Have you been craving a weekend getaway in a flash hotel or maybe you’ve had your eye on a GoPro camera for a while? Well, if you win a prize in the 2013 AUIP Photo Contest: Exploring the South Pacific, then these amazing prizes plus others could be yours!

AUIP announces the launch of its annual photo contest and encourages all program alumni to enter photos on our AUIP Facebook fan page by August 31 in accordance with the contest details and rules as follows:

Sponsored by Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas, Hexagon International, Calypso Coaches, City Lodge Auckland, Awesome Adventures Fiji and EvoShield and with prize donor Lonely Planet, the photo contest launches August 12, 2013 at all partner institutions throughout the United States.

Eligibility

The 2013 AUIP Photo Contest is open to all AUIP alumni who have studied abroad on an AUIP program. Alumni who entered previous AUIP photo contests are eligible to enter again this year with new photos never previously submitted for an AUIP contest.

Rules

Photo submissions must be the entrant’s original work. Photos must have been taken abroad during an AUIP program. Photos cannot be digitally modified or enhanced. The contest contains two categories this year: Student Immersion and Back to Nature. Each entrant is limited to entering one photo in each category (i.e. one photo for Student Immersion and one photo for Back to Nature). AUIP reserves the right to exclude any photos it deems to be inappropriate. All photos submitted can be used by AUIP in a number of places, such as the AUIP website, posters and slide shows. All photos must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, August 31, 2013.

Submission

Two Categories:

Student Immersion: photographs demonstrating the study abroad experience by featuring a student(s) interacting with local people, places, etc.

Back to Nature: photographs showing landscapes, outdoor activities, wildlife, etc. (note that entries in this category can include people)

Review the contest rules outlined above, and then upload a photo to the AUIP Facebook fan page. To do so, on the AUIP fan page wall, post a photo (second button from left saying, “Photo/Video”) with a caption. Your caption should include: category being entered, photo title, your name, AUIP program and year, and home university.

Caption example: Student Immersion, Bottle feeding calves during farm stay, Joe Smith, South Queensland Australia 2013, North Carolina State University.

Judging & Awards

Awards will be given for First, Second and Third places and People’s Choice Awards in both categories, Student Immersion and Back to Nature. For the People’s Choice Awards, the photo in each category with the most ‘Like’s will win the prize. “Like’s must be on the photo itself on the AUIP fan page. Entrants are encouraged to have friends and family ‘Like’ their entered photo(s) to increase the chances of winning this award. The photo contest coordinator will count the total number of ‘Like’s for each photo entered on Thursday, September 5, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. EST to determine the People’s Choice winners.

All winners will be announced on Monday, September 9, 2013. A panel of judges will be appointed by the photo contest coordinator to evaluate photo submissions according to the following criteria: (1) Originality, (2) Creativity, (3) Impact, and (4) Artistic Merit.

Prizes

The following prizes will be provided to each category (Student Immersion and Back to Nature):

First Place: Starwood Preferred Guest 10,000 points plus an exclusive Kate Spade tote (valued over $500) donated by Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas in Australia

Second Place: GoPro HERO3: White Edition camera (valued at $200) donated by Hexagon International in Fiji and Calypso Coaches in Australia plus an EvoShield training hoodie and hat (valued at $65) donated by EvoShield

Third Place: Osprey Comet daypack (valued at $100) donated by City Lodge Auckland in New Zealand

People’s Choice Award: Amazon $150 gift card donated by Awesome Adventures Fiji

All Winners receive: Lonely Planet guidebooks (valued at $100) donated by Lonely Planet

Not a Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) member yet? No worries, you can sign up now and get ready for the chance to win the 10,000 points for first place! To sign up, visit: www.spg.com

PRIZE DONOR ONLY