Fair enough to ask

No. Judges see entries with all donation information removed. A ten cent entry and a five hundred dollar entry are indistinguishable at judging. The donation is the price of admission, not a bid.

A free comp gets flooded with lazy entries, and a paid one means someone has to hold your money. Sending everyone to Givealittle solves both. It filters for people who care, and the money does something useful.

Through our Givealittle page, which pays out directly to the I Am Hope Foundation, the charity behind Gumboot Friday. Elite Exposure never receives it, holds it, or forwards it.

Givealittle charges a 5% platform fee, and most donors choose to top up to cover it, so roughly 98c in every dollar reaches the charity. Donations over $5 earn you a New Zealand charitable giving tax credit. Your receipt comes from Givealittle, not from us.

Not to enter. We only ask the shortlist for theirs before winners are announced, because it's the easiest way to confirm a photo is really yours. Anyone can save a JPEG off Instagram. Almost nobody has the original RAW.

So enter with just your edit, but hang on to the original. Shot on a phone, or a camera that only writes JPEG? The original unedited file straight off the device is fine.

One entry per person, per round. Picking your best one is half the battle.

Yes. It has to have been taken within the last 30 days.

That's the whole idea. This isn't a competition for the best thing on your hard drive, it's a reason to go out this month and shoot something. We check the date in the file's metadata when we shortlist, so an old photo will get pulled.

From Round 02, yes. Each month gets its own theme so everyone's shooting the same brief, and entries split into two leagues judged separately: Pro for anyone who shoots cars for money, and Beginner for everyone else.

Round 01 is deliberately wide open. No theme, no divisions, everyone in together.

Fully generated images are out. Normal editing is fine. Exposure, colour, dodge and burn, cloning out a bin or a stray sign. Compositing a different sky or generating parts of the car isn't. If you're unsure, say what you did in the form and we'll give you a straight answer.

Anyone living in New Zealand. Under 18s are welcome but need a parent or guardian's okay first, and prize money is paid to their account.

We email all three placegetters first, then announce on Instagram and Facebook. Everyone who entered gets an email either way, so you won't be left guessing.

Nothing you haven't agreed to. We can post it to promote the competition, always credited and tagged. We don't sell it, licence it to anyone, or use it in paid advertising. You own it, and you can pull that permission any time by emailing us.

Monthly. Round 01 is the proof-of-numbers round. The plan is sponsor-backed prizes from Round 02 onward.

They refresh every hour, so a fresh entry or donation might not have landed yet. If it still looks off after a couple of hours, flick us an email.