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, please review the complete rules page. Please note that in order to enter the photo competition, you must be a PPA member!

Once you decide to enter, 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, which gives 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 IPC is a bracket style competition with multiple rounds of judging, with opportunities to win various awards. After the initial round of competition, 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. These top 10 highest-scoring images for each category are then placed as the top "seeds" in their bracket. From there, the remaining 22 images will be randomly assigned a bracket seed. In the following rounds, images are shuffled before each of the head-to-head judging rounds to make sure the pairings are completely randomized.

 
Jurors will have the opportunity to challenge results they disagree with, but they are given a limit on the number of challenges they can do per category. This judging process continues through the Round of 16 (Silver), Round of 8 (Gold), and Round of 4 (Platinum), and slowly narrows down the selection until it is just the top images in each category.

The final stage of judging is the Grand Imaging Award (GIA) Selection Round. In this round, 16 category winners compete for the Grand Imaging Award.

The IPC is judged live at Imaging USA 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee and it’s going to be a thrilling event! Our expert MC will take the stage, host the judging process, and provide the audience with a deeper understanding of the proceedings. The competition is open to the public and a great chance to connect with other photographers and soak up the spirit of competition! 

Photographers will also be able to vote on their favorite images from their phones with our interactive voting feature! Once you select your favorite image on your phone, you'll see how the audience score stacks up against our judges!

Prizes

Category winners will be recognized for their exceptional talent and receiving a trophy for the Diamond Photographer of the Year award along with a $1,000 check. The winner of the Grand Imaging Award will receive a trophy and take home a big check for $10,000! In total, there's $26,000 in prize money on the line.

Entry Categories

The IPC has 16 competition image categories. The winner from each category receives the Diamond Photographer of the Year Award and will take home a check for $1,000 cash. 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
• Sports
• Portrait groups/ Families (3 or more people)
• Yearly Theme: Wild Birds
• Newborn (up to 6 months) & Maternity
• Boudoir
• Children & 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! Submissions for the competition will open on July 8 and close September 18 at 5pm ET.  Show the world what you're capable of and compete to win at next year's International Photographic Competition.