Background information The Suzhou Jinji Lake International Half Marathon Event is a national sports event and a symbol of the city. This year’s contest started on March 30.

The opening ceremony of the Suzhou International Tourism Festival will take place at the Pan Gate scenic spot on April 11. The festival will last for over one month, including a marathon event, barge cruises, art performances and a micro film contest.

The Suzhou Marathon organizing committee in cooperation with the Suzhou Tourism Administration will hold a series of season-themed photography contests, selecting a champion for each season and a champion of the year. Through this contest, the event and festival will be recorded, and Suzhou’s rich nature and culture will be remembered.

Theme

Springtime happiness in Suzhou

• “Go for it” – highlights of the marathon event (athletes, staff, referees, traffic police, cheering squad and spectators)

• Highlights of the tourism festival (barge cruises, Travel Expo and other activities)

• Suzhou’s beautiful springtime scenery, culture and tourist attractions

Organized by Suzhou Marathon organizing committee China Suzhou International Tourism Festival organizing committee

Assisted by Suzhou Photographer Association Suzhou Industrial Park Photography Association

Participants Photography enthusiasts Schedule

• Early publicity: March 1 to 30 (Suzhou Tourism Administration’s official website, marathon website and posters)

• Contribution: March 31 to May 4

• Work organization and selection: May 5 to 12

• Online interactive voting: May 12 to 18

• Prize-winners announcement: May 19

• Award ceremony: May 20

• Later publicity: After May 20 (award-winning works exhibited online and in communities, autograph album of the event)

Details

• An introduction of the photography contest

• Works contribution, collection and selection Experts will be invited to select 118 pieces of excellent works in terms of technique and content

• Online voting, awards and certificates presentation The 118 works will be voted on the website. The final results will be based on expert scores and online votes, the former accounting for 80 percent and the latter 20 percent. In addition, an award for popularity will be given to three participants according to the results of the online vote.

• Notes

• Suzhou Jinji Lake International Half Marathon

Event: On March 30, photography permission is needed to enter the photography zone along the race track. Other times, permission is not required.

• During the opening ceremony of the China Suzhou International Tourism Festival, photography permission is needed to enter the control zone. At other times and places, permission is not required.

• The photography permission is only given to members of the Suzhou Photographer Association, Suzhou Industrial Park Photography Association, photography groups from sponsoring enterprises of the marathon event and photographers of the Suzhou tourism administration.

• Photos must be original, not compressed, and sent by email or uploaded on the Internet.

Email address: marathon@wisdommedia-sz.com (no more than 10M) or 2479323912@qq.com (oversized attachments are accepted)

Upload address: to be confirmed

Each participant can contribute no more than 10 pieces of work.

If by email, please attach the photos, and enclose a copy of your identity card, name and phone number.

Black-and-white photos and photochrome are acceptable, but computer works are unacceptable. The photos can be adjusted, but not photoshopped, edited or transformed.

All prize-winning works will be displayed on the websites of the 2014 Suzhou Jinji Lake International Half Marathon Event, Suzhou tourism administration and Suzhou Industrial Park. Some excellent photos will be recommended to sponsoring media and published.