition, and will not be sold or shared with third parties except as required to process entry fee payments or as required by law.

9. Liability & Indemnification

Entrants represent and warrant that they own all rights to their submitted image(s), that the image(s) do not infringe any third party’s rights.

Entrants agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Organizer, its officers, volunteers, and Supercrawl, from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from a breach of these warranties.

The Organizer is not liable for loss, theft, or damage to submitted digital files or printed works, except where caused by the Organizer’s gross negligence.

To the fullest extent permitted under Ontario law, the Organizer’s total liability arising from the Competition is limited to the amount of the entry fee paid by the entrant.

10. General

These Terms & Conditions are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein.

The Organizer reserves the right to amend these Terms & Conditions, postpone, modify, or cancel the Competition or Exhibition at its discretion, with notice posted at hamontoneshot.ca or @hamontoneshot.

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force.

Questions may be directed to hamontoneshot@gmail.com.

Last updated: July 2026