Official contest rules

1. Organiser and sponsors

The Downtown Lens Photo Contest ("Downtown Lens") and the Best Block Awards (each a "Contest", together the "Contests") are organised by Down.Town, an independent publisher based in Montréal, Québec, Canada (the "Organiser"). Prizes are funded by third-party prize sponsors ("Prize Sponsors"), who are named on the contests page when they confirm. Prize Sponsors are not responsible for running the Contests unless the contests page says otherwise.

These official rules (the "Rules") apply to Season 1. By entering Downtown Lens or nominating a block, you agree to the Rules and to the decisions of the Organiser and the judges, which are final on all matters relating to the Contests, subject to section 13.

2. No purchase necessary

No purchase, payment or donation is necessary to enter or to win, and buying anything from Down.Town or a Prize Sponsor will not improve your chances. The Contests are void where prohibited or restricted by law.

3. Contest period

Season 1 runs in three phases: Open call, Judging and Winners announced. Before the open call begins, the Organiser will publish on the contests page the start and end date and time (Eastern Time) of each phase; those dates form part of these Rules.

Entries and nominations must be received during the open call. Anything received after the open call closes is not eligible. Anything received before it opens is held and treated as received when it opens. An entry is received when it reaches the Organiser's inbox, and the time recorded there is the official time of entry.

4. Eligibility

• The Contests are open to individuals who, at the time of entry, are at least 18 years old and have reached the age of majority where they live.
• They are open worldwide, except where prohibited or restricted by law, and except where the Organiser is legally prevented from awarding a prize to residents of a particular place.
• The following may enter for fun but cannot win a prize: Down.Town editors, employees and contractors involved in running or judging the Contests; the judges; employees of a Prize Sponsor involved in the Contest; and the immediate family members (parents, children, siblings, spouse or partner) and household members of any of them.
• Entries must be made by the individual entrant. Entries made by agencies, in bulk or by automated means are not eligible.
• The Organiser may ask any entrant for proof of eligibility at any time.

5. How to enter Downtown Lens

1. Complete the entry form on the contests page, giving your full name, email address, the city photographed, where you live, the category, a link to your photo, a title and a caption of up to 280 characters.
2. Confirm that you meet the age requirement, accept these Rules and agree to the use of your details to run the Contest.
3. Submit one photo per form. Each photo may be entered in one category only: Skyline After Dark, Street Life, Storefronts & Signs, Green Downtown or On the Move.

The link must lead to the photo on a page or service you control, such as your portfolio, cloud storage or a photo-sharing site, and must be viewable by anyone with the link until winners are announced. Incomplete, illegible, late or misdirected entries, and entries whose link does not open, are void.

6. Photo requirements

• Original. The photo must be your own original work, taken by you, and you must own all rights in it.
• Recent. It must have been taken within two years before the date you enter it.
• Downtown. It must have been taken in a downtown or city centre, anywhere in the world.
• Format. The linked file should be a JPEG of at least 2,000 pixels on its long edge.
• Editing. Standard adjustments are allowed: cropping, exposure, colour, contrast, sharpening, and noise and dust removal. Not allowed: images generated or altered by AI tools (including generative fill or expansion), composites, adding or removing significant elements, and added borders, watermarks, signatures or text.
• Consent. If an identifiable person is the main subject, you must have their permission to photograph them and enter the photo, and the permission of a parent or guardian for anyone under the age of majority. People have rights over their own image in many places, including Québec.
• Lawfully taken. Don't trespass, fly a drone where it isn't permitted or break any other law to get a shot.
• Suitable. No nudity, or content that is hateful, violent, defamatory, discriminatory or otherwise inappropriate for a general audience. Signs, storefronts and logos may appear as part of a street scene, but an entry must not be an advertisement.
• Free to license. The photo must not be subject to an exclusive licence or any other agreement that would prevent you granting the licence in section 14.

The Organiser may ask for the original, full-resolution file and its camera data to verify any entry.

