Green Hack Photobomb Contest

Contest Details

Contest Title: Green Hack Photobomb Contest

Contest Duration: October 22, 2025, 00:00 Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) to November 4, 2025, 18:00 Mountain Standard Time (MST)

Contest Description: Green Hack Photobomb Contest is a creative photo contest that promotes adopting green hacks in everyday life through artistic exposition. This contest emphasizes the urgency for climate action through the symbolic significance of making a green hack as the main focus of a photo, and it also accounts for the current situation of the world with the presence of photobombers in a photo representing entities that distract humanity from the reality of climate change through misinformation and denial.

For the purpose of this contest, two important definitions are defined below:

1) green hack — (noun) a simple, clever, and often cost-effective trick, shortcut, or conscious change in daily habits that helps an individual reduce their environmental impact, save resources, and contribute to a more sustainable way of living.

2) photobomb - (noun/verb) the act or result of spoiling a photograph of a person or thing by unexpectedly appearing in the camera's field of view as the picture is taken.

Contest Administrator: Global Shapers Edmonton Hub

Contest Runners: Global Shapers Edmonton Hub, Global Shapers Vancouver Hub, Global Shapers Halifax Hub, Global Shapers Toronto Hub

Eligible Participants: Canadian Residents (except Quebec residents), ages eighteen (18) and above. The participant must not be a member of any organizations listed as Contest Runners.

Contest Rules: An eligible contest entry meets the following criteria:
1) The participant has completely filled the contest submission form found at https://globalshapersyeg.com/green-hack-submit
2) The photo and caption submitted are deemed appropriate by the Contest Runners. It must not contain nudity, profanity, violence, drugs, and offensive remarks towards any race, gender, religion, culture, or demographics.
3) The submitted entry (Photo and Caption) must be original content created by the participant. Entries that are primarily generated or created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools will be disqualified. The Contest Runners reserve the exclusive right to determine, in their sole discretion, whether an entry violates this rule.
4) The file size of the photo submitted must not exceed 20MB. The caption submitted must not exceed 500 words.
5) The submitted entry must align with the Contest Description. The Contest Runners will decide whether the submitted photo and caption aligns with the Contest Description.
6) The participant must be in the photo submitted. The participant can either be a photobomber in the photo or be the person interacting with the green hack. Another person or animal can also become one of the photobomber in the photo. There is no limit to the number of people or animals in the photo.

By submitting an entry, the participant grants the Contest Runners a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, reproduce, publish, display, and promote the submitted content (photo and caption) in connection with the contest and the organization’s mission.

The decision of the Contest Runners on the eligibility of the submission entry cannot be contested by the participants. Each participant will receive an email to notify them whether their entry has been accepted or not. All eligible submission entries’ photos, captions as well as participants’ name and city location will be publicly posted on the Green Hack Photobomb Gallery found at https://globalshapersyeg.com/green-hack-gallery any time during the Contest Duration and they will remain posted on that webpage indefinitely after the Contest ends.

Winner Selection Process: The Contest Runners will select the winners from the eligible submission entries based on the following equally weighted criteria (maximum 25 points per criterion, 100 points total score):

1) Creativity (0-35 points): Assesses the originality and ingenuity of the entry, including the unique interpretation of the "green hack" and the imaginative execution of the "photobomb" as an allegorical symbol.

2) Impact (0-20 points): Measures the emotional and cognitive effect of the entry. Does the photo and caption provoke thought, raise urgency, or inspire a viewer to take climate action or adopt a "green hack"?

3) Meaningfulness (0-35 points): Evaluates the clarity and depth of the connection between the visual elements (photo) and the written narrative (caption). Does the submission clearly and effectively convey the contest's theme?

4) Technical Quality (0-10 points): Judges the quality of the photography, including composition, lighting, focus, resolution, and overall editing skill (excluding AI generation).

The entry with the highest overall score in each designated city/category will be selected as the potential winner. Tie-breaking procedures will be determined by the Contest Administrator based on the highest score in the "Creativity" criterion. The judges' scores and the final results of the winner selection process are final and cannot be contested by the participants.

Prizes: There will be 5 contest Official Winners in total. There will be one (1) Official Winner will be picked from each of the following cities based on their selected City of Residence in the contest submission form: Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, and Halifax. There will also be one (1) Official winner picked from submissions with “Other (Canada)” as their City of Residence in the contest submission form. One (1) $50 Vanilla Prepaid Gift Card will be awarded to each Official Winner.

Winners Announcement Date: Potential Winners will be announced on November 6, 2025, at 9:00 Mountain Standard Time (MST) through a post on Global Shapers Edmonton’s Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages with links below:

1) Facebook: Global Shapers Edmonton: https://www.facebook.com/YEGShapers/
2) Instagram: Global Shapers Edmonton (@yegshapers): https://www.instagram.com/yegshapers/
3) LinkedIn: Global Shapers Edmonton Hub: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/global-shapers-edmonton-hub

The Potential Winners will also receive an email on the email address they entered in the contest submission form notifying them that they won the contest and how they can claim their prizes.

Claiming Prizes: Potential Winners will be contacted by the Contest Administrator (globalshapersyeg@gmail.com) on November 6, 2025 after 9:00 Mountain Standard Time (MST) by email on the email address they entered in the contest submission form notifying them that they won the contest. Attached in the same email is the “Declaration, Release, and Indemnity Agreement” document. This document must be completely filled up, signed and returned through email to globalshapersyeg@gmail.com by November 15, 2025, 23:59 Mountain Standard Time (MST). Failure to do so will result to forfeiture of the prize. Upon successful verification of the completed and signed document, the Potential Winner will be declared an Official Winner, and the Prize will be delivered to the winner by mail to the address provided in the same document. The Contest Runners are not responsible for any lost, damaged, or misdirected mail. In case of a forfeiture of prize by the original winner, a new winner will be selected by the Contest Runners.

Alternate Winner Selection: In case of a forfeiture of prize by the original Potential Winner, an Alternate Winner will be selected by the Contest Runners using the same judging criteria. The Alternate Winner will be contacted through email and must follow the same process of claiming the prize as explained in the “Claiming Prizes” section. Deadlines for claiming the prize will be specified in the email that notifies them as an Alternate Winner. This Alternate Winner selection process will be repeated up to a maximum of three (3) attempts. If no eligible winner is confirmed after the third attempt, the prize associated with that location will be deemed void and will not be awarded.