Capture CoMo Budget Photo Contest

The City of Columbia will be conducting a photo contest where the selected photos will be highlighted in the FY 25 City of Columbia Budget and the photographers of the top three images will be presented with framed copies of their selected photos. Our mission is to encourage community involvement in the budget process.

Participants may submit photographs taken of landscapes, cityscapes, artwork or landmarks that are unique to Columbia and the Greater Columbia community. Individuals submitting an entry must be of 18 years or older, and reside in the state of Missouri. No purchase is necessary, and void where prohibited by law. There is no entry fee to participate.

The contest sponsor is the City of Columbia Missouri, 701 E. Broadway, Columbia Missouri 65205.

Enter by emailing your photo and a completed entry form to the Finance Budget Office at: [email protected]. All entries must be received by 5 p.m. April 15, 2024.

By entering the contest, you represent that you own all legal rights to the photograph(s) submitted and that you grant the City of Columbia an irrevocable license to use, display, publish, and reproduce the photograph or digital image on paper, digitally, and on line for any purpose whatsoever. All photographers must sign their entry form, constituting an agreement with the City of Columbia.

Official entry forms are available online at the link provided above, or at 701 E. Broadway, Columbia Missouri 65205 through April 15, 2024, during normal working hours.

Entries must include a complete entry form with signature and a photograph of a landscape, cityscape, art work or other landmark that can be found in Columbia, Missouri. Entries containing low resolution, blurry, or of poor quality (such as obstructions or distortions), or a photo which is inappropriate in any way, may be rejected at City’s sole discretion. The City has the right in its sole discretion to reject any entry which is incomplete or does not appear to comply with all the contest rules. Electronic files containing the photo submitted will not be returned.

This contest will be conducted as follows:

From the beginning of the entry period, March 1, 2024 8 a.m. CST, through April 15, 2024 5 p.m. CST, photo entries will be accepted through e-mail.

From April 16 , 2024 through April 26, 2024, the City of Columbia Finance department based upon the following designated objective, selection criteria, will determine 12 contestants. 

Objective criteria in which the top photos will be chosen are:

•  Aesthetic Composition
•  Picture Clarity and Quality
•  Promotion of the City of Columbia

Members of the public will have the opportunity to vote between the 12 entries on the City’s Facebook page story May 6 and May 8. The 12 entries will be paired together in a two-round bracket system where the highest polling image from each matchup will advance until only the three final images that will be used in the FY25 budget remain. 

Photographers of the final three selections will be notified by email or phone. A list of these photographers can be obtained on the City of Columbia website at CoMo.gov/finance/budget-photo-contest. 

Prizes: No cash prizes will be given. Photographers of the final three selections will receive a framed version of their picture that will be included in the fiscal year 2025 budget. Photographs will be shown online, in City Hall, and throughout the community as part of the promotion of The City of Columbia.

The City of Columbia will not publish the submitting photographer’s address, or other identifying information, other than first and last name on the entry. Please note that all entries are open, public records and subject to sunshine law request.

The City of Columbia along with any affiliates, sponsors, and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents, are not liable for any claims by the contest winners and participants.

This contest is not open to advertising or promotional agencies and no company name or logo, outside of the City of Columbia logo, shall be used in a photograph.

By submitting a photo with a completed entry form, you certify that you are the original photographer to grant the rights described in the following paragraph.

Except as specifically provided herein, by entering the contest, you hereby grant to the City of Columbia, its licensees, distributors, agents, representatives, and other authorized users a perpetual, nonexclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, sub-licensable, and transferrable (in whole or part) worldwide license under all copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, privacy and publicity rights and other intellectual property rights you own or control to use, reproduce, transmit, display, exhibit, distribute, index, comment on, modify, create derivative works based upon, perform and otherwise exploit your entry (including without limitations of the photograph) in whole or in part, in all media formats and channels now known or here after devised for any and all purposes including entertainment, news, advertising, promotional, marketing, publicity, trade, or commercial purposes, all without further notice to you, with or without attribution, and without the requirement of a permission from or payment to you or to any other person or entity. Nothing herein any way obligates sponsor to use any materials submitted, except for the winning photos and or those deemed necessary by the City of Columbia Missouri.