Image // of the Year

And Now…

A Snazzy Bar Graph

To Commemorate How We Lived Out 2023

**Aware that our time is equivalent to 354%  This is what awesomeness affords you

Participants in this year’s competition have the following rules to abide by. Please give them a brief read. We also have tips scattered throughout on how you can bribe our judges.****

• Qualifying posts for Round 1 will have the following characteristics. If any are missing; the post is disqualified and will not be counted in the competition;
  • It will be a “grid post” as an “individual image” or a “carousel post” on your instagram account.
  • Making the Moment’s official instagram account [ @MakingTheMoment ] will be tagged clearly in the Caption of the post.
  • The competition’s Hashtag [ #MTMioty23 ] will be tagged clearly in the Caption of the post.
  • Your account may be a “private” or “Public” account”; but to ensure we may have an open and transparent competition, the posting [ your account ] account will need to allow our account [ @MakingTheMoment ] to follow back so that we can track your votes and post them publicly.
  • We encourage a “public” account to allow our instagram followers to track through to your image via our hashtags to allow for more voting; but we 100% respect your desire for privacy!  Some competitors last year temporarily switched their accounts to public during open voting to allow for this [ and simply reverted back after ]
  • The post will feature the nominated image file we will send to our competitors on Friday January 12th.
  • The post will not be officially posted on your instagram prior to Sunday January 14th at 12PM EST
• While creativity in the content surrounding the image in your post is encouraged [ perhaps you’re providing instructions for voting in a carousel post with video or text, or doing the same in a seperate reel ] the actual nominated image must not be edited in any way; it must clearly be shown in full in your posting without being cropped or changed from the image file we will send you.
• You may post your entry one time on one account. While you are free to use any methods to communicate to your followers the need to vote on your “official post “, only likes and comments that are made on your first qualifying  “official” post [ that specific grid post ] will be counted.
• Your official post must be an image post; it may not be a “story” or a “reel”.
  • Again; please use every tool to “self-market” your posting to your followers; just be very sure to have them actually “vote” on your official post itself.
• If your partner posts a completely separate post [ not a collaboration post ],  your partner may utilize their instagram account to help market your posting of your “official” nominated image post. However; likes or comments on their SEPARATE post are not to be counted towards your one official post [ with the exception of a “Instagram Collaborative Post” as described below ]
• Collaboration posts are encouraged and allowed between at most TWO instagram accounts [ the original nominee’s instagram account and a chosen collaboration partner ].  If a collaboration post is used, the shared comments / likes will be used to tally the votes.
• Entrants are permitted to tag other vendors / individuals in their nomination post [ Florists, Venues, Wedding Coordinators for instance ], but are not permitted to tag any instagram accounts that are photographers or videographers [ a bit of a conflict of interest so to speak 😉 ]
• Individual “Likes” or comments on your first official image post each count as a vote; voters do not need follow our account [ @MakingTheMoment ] on Instagram, but are encouraged to do so.
• Multiple comments [ while allowed ] from your followers on your post only count for one vote total [ for instance if your aunt sally comments over and over again “I love this image!” 38 times; it’s still worth one vote ]
• Round two finalists will consist of 10-20 entrants from round one.  After the top 10 entrants from Round one, only the next ten entrants with at least 20 votes on their image will be permitted to proceed to the final round of voting.
• Votes by snail mail, email, phone, knocks on the door, inbox messages, prank calls, cookie delivery, and any other method besides Instagram, do not count. We’ll take flowers though …
• Bribing judges is permitted, but only by personally dropping off our favorite smoothies or bourbons to the office
• Some entrants will have multiple images in Round 1 [ perhaps a couple had us photograph both their wedding and an Engagement Session ]. While we encourage the couple to use all nominated images in their posting [ a carousel post for a grid post or utilizing multiple images in a reel ] the couple is free to only focus on one of their images in their posting if they choose to.
• In the same token; each client / couple may only have one image proceed to the final round of voting.
• Bribes will not however affect final outcome.  They are still of course accepted and encouraged
• People may vote on as many photos as they’d like
• Generally speaking our favorite bourbons are single barrels.
• The commissioner of the image [ ergo the actual “Client” of Making the Moment ] is the actual prize winner, not necessarily the subject of the image
• All awards/prizes/credits must be claimed within 30 Days of issuance, or are considered forfeited
• Award credits and prizes hold no actual cash value
• This time of year we also like Gin. Katie drinks anything with alcohol.
• Employees or contractors of Making the Moment are not permitted to vote or “like” any images in the contest. Comments are permitted, but will not count towards the vote totals.
• If the right beverages are hard for you to find, we encourage you to just drop off hundred dollar bills
• No hundred dollar bills?  That’s fine – just bitcoin. Lots and lots of bitcoin.
• Nominated images from the event are selected exclusively by Making the Moment staff. Clients who had multi-day Indian weddings may have 2 or more entries. All nominees are final.
• Nominated peeps – please don’t complain about the image we chose and how much another image “shows my good side better” image should’ve been picked. We pick images unbiasedly that we think have a shot and stand out from the rest – it takes quite a bit of time for our staff to narrow it down to the best – so please trust us
• Final winners and vote tallies are up to the discretion of Making the Moment 🤣
• Order in which images are presented can be updated at the discretion of Making the Moment
• At any time if the client who commissioned the image wishes the image to be removed from the contest, the image will be removed from the contest and no longer eligible for any prize winnings
• At any time if a subject of the image [ or legal-guardian thereof ] wishes the image they are being shown to be removed from the contest, the image will be removed from the contest and the image and its respective client will no longer be eligible for any prize winnings.
• Only purchased, captured images in 2023 from full day weddings, engagement [ as well as any wedding from 2022 that was not released prior to last years Image of the Year, or any wedding that falls within 24 hours of the start of 2023 ] are eligible for this contest
• Making the Moment can for any reason remove or prevent an image or a contestant from the competition for any reason what-so-ever.
• Users who wish to vote, but who are without a Instagram account are still eligible for the contest by creating a free Instagram account

