Excitement for next year’s International Photographic Competition (IPC) is already ramping up. Registration for PPA’s IPC opened June 30, 2026 and ends Sept. 17. The results of the first round of judging will be released Nov. 3. Live judging of the top 32 images in each category will take place at Imaging USA 2027 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jan. 30, 2027, and Feb. 1, 2027.

As in the past, this year’s live International Photographic Competition judging at Imaging USA 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee, was a nail-biter. During the event, emceed by Booray Perry, M.Photog.M.Wed.Photog.Cr., CPP, the top 16 images from each category were pitted against one other in a bracket-style tournament. Five trained jurors decided which of two images would advance, thus narrowing a pool of 16 down to eight, then four, then two, then one Grand Imaging Award winner. To rachet up the excitement, the audience used an app to cast their votes on which images should move forward. That vote was tallied on the screen alongside those of the jurors. The winners in each of the 16 categories were awarded Diamond Photographer status, a trophy, and $1,000. The Grand Imaging Award winner received a trophy and $10,000.

Sveta Butko took that top prize this year for her striking portrait, titled “Michal,” which competed in the children and teens category. She created the image while teaching a workshop in Israel and immediately knew her subject Michal was something special. “Her eyes,” Butko says, when asked what she thinks makes the image so compelling.  

Sveta Butko, on Her Image and Her Win

When Coppell, Texas-based fine art portrait and family photographer Sveta Butko learned she’d won the Grand Imaging Award in PPA’s 2026 International Photographic Competition (IPC), she was stunned. Butko grew up in Russia and only moved to the United States in July 2025, after living in Israel for 18 years. She entered her image “Michal” into IPC to gain visibility for her work in the U.S. But when live judging commenced in the Nashville, Tennessee, ballroom at Imaging USA in January, Butko got more than she’d dreamed of: “Michal” took the top prize.

A photographer friend who was watching the live judging notified Butko of her win, since she was not there. “He sent me a message and said, ‘Congratulations,’” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Oh, thank you,’” she says, assuming he was congratulating her on being a finalist. When he clarified that she was the Grand Imaging Award winner, she couldn’t believe it. “My heart was pumping so fast, and it was the evening, you know, and I couldn’t sleep,” she laughs. “It was really surprising.” While she was pleased to receive the cash prize, she says what meant the most to her was knowing her image impacted the IPC jurors. “For me, it was about the fact that my image made them feel something, that it changed something in them,” she says. 

Butko, who has led photography workshops around the world and whose portraits grace the covers of dozens of international book covers, shares how she created her award-winning image. “The lighting setup is very simple,” she explains, describing it as two continuous light sources. What makes the portrait striking is the rapport she cultivated with her young subject, whom she describes as beautiful and special. “It’s more about empathy and more about the connection between the photographer and the model,” Butko says. The subject’s eyes, a “wonderful glance that is not so unusual for her,” and the bond the two shared lend the image its power, she contends. “It’s more about what you feel.”  

GRAND IMAGING AWARD WINNER

Children and Teens
Michal
Sveta Butko
Sveta Butko Fine Art Portraiture
Coppell, Texas

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: In preparation for a children’s portraiture workshop at her studio in Israel, Sveta Butko posted a model call. “Quite unexpectedly, this girl’s mother sent me a photo of her daughter,” she explains. “The moment I saw it, I knew she was exactly the type I had been looking for. She had a very expressive look, with striking eyes and a unique presence that immediately caught my attention.” 

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF85mm F1.2 L USM lens with a UV filter

EXPOSURE: 1/200 second at f/2.8, ISO 250

LIGHTING: Two Godox FV150s, one from the right to create a Rembrandt lighting pattern, and the second on the background from the left

POST-CAPTURE: Butko used Adobe Photoshop for color corrections and skin retouching.

