Registration for the highly anticipated new International Photographic Competition (IPC) for PPA members is just around the corner! Get ready to dive into the exhilarating competition by exploring the rules, format, prizes, and resources available to photographers considering entering this prestigious event. 

Competition Rules

Prior to participating in the competition, it’s imperative that you thoroughly review the complete rules page. As a fundamental guideline, PPA membership is required for entry.

You're free to submit as many images as you want for each category, but only one of them can make it to the round of 32 in each category. The judges will score your images based on four criteria: Composition, Impact, Style, and Technical Excellence. Each criterion can earn up to 25 points, giving you a shot at a total score of 100. Also, any images that snagged a merit in the International Photographic Competition before 2023 can't be entered, but feel free to submit images from the Merit Image Review process for the new IPC.

Competition Format

The new IPC is a bracket style competition with multi-round awards judging. After the initial round, the category finalist images are placed in brackets for head-to-head judging by a panel of jurors who evaluate them based on the four criteria. The top 10 highest-scoring images in each category will be the top seeds in their bracket. The remaining 22 images will be randomly assigned a bracket seed. In the following rounds, images will be shuffled before each of the head-to-head judgings to ensure that the pairings are completely randomized.

 
Jurors will have the opportunity to challenge results they disagree with, with a limit on the number of challenges per category. This judging process will continue through the Round of 16 (Silver), Round of 8 (Gold), and Round of 4 (Platinum), narrowing down the selection to the top images in each category. The final stage of judging is the Grand Imaging Award (GIA) Selection Round. In this round, the 16 category winners will compete for the Grand Imaging Award.

This Live IPC Judging will take place at Imaging USA 2025 in Dallas, Texas and it’s going to be a thrilling spectacle. An expert MC will take the stage, host the judging process, and provide the audience with a deeper understanding of the proceedings. The entire process will be conducted live and open to the public and the winners will receive recognition, prizes, and all the bragging rights. 

Prizes

Category winners will be recognized for their exceptional talent, receiving a trophy and the prestigious Diamond Photographer of the Year award, along with a $1,000 check. The winner of the Grand Imaging Award will receive a stunning trophy and also take home an impressive $10,000 cash prize! In total, that’s $26,000 worth of cash money on the line!

Entry Categories

In this year’s competition, there will be 16 competition image categories. The winner from each category will receive the Diamond Photographer of the Year Award and receive a $1,000 cash prize. Read the detailed descriptions for each of the 16 image categories here.

• Commercial

• Illustrative/Digital Art

• Landscape

• Wildlife

• Illustrative Portrait

• Natural Portrait

• Reportage/Photojournalism

• Day of Wedding

• Pre-wedding stylized shoot 

• Sports

• Yearly Theme: Portrait groups/ Families (3 or more people)

• Newborn (up to 6 months) and Maternity

• Boudoir

• Pets and Domestic animals

• Children and Teens (7 months to 16 years of age)

• High School Seniors (17 to 19 years of age)

Competition Resources

Read more FAQs about the competition here and join the PPA Photographic Competition’s Facebook Group for updates and information regarding the IPC. The Facebook Group is also an excellent place to ask your questions and receive answers in a supportive group of photographers invested in the competition. 

Mark your calendars! Entry submissions will be open from July 9 through September 12.  Show the world what you're capable of and let your photography take center stage at the International Photographic Competition.