Competition Official Rules

These Competition Official Rules apply to Modishads competitions unless a competition page publishes additional or different feature-specific rules. If specific competition rules conflict with these general rules, the specific competition rules control for that competition.

Entering a competition means you agree to these rules, the Modishads Terms of Service, the Safety & Community Guidelines, and any competition-specific requirements shown before entry.

Entrants must be at least 18 years old, have an eligible Modishads account in good standing, satisfy any required professional role, geographic, deadline, or verification requirement, and comply with all instructions for the competition.

Modishads may disqualify an entry or entrant that is ineligible, deceptive, fraudulent, unsafe, manipulated, submitted after a deadline, or otherwise inconsistent with these rules or the specific competition requirements.

When a competition includes a model as the subject of an entry, each participating model must complete the identity-verification requirement designated by Modishads before the competition can be published or the entry can become eligible, unless the competition rules expressly state otherwise.

This requirement exists in part to help ensure that competitions feature real people rather than fabricated identities or AI-generated models. AI-generated, synthetic, or materially deceptive substitute models are not eligible where authentic human participation is required.

Modishads may require additional identity or role verification from photographers, collaborators, judges, finalists, or winners when reasonably necessary to protect competition integrity.

The person submitting an entry must have the rights and permissions necessary to submit and display the work, including appropriate permission from photographed or depicted people and any other rights required by applicable law or contract.

Entries must not infringe copyrights, publicity rights, privacy rights, trademarks, contractual rights, or other rights of third parties. Modishads may request proof of authorization or remove an entry when a rights dispute is credible.

The submitting entrant is responsible for ensuring that any model, photographer, stylist, makeup artist, location owner, or other contributor whose rights may be implicated has granted the permissions reasonably necessary for the submission, judging, display, and promotional uses described in these rules.

If an entry contains more than one identifiable person, the entrant must have permission covering each depicted person whose authorization is legally required for the submission, judging, display, finalist use, or winning-entry promotional use described in these rules.

Except where a competition-specific rule expressly states otherwise, photographers and other copyright owners retain ownership of their submitted work. Entering a competition does not transfer copyright ownership to Modishads merely because an entry is submitted, selected as a finalist, or wins a prize.

A regular competition submission does not grant Modishads the broader winning-entry promotional license described below. Any ordinary platform rights needed to host, display, judge, and operate the competition are governed by these rules and the Modishads Terms of Service.

If an entry is selected as a finalist, but does not win or receive a prize, the entrant and applicable copyright owner grant Modishads a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to reproduce, display, publish, crop, resize, format, and use that finalist entry only in connection with that specific competition, its judging, finalist announcements, results, recap coverage, and archival competition gallery. Finalist status by itself does not grant Modishads the broader right to use the image in unrelated brand campaigns or promotion of future competitions.

If an entry wins a Modishads competition or receives a prize, the entrant and applicable copyright owner grant Modishads a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to reproduce, display, publish, transmit, crop, resize, format, adapt for layout, and otherwise use the winning entry for Modishads platform, editorial, archival, publicity, marketing, advertising, social-media, email, press, competition-gallery, and promotional purposes.

The winning-entry license allows Modishads to identify the work as a Modishads competition entry or winner and to use it in connection with promoting the competition, the participating creators, future Modishads competitions, and the Modishads brand. Where reasonably practical, Modishads may credit the photographer, model, or other credited creator, but failure to provide a credit does not invalidate the license unless applicable law requires otherwise.

The prize is consideration for the winner's participation and for the winning-entry rights granted under these rules. The photographer or copyright owner remains free to display, license, publish, sell, or otherwise use the work elsewhere, subject to any separate agreements they have made with models, clients, collaborators, or third parties.

Unless a competition-specific rule or separate written agreement expressly provides otherwise, Modishads does not receive the right to sell the winning photograph itself as standalone merchandise, prints, stock photography, NFTs, or unrelated third-party licenses. Those broader commercial uses require a separate agreement.

The entrant represents that all identifiable models and other persons depicted in a finalist or winning entry have authorized the uses reasonably necessary for Modishads to exercise the applicable license described above. Modishads may require a model release or other proof of permission before announcing, awarding, or publishing a finalist or winning entry.

No competition theme, prize, exposure opportunity, or creative concept requires or excuses unsafe conduct. Entrants must not create submissions by placing themselves or others at unreasonable risk, including unsafe ledges, active roadways, restricted property, hazardous structures, dangerous heights, or similar environments without appropriate lawful safeguards.

An entry may be rejected or disqualified if Modishads determines that its creation involved dangerous, illegal, coercive, or exploitative conduct.

A competition may use community voting, judges, panel scoring, editorial criteria, or a combination of methods. The applicable competition page will describe the material judging or voting structure when required.

Vote buying, bot voting, fake accounts, coordinated fraudulent voting, tampering, duplicate-account manipulation, judge interference, or other attempts to improperly influence a result are prohibited and may result in removal, disqualification, account enforcement, or adjustment of affected votes or scores.

A competition prize may be a fixed cash amount, a non-cash item or opportunity, a revenue-based prize, or another clearly described prize format. The competition page will identify the prize structure that applies.

Non-cash prizes may be subject to availability, substitutions of reasonably comparable value where disclosed or legally permitted, sponsor terms, delivery limitations, taxes, or other conditions described for the competition.

When a competition uses a revenue-based or rising-prize feature, the competition page may display a current value, progress indicator, goal, percentage allocation, or similar tracker. The competition creator or Modishads may specify what percentage of qualifying competition-page revenue is allocated to the prize, including percentages up to 100% where the feature permits it.

Displayed amounts may be provisional and may change because of invalid traffic, refunds, reversals, chargebacks, advertising adjustments, payment-processing adjustments, taxes, fraud review, or other stated exclusions. The final payable amount is determined after applicable adjustments and verification requirements are completed.

A person who wins a prize must complete any required identity verification before receiving prize money, property, or other restricted winnings. Modishads may also require tax, payout, eligibility, or contact information before releasing a prize.

If a winner has not completed required identity verification within 30 days after being notified or after the result becomes final, Modishads may determine that the winner has forfeited the right to the prize, subject to applicable law and any competition-specific rule that provides a different deadline.

Modishads may disqualify entries, correct scoring or voting errors, remove invalid votes, suspend prize distribution during an investigation, or take other reasonable measures to protect competition integrity.

If fraud, technical failure, security incidents, insufficient eligible entries, legal restrictions, sponsor withdrawal, force majeure, or other circumstances materially impair a competition, Modishads may modify, pause, reschedule, or cancel it where reasonably necessary, with notice appropriate to the circumstances.

Winners are responsible for federal, state, local, and other taxes or reporting obligations that apply to their winnings. Cash prizes and the fair market value of non-cash prizes may constitute taxable income to the winner under applicable law.

Before releasing a prize, Modishads may require taxpayer-identification information or completed tax documentation, including a Form W-9 or other applicable form, and may issue Form 1099 or other tax reporting documents when required by law. Modishads may withhold amounts where legally required.

Prize payments may be processed through third-party payment providers and may be subject to their verification, availability, compliance, and processing requirements.

Subject to applicable law, Modishads may make reasonable good-faith decisions regarding eligibility, verification, fraud review, rule interpretation, vote validity, scoring, and prize administration. Material competition-specific criteria should be applied consistently to similarly situated entrants.

Questions about a competition should be submitted through the support or contact method identified by Modishads or on the applicable competition page.