DIAMOND AWARD WINNERS

Reportage/Photojournalism
Judgement Day
Rich Cox, M.Photog., CPP
Rich Cox Photo
West Norriton, Pennsylvania

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: While visiting Philadelphia, “I came across a man lying on the sidewalk in the late afternoon,” explains Rich Cox. The man was unconscious and unresponsive but breathing normally. “I positioned myself low on the sidewalk behind his head and took a series of images from this position, deliberately waiting for passersby.”

CAMERA & LENS: Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm F2.8 lens

EXPOSURE: 1/60 second at f/8, ISO 1250

LIGHTING: Available light

POST-CAPTURE: Contrast adjustments, cropping, and dodging and burning were done in Adobe Photoshop and Camera Raw.

Landscape
Spiritual Sunrise
Kimberly S. Olker, M.Photog.M.Wed.Photog.Cr., CPP
Olker Photography
Rocklin, California

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: Kimberly S. Olker made this photo of the iconic St. Thomas Church in Slovenia while traveling with a group of photographers. They rose before sunrise to head to the remote spot, guided by two travel photography experts. “As the sun crested the mountains, the church emerged from the shifting fog, beautifully illuminated by the morning sunlight.”

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF70-200mm F2.8 L IS USM lens

EXPOSURE: 1/15 second at f/20, ISO 100

LIGHTING: Natural light

POST-CAPTURE: Using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, Olker merged three images into a panoramic composition. She made standard adjustments for exposure, highlights, shadows, and sharpening, and performed minor retouching to remove sensor spots and small distractions.

Newborn and Maternity
Better Together
Lisa Cory
Lisa Cory Photography
Findlay, Ohio

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM lens

EXPOSURE: 1/200 second at f/2.8, ISO 200

LIGHTING: The main light was a Profoto B10 with a Westcott 7-foot umbrella with double diffusion for softer light. It was positioned camera right, above the babies, and feathered slightly toward them to fill the scene.

POST-CAPTURE: Abode Lightroom and Photoshop were used for global color corrections and balancing. Retouching was done to remove background distractions such as clips, the babies’ heart monitor wires, a pacifier, and the parent’s hand.

Illustrative/Digital
Embrace
Cindy Strupp, M.Photog.M.Wed.Photog.M.Artist.Cr., CPP
Revelation Photography
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: Cindy Strupp bought a bouquet of tulips and photographed them as singles and in groups so that she could paint the images. “This image of the two tulips leaning on each other drew my attention because as I placed them in the vase … the leaves were slightly intertwined to look like they were embracing,” she says. As she painted the image, she wrapped the leaves a bit more to enhance that look. 

CAMERA & LENS: Nikon D70, Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4 lens

EXPOSURE: 0.5 second at f/16, ISO 100

LIGHTING: Natural light

POST-CAPTURE: Strupp did basic edits in Adobe Lightroom and digital painting in Photoshop.

Wildlife
Ambush
John Bumgardner, M.Photog.
Golden, Colorado

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: “We were on a boat with gimbals on the Chobe River” in Botswana, says John Bumgardner. “It was getting dark, and as we were leaving an area with hippos, one lunged toward us, threatening the boat. I took 20 frames per second while he lunged.”

CAMERA & LENS: Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR-S lens

EXPOSURE: 1/1,000 second at f/2.8, ISO 1100

LIGHTING: Natural light

POST-CAPTURE: Using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, he cropped and sharpened the image, used Denoise, changed the white balance, and dodged and burned the image.

Pets and Domesticated Animals
Shadow Dancer Beneath the Moon
Judy Reinford, M.Photog.M.Artist.Cr., CPP
Judy Reinford Photographic Artist
Bath, Pennsylvania

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: The portrait features Hendrika, a Friesian mare Judy Reinford photographed at the Renaissance Friesians farm in Nashville, Tennessee. “Even in the bright afternoon light, there was a quiet drama about her that translated beautifully through the lens,” says Reinford.