7. How to nominate a block (Best Block Awards)

1. Complete the nomination form on the contests page, giving the block, the city, why it deserves to win (up to 500 characters), and your name and email address.
2. Confirm that you are 18 or older, accept these Rules and agree to the use of your details to run the Contest.

A "block" is a public street between two intersections, or a comparable public pedestrian street or square, in a downtown or city centre. Nominations must be in your own words and accurate. If you own, work for or represent a business, association or other organisation on the block you nominate, say so in the nomination. The Best Block Awards recognise blocks; any prize for nominators is set out in section 9 and section 10.

8. Entry limits

• Downtown Lens: up to five photos per person per season, across all categories.
• Best Block Awards: up to three nominations per person per season, and one nomination per block.
• The same photo may not be entered more than once or by more than one person.
• Using more than one name or email address to exceed these limits will disqualify all of that person's entries.

9. Judging criteria and weights

The Contests are contests of skill. There is no draw and no public vote. The Organiser first checks every entry and nomination for eligibility. A judging panel made up of Down.Town editors and, for any category or award with a confirmed Prize Sponsor, up to one judge nominated by that sponsor and approved by the Organiser, then scores each eligible entry.

Each judge scores each entry from 1 to 10 on every criterion. Scores are weighted as shown below and averaged across judges to give each entry a final score out of 10.

Downtown Lens criterion	What the judges assess	Weight
Sense of place	How clearly the photo captures the character of that particular downtown	30%
Composition	Framing, light, timing and the arrangement of the scene	25%
Originality	A fresh view or idea, especially of a familiar place	25%
Technical quality	Focus, exposure and editing that serve the picture	20%

Best Block criterion	What the judges assess	Weight
Street life	Activity and variety through the day and the week	30%
Local character	Independent places, history and a sense of belonging to that city	30%
Public space	Seating, shade, greenery and room to linger	20%
Walkability	Safe crossings, step-free access and nearby transit	20%

Judges assess a nominated block as it is described in its nominations and as checked by the editors from public sources and, where possible, in person.

Nominator prizes. Where a Prize Sponsor funds a prize for nominators, it is awarded to the nominator of a winning block whose nomination the judges score highest on specificity and insight (50%), persuasiveness (30%) and accuracy (20%).

Winners and ties. The highest-scoring eligible entry in each Downtown Lens category, and the highest-scoring block in each award announced on the contests page, is the potential winner. Any additional placings funded by a Prize Sponsor will be described on the contests page. Ties are broken by the score on the most heavily weighted criterion, then by a separate vote of the judges. If a category receives no eligible entries, no prize is awarded in it.

10. Prizes

• Prizes are funded by Prize Sponsors. The number, description and approximate retail value of each Season 1 prize will be announced on the contests page when sponsors confirm, and before judging begins. That description forms part of these Rules.
• If no Prize Sponsor confirms for a category or award, its winner receives recognition only: publication of the winning entry or block, with credit, on Down.Town and in the Downtown Dispatch.
• Prizes must be accepted as awarded and are not transferable. No cash substitution is allowed unless the prize description says so.
• If a prize becomes unavailable for reasons beyond the Organiser's control, the Organiser or Prize Sponsor may substitute a prize of equal or greater approximate value, subject to the approval of the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux where required.
• Limit of one prize per person per Contest each season.
• Taxes, duties and any costs not stated in the prize description are the winner's responsibility.
• Prizes are delivered by the Organiser or the Prize Sponsor within a reasonable time after verification, as stated in the prize description.

11. Winners and verification

• Potential winners are notified by email, at the address used to enter, after judging. They must reply within 14 days of the first attempt to notify them.
• Before a prize is awarded, a potential winner must sign and return a declaration and release confirming eligibility, compliance with these Rules, the licence and publicity terms, and a release of liability, and may be asked for proof of age, identity and residence and the original file of the winning photo.
• Potential winners who live in Canada must also answer the skill-testing question in section 12.
• If a potential winner cannot be reached, does not reply in time, is not eligible, does not answer the skill-testing question correctly or does not return the declaration, the prize is forfeited and may be offered to the next-highest-scoring eligible entry.
• Confirmed winners are announced on the contests page and in the Downtown Dispatch with their name as entered, their city and the winning entry or block.

