Rituals are part of public culture of any society. Public culture, is part of acquired traditions of man and of social heritage of his society; and experts of human sciences define folkloric culture as involving customs and traditions regarding each level of man’s life such as birth, childhood, youth, marriage, elderliness, mourning, national or religious rituals and habits of daily life such as jobs and professions.
In a broader sense, folklore is the tribal and spiritual heritage of a nation. While folklore is a heritage from our ancestors, yet it exists among current societies with soul, energy, livelihood, magnificence and charisma. People are also living with a collection of knowledge about previous generations acquired through oral memories; in fact, it is folklore that gives meaning to their lives and inspires them with hope to live. In other words, if a nation is deprived of its folklores, the whole its identity would vanish and life would be impossible for them.
In order to save and maintain a part of Iranian public culture and its commonalities with Muslims around the world in current time frame, secretariat of competitions of Islamic-Iranian Tables has been launched since five years ago to offer an artistic and documented view of and to highlight spiritual soul of tribal and national rituals of Iranians and world people. Thanks to the God Almighty and cooperation of all advocates of culture and art, this secretariat has experienced a progressive movement.
In this regard, regretful of an unanticipated delay, the secretariat introduces call for contest in fifth competition of Iftar Tables.
Theme:
All Iranian or non-Iranian artists, photographers and those interested are invited to participate in the contest by sending their single still images with an extended view of “Iftar” as a common tradition among world Muslims during holy month of Ramadan.
Categories:
The secretariat has considered two approaches for this year:
1- Family and Iftar
2- General concept of Iftar
The secretariat hopes the photographers will combine documentary and conceptual photography to look at holy and ritualistic Iftar tables in photographs sent to the secretariat.
Number of works:
Each participant can send a maximum of 10 photos.
Secretary of contest:
Mohammad Saleh Hojatoleslami
Jury:
Mohammad Mahdi Rahmanian, Rasul Uliazadeh, Mahmoud Abdolhosseini, Saed Nik Zat and Hossein Fatemi.
Awards:
This year, two photos will be chosen by the jury and the awards will be in two categories:
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A grant of as much as 11 million IRR for Iranian photographers to take photographs inside or outside Iran during Arabic months of Muharram and Safar.
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Cash prize of 500 USD for non-Iranian photographers or those outside Iran.
Important dates:
Deadline for sending photos: 10 September, 2012
Evaluation and judgment: 1 October,2012
Announcement: Through the website www.loghme.com and news agencies and photo agencies
Exhibition: Around holy month of Ramadan in 2013
Sponsors:
This contest is conducted by website of Loghme.com as a private sector body, and sponsored by Center for Creative Arts of Islamic Culture and Guidance Ministry.
Rules:
1- Photographs should be sent via the Internet.
2- Participation is free and all photographers and those interested are invited to participate in this event.
3- Digital photos or scanned images should be sent in JPG format with maximum size of 3-4 megapixels.
4- Photographs accepted for exhibition should be provided in high quality in JPG format with 300 dpi resolution.
5- Photos can be in black and white, polychrome or monochrome, and in digital or analog.
6- The jury will select up to 40 pieces of works for the exhibition and book of the contest and photographers of selected photos will be granted a certificate of participation.
7- The photographs which have participated in other competitions or have won awards cannot participate in the contest. The secretariat and the jury are in charge of deciding over this issue.
8- Each participant can send a sum of 10 photographs for both categories of the contest.
9- In respect for those who send their works on time, the deadline cannot be extended under an circumstances.
10- Editing of photos are acceptable as far as the authenticity of image is not damaged; adjustments in light, contrast or color are acceptable. Any editing by tools or software which can be considered as manipulation would cause in removal of the photograph from contest.
11- Photos should be named in English letters or numbers. Naming of files should follow this pattern: “(last name).(# of photo)-(number of photos to be sent).(cellphone number including country code)” (e.g.: Eslami.1-5.989123208842 and Eslami.2-5.98912320884)
12- The secretariat has all rights to use photos selected by the jury for advertisements, posters and book of the exhibition with the name of photographer.
13- Photographs which are not selected by the jury might be used with copyright considerations for non-lucrative educational or research purposes in research teams or universities,
14- The secretariat has no responsibility for any damages made to the photos due to mishandling or improper packaging. Therefore, photographers are highly advised to take all measures to send the photos properly.
15- Each participant should provide his or her first name, last name, phone number, home address, and email address, as well as title, description, location and date of photography for each piece of work in a Microsoft Word file and send it to the secretariat with each photo.
16- Any responsibility due to lack of aforementioned information such as not receiving invitations, announcements or awards are on participants.
17- The secretariat will absolutely not accept photos beyond the deadline.
18- The secretariat recognizes the sender as the owner of the photos and if otherwise is proved, all rights will be forfeited and the photo will be removed from contest.
19- In order to make sure of delivery, participants are free and advised to contact the secretariat via email or phone.
20- By sending photos, participants agree to the rules of contest and approve ownership of photos.
21- The secretariat is in charge of deciding for any possible unpredicted issue.
Participation:
Those who are interested can send their photographs via email to loghme@gmail.com and it is noteworthy that all information mentioned above should be provided for each piece of work.