CAMERA & LENS: Sony Alpha 1, Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS lens

EXPOSURE: 1/2,000 second at f/6.3, ISO 3200

LIGHTING: Natural light

POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe Photoshop, Reinford removed the background, cropped in around the horse’s face, and then added in a black background. She created the lighting she wanted with the history brush and then digitally painted the image with a combination of the mixer brush and regular Photoshop brushes.

Portrait Groups/Families
Fueling Our Imagination
Dana Rose, M.Photog.M.Artist.
Rose Designs Fine Art Portraiture
Alvord, Iowa

CAMERA & LENS: Nikon Z 7, Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S lens

EXPOSURE: 1/200 second at f/8, ISO 200

LIGHTING: Godox AD300 with a 48-inch octabox as the main light, camera right, and an AlienBees 800 with a large strip box behind the subject, camera right

POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe Photoshop, Dana Rose composited together multiple images, hand-drew some elements, such as the waves and the water, and then painted everything to blend the image.

Boudoir
Chameleon
Andrew Hiorth
Fable Studios
Vaughan, Ontario

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: Andrew Hiorth’s initial intent was to have the subject’s body paint be at a 1:1 scale with the backdrop so the subject would blend in perfectly. But through collaboration with the hair and makeup team, “We did a smaller scale with the body paint, being very meticulous in the lines and the sections of the black and white, to give us better quality and to have the subject stand out from the backdrop rather than be a part of it. The results were incredible in camera, and the image became something that gave us goosebumps.”

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM lens

EXPOSURE: 1/200 second at f/4, ISO 2000

LIGHTING: One Aputure 600d at full power through an 8x8-inch scrim placed at the head of the subject and two Profoto B10Xs with a 1x3-foot strip box with grids placed on either side of the subject

POST-CAPTURE: Using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, Hiorth did skin retouching and removed the legs of the ladder he was standing on to capture the image from overhead, looking down onto the subject.

Commercial
Dark Knight Reborn
Duane Miller, M.Photog.
Duane Miller Photography
Mt. Juliet, Tennessee

CAMERA & LENS: Nikon D850, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens

EXPOSURE: 1/30 second at f/8, ISO 80

LIGHTING: Available light

POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, Duane Miller converted the image to black and white and did a lot of masking to isolate and tone individual parts of the building. The clouds were composited in from another image in which a path blur had been applied to the sky.

High School Seniors
Keys to Her Soul
Megan Drane, M.Photog.M.Artist.
Firefly Nights Photography
Naperville, Illinois

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: “She was a pianist who was going to a prestigious music college to major in piano and songwriting,” says Megan Drane of her subject. “I knew I wanted to create a special picture to capture that aspect of her. I loved the idea of creating a dress out of the piano keys. I made the scarf by folding sheets of music in half and then taping them together.”

CAMERA & LENS: Sony Alpha 7 IV, Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM lens

EXPOSURE: 1/200 second at f/7.1, ISO 320

LIGHTING: Drane positioned one Paul C. Buff Einstein flash unit with a 36-inch octabox camera left, feathered across the subject. She also photographed her own piano and its keys to use to composite the dress together. 

POST-CAPTURE: “There was a lot of digital creation here to create the dress,” says Drane, who used Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for post processing. She used her images of the piano keys, some of them depressed, to composite the pieces of the dress. She finalized the image with some color balancing and shading.

Sports
Look Out!
Stephen Stookey, M.Photog.Cr.
Stephen Stookey Photography
Fort Worth, Texas

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: “This rank bull exploded from the gate with eyes wide open, snot and spit flying, and dispatched the rider in a few seconds,” explains Stephen Stookey, who captured the photo at a rodeo in Abilene, Texas. “The range of emotions from the rodeo officials behind the gate conveys the drama. The real heroes in the image are the two bull fighters who quickly stepped between the bull and the downed rider.”

