Entries for Lens op de Mens 2025 are now closed

EXHIBITION

• The selected photos will be printed by the organization at the highest possible quality without any extra cost to the participating photographer and exhibited during the open air exhibition from 8 June – 28 September 2025.
• The name of the photographer, the code of his country of origin and his e-mail address and/or the URL of his website will be inserted by the organisation under each photo. Logos of partners and sponsors can also be included under the photo.
• Photos may be rejected for ethical reasons (pornographic, sexist, political or offensive reason,…).
• When the festival is finished and the exhibition is dismantled, the photographer can collect all photos. This will be in October 2025 at set days and times. These will be advised at a future date. If the photographer doesn’t collect the photos, they will automatically become property of the organization. For organisational reasons, photos will not be sent.

GENERAL RULES

• Participants agree to all rules when submitting photos.
• To submit photos for Lens op de Mens, the photographer must first register as a user on the competition pages of the website.
• The competition is entirely web-based. Registration, hosting and judging are done on-line.
• Participants who already registered in 2023 can check their details and, if necessary, change them. Participants only need to enter their personal details once.
• A registration will only become definitive after the registration of the participant, upload of the photos and payment of 20 euros per photo submitted.
• A participant can still add additional photos or delete photos and replace them with other photos until the maximum of 10 photos per participant is reached.
• Only after paying 20 euros online per submitted photo is the participation valid and the photos are admitted to the pre-selections.
• If the final number of photos submitted is less than the number originally paid for, the entrant will NOT be able to reclaim the excess amount paid.
• After uploading and completing payment, the submitter will see a confirmation that the upload was successful.
• The jury consists of a non-voting chairman and a minimum of five members, selected by the jury chairman. They are all photographers with extensive international experience in judging competitions and qualifications.
• Participants will be informed by email in the course of March 2025 whether or not their photos have been selected by the jury for the exhibition.
• The results of the competition will be announced at the opening ceremony with awards ceremony of Lens op de Mens – Pelt Photo Festival on 8 June 2025.
• vzw Lens op de Mens – Fotofestival Pelt reserves the right to disqualify participants if it considers that they are not acting in accordance with these competition conditions.
• By submitting the photos and completing the registration form the photographer gives permission for the submitted photos to be used at the international photo festival ‘Lens op de Mens’, including upcoming editions.
• The jury’s decisions are final and uncontested. There’s no correspondence about the course and outcome of the judging.
• Lens op de Mens – Photo Festival Pelt vzw reserves the right to postpone or cancel the competition, or not to choose a photo if the circumstances so require.
• Participating photographers are themselves responsible for entering their personal details correctly, and the correct spelling of their name is very important. These details can still be changed by participants until the closing of the competition. Any certificates or prizes awarded will be provided on the basis of this information, as well as any information referring to the photographer in question in Lens op de Mens’ communications on its website and to the media.
• The authors of all photos potentially eligible for an award (with a wide margin to compensate for any disqualifications) may be asked by the jury chair to submit the original raw files used to compose the submitted image. A validation committee, together with the jury chair, will make the final decision on whether to accept the photos in question.
• Photographers should ensure that when they upload photos for Lens op de Mens, the original unedited files of their submissions are available and kept in a safe place accessible to them anytime, anywhere. Excuses such as, for example, lost files due to damaged storage media or ‘files unavailable due to staying abroad’ will not be accepted. It is the sole responsibility of the photographer that the original files are available at all times when requested.