12. Skill-testing question (Canadian residents)

Before being declared a winner, a potential winner who lives in Canada must correctly answer a mathematical skill-testing question, without mechanical, electronic or other assistance, within a time limit set by the Organiser. The question is put by telephone, video call, email or online at a time arranged in advance.

13. Québec residents

Where required by law, the Contests are registered with the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, and the applicable duties are paid.

For residents of Québec: any litigation respecting the conduct or organisation of a publicity contest may be submitted to the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux for a ruling. Any litigation respecting the awarding of a prize may be submitted to the Régie only for the purpose of helping the parties reach a settlement.

Any change to these Rules, or the suspension or cancellation of a Contest, that affects Québec residents is subject to the Régie's approval where required.

14. Licence to entries

You keep the copyright in your photographs, and nominators keep the rights in their nominations. By entering, you grant the Organiser a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to reproduce, display, publish and share your entry, its title and caption, and your name as credit, on Down.Town, in the Downtown Dispatch and in Down.Town's social media and promotional material, to run and promote the Contest and to announce and archive its results. The licence covers the season and the display of Season 1 entries in a gallery or archive afterwards.

• We always credit you. We may crop or resize an entry to fit a layout, but we won't otherwise alter it.
• We won't sell your photo or license it to anyone else. Any other use needs a separate agreement with you.
• A Prize Sponsor may display the winning entries of the category or award it sponsored, with credit, only to announce the winners.
• You may withdraw an entry before judging begins by contacting us. After that, winning entries remain available for the winners' announcement and archive.

15. Publicity

Except where prohibited by law, each winner agrees that the Organiser and the relevant Prize Sponsor may use the winner's name, city, winning entry or nomination, a short statement and any photo of themselves the winner chooses to supply, in connection with the Contests, without further compensation.

16. Your promises

By entering, you confirm that your entry meets these Rules, that it is your own work, that you hold all the rights and permissions it needs, and that it does not infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy, image or other rights. To the extent the law allows, you are responsible for any claim that arises because this is not true.

17. Disqualification

The Organiser may disqualify any entry or entrant that breaks these Rules, gives false information, uses automated or bulk entry methods, tampers with the entry process or behaves abusively towards the judges, staff or other entrants. Any attempt to deliberately damage the website or undermine the Contests may break the law, and the Organiser reserves the right to seek remedies to the extent the law allows.

18. Privacy

Personal information collected for the Contests is used to run them, as described in our privacy policy. Winners' names, cities and winning entries are published. A winner's name and delivery details are shared with a Prize Sponsor only if the sponsor delivers the prize, and contest records are shared with the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux where required. Entry records are kept for the season and then as long as the law requires.

19. Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows, the Organiser, the Prize Sponsors and their employees, contractors and agents are not responsible for: lost, late, incomplete, damaged or misdirected entries; broken links or photos that cannot be viewed; failures of networks, servers, software, email or the form relay service; errors in the printing, publication or administration of the Contests; or any injury, loss or damage arising from taking part in a Contest or from accepting or using a prize. Nothing in these Rules limits rights that cannot be limited under applicable law, including Québec's consumer protection law.

20. Changes, suspension and cancellation

The Organiser may modify, suspend or cancel a Contest, in whole or in part, if fraud, technical failure or any other cause beyond its reasonable control affects its fair administration, subject to section 13. Any change will be posted on this page with a new date. If a Contest is cancelled, prizes may be awarded among the eligible entries received before cancellation, using the same judging criteria.

21. Governing law

These Rules are governed by the laws of the Province of Québec and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. Subject to section 13 and to any mandatory consumer rights, the courts of the judicial district of Montréal, Québec, have jurisdiction over any dispute about the Contests.

22. General and contact

• If there is any difference between these Rules and any other material about the Contests, including the contests page, emails and promotions, these Rules prevail.
• If any part of these Rules is found invalid, the rest still applies.
• Questions about the Contests? Use the contact form and choose the topic Contest, or email us.