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R5 Mark II, Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens, and a Canon Control Ring Mount Adapter EF-EOS R

EXPOSURE: 1/1,000 second at f/3.5, ISO 12,800

LIGHTING: Available light

POST-CAPTURE: Stookey used Adobe Lightroom for the raw file conversion and basic adjustments, Nik Color Efex to convert the image to black and white, and Photoshop to dodge and burn and crop the image.

Illustrative Portrait
Unfinished
Emmalee Rathsam, M.Photog., CPP
Emmalee Rathsam Photography
Kansas City, Missouri

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: “This image was inspired by the unfinished paintings and sketches by Picasso, Jacques-Louis David, and Leonardo da Vinci,” explains Emmalee Rathsam, “all of which I saw at the Louvre and the Picasso Museum during my trip to Paris.”

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM lens

EXPOSURE: 1/160 second at f/14, ISO 100

LIGHTING: Rathsam used a Godox strobe, a Larson 4x6-foot soft box, a Phottix Ares II Flash Trigger Receiver, and a white v-flat for the portrait.

POST-CAPTURE: She used Adobe Lightroom for minor adjustments and Photoshop for the artwork. She used a Wacom tablet to “paint in” the image using a layer mask and wet media brushes, giving it a watercolor effect. She then sketched over the image with a fine black pencil brush to give it pen lines and added ink marks with splatter brushes. To add texture, Rathsam photographed watercolor paper and overlaid that onto the image.

Yearly Theme: Wild Birds
Wall to Wall Chaos
Joseph Gerard Giitter, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
Bohemian Photoworks
Omaha, Nebraska

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: “Every spring and fall, large flocks of migrating snow geese make the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge their temporary home,” says Joseph Gerard Giitter. “Occasionally, a bald eagle will fly over the roosting snow geese, causing them to all take off at once.” He notes that the key to capturing the geese in motion was to use a very fast shutter speed along with a narrow aperture to ensure the geese were sharp.

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM lens with an RF2x extender

EXPOSURE: 1/2,500 second at f/13, ISO 640

LIGHTING: Natural light

POST-CAPTURE: In Photoshop, he cropped the image for the desired aspect ratio.

Day of Wedding
The Guests Can Wait
Dan McClanahan,M.Photog.M.Artist.Cr.
McClanahan Studio
Ames, Iowa

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: “At every wedding I challenge myself to capture one epic shot that delivers beyond what’s expected, and this was it for this couple,” says Dan McClanahan. The guests were having cocktails on the balcony in the background, and the stormy clouds made the scene moodier than expected, so he exposed for the sky and used a flash through an octabox placed camera right to light the couple, brighter than the highlights behind them. His assistant tossed the veil.

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS 5DS R, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II lens

EXPOSURE: 1/50 second at f/5.6, ISO 1600

LIGHTING: He used a Profoto B1 through a 36-inch Westcott Rapid Box Switch Octa.

POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe Lightroom he processed the raw image to pull back the detail in the shadows and highlights. He stacked exposures in Adobe Photoshop to remove his light and his assistant from the image, and applied dodge and burn and color grading to complete the image.

Natural Portrait
Radical Self-Acceptance
Michelle Caudle
Silver Moon Photography
Tampa, Florida

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: In 2023, Michelle Caudle was approached by a gallery owner in search of a portrait photographer to create works for a show featuring imagery of cancer survivors during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “Enter Jeza, one of three stunning models for the show who was willing to be part of something so personal and intimate,” says Caudle. “She arrived to the session ready to bare her soul with vulnerability and humility, and in doing so, this image touched the hearts of so many others.” 

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM lens

EXPOSURE: 1/320 second at f/4, ISO 1600

LIGHTING: A Godox AD200 Pro with a Glow 48-inch EZ Lock Octa Quick Softbox on a 12-foot Cheetah Stand

POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe Photoshop, Caudle did light color correction, contrast and saturation adjustments, and skin retouching.

Amanda Arnold is a senior editor.