Fairly-Serious Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

• Comment votes containing profanity, violence, hate speech will be removed and not counted towards the vote tally to the given photograph
• Making the Moment may at any time cancel the contest, alter or adjust the rules at any given time
• This contest is void where prohibited by law. The contestants assume the total responsibility of knowing their local laws in regard to contests and are subject to any local, state, national or international laws. Making the Moment LLC accepts no responsibility for making these individual legal determinations.
• Making the Moment LLC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds, in its sole discretion, to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or the Website; to be in violation of the User Agreement of the Website; to be acting in violation of these Official Rules; to be acting in a unethical or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person, as determined by Making the Moment LLC at its sole discretion.
• Any use of cartel, robotic, automatic, macro, programmed or like entry methods will void all such entries by such methods and persons using any such methods will be disqualified.
• If for any reason this Contest is not capable of being conducted as planned due to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which, in the sole opinion of Making the Moment LLC, corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest, Making the Moment LLC reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. If the Contest is terminated due to tampering or technical difficulties prior to its expiration date, notice will be posted on Making the Moment LLC’s website at http://www.MakingTheMoment.com/.
• As a condition of participating in this Contest, you agree that any and all disputes which cannot be resolved between the parties, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, or any prizes awarded, or the determination of the Winner shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action exclusively by arbitration pursuant to the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association, then effective. Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances will you be permitted to obtain awards for, and you hereby waive all rights to claim punitive, incidental or consequential damages, or any other damages, including attorneys’ fees, other than your actual out-of- pocket expenses (i.e., costs associated with entering this Contest), and you further waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or your rights and obligations Making the Moment LLC’s rights and obligations in connection with this Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Ohio, U.S.A. in the County of Cuyahoga, without giving effect to the conflict of laws rules thereof, and you agree to the jurisdiction and venue of the federal, state and local courts for Westlake, Ohio for any disputes relating to the Contest or these Official Rules.

* Do not hit, bite or otherwise hurt other contestants
**** In all seriousness, you know we can’t be bought. The voting is completely up to you and your loved ones. Still, feel free to stop by with the above-mentioned goodness.