Image Competition Overview

Instructions for competitors, please review prior to planning for competition entry.

 

IMAGE COMPETITION RULES & REGULATIONS

There will be (4) four image competitions per year: each on the second Monday of February, May, August and November (or as adjusted by the Board of Directors). Category winners from the November competition will be awarded the CIPPA Photographer of the Year award for that category at the January Awards Dinner Gala.

 

1. ELIGIBILITY – Any member in good standing. All Active, Associate, Sustaining Service, Honorary and Student members may enter images in competition.

 

2. ENTRIES ALLOWED- For the years 2026 & 2027 each member may submit 4 images. More than one photograph of the same subject must be created so that they produce entirely different photographs. The number of entries per image comp will be decided at the beginning of the year at the discretion of the VP of Image Comp.

 

3. ENTRY FEE
An entry fee of $10 per image will be charged.

 

4. IMAGE SIZE
Format Images: Size = 4000 pixels on the long side, JPG, sRGB or RGB at 150dpi, 50% quality. 

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5. COMPETITION DATES

- Entry deadline: 12:00 midnight the Thursday prior to the Competition

- Competition Dates are the second Monday of each quarter: February, May, August, November

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6. SUBMIT IMAGES by email to Danholmesphoto@gmail.com

 

7. IMAGE FILE NAMES

- File names must be submitted in the following format: 

    Category_Title_Your Name    

- Please use spaces between the words in your titles and your name, and underscores between Category, Title, and your name.  

 

Examples:  

N_A Green Leaf_Minor White.jpg          

L_A Very Deep Canyon_Edward Weston.jpg         

I_The King of Beasts_Ernest Hemingway.jpg

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8. ENTRY LIMITATIONS:

- Images may not be submitted if they have received a Merit score or higher in a previous CIPPA, PPC, or PPA Image Competition. 

- Images from a previous CIPPA, PPC or PPA competition that did not receive a Merit score may be submitted. 

- Images submitted to any other competition or affiliate - domestic or international may be entered regardless of score or award. 

 

Abbreviations & Categories:

PJ - Photojournalism 

N - Nature / Wildlife

L - Landscape

LS - Lifestyle

PS - Portrait Studio

PE - Portrait Environmental

C - Commercial

AR - Architecture / Industrial

AL - Album

W - Wedding

FE - Fashion/Editorial

I - Illustrative

ON - Open Nature, Animals, & Landscape

OP - Open People & Events

NA - New Artist

EI - Electronic Imaging

CI - Creative Imaging

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9.  CERTIFICATION of RESPONSIBILITY: Entrants agree that they have created, composed and made the original and that the photography, processing, and any special effects were made by the person submitting the image or under their direction. Photographs made under the supervision of an instructor are ineligible for image competition. Any entry that has merited 80 or higher at CIPPA local, regional, or national competitions will not be eligible.

 

10. CLASSIFICATION OF ENTRIES
Color, black-and-white, hand-colored, or any photographically derived images are eligible. The maker of the photograph shall designate the Category in which the image is to compete. 

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11. JUDGING PROCEDURES
The point system uses scores from 100 to 0.   Images are judged utilizing the 12 Elements of a PPA merit image.

 

Scoring levels:

Exceptional 100-95   
Superior 94-90   
Excellent 89-85   
Deserving of a Merit 84-80   
Above Average 79-76   
Average 75-74   
Acceptable 73-70     
Unacceptable 69-0     

 

12 Elements: Impact. Center of Interest. Creativity. Image Presentation. Style. Subject Matter. Composition. Technique. Lighting. Storytelling. Color Harmony. Technical Excellence/Image Quality

 

Selection of Judges – The Image Competition Chairperson shall select at least three and no more than five judges.

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Image Competition Monitor – the Image Competition Chairperson or designee is the person responsible for running the image competition.

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Judges’ Comments – It will be up to the Image Competition Monitor to either limit the time allotted per judges’ comments or the number of judges allowed to comment. This is to expedite the image competition while giving the maker sufficient time to receive adequate critique of their images.

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Challenges - Any image that receives a score 10 points higher or lower than any judge’s score will automatically be challenged. A judge or judges may discuss or critique the images only after all scores have been recorded. Judges may challenge another judge's score decision. After the challenge is discussed, the image will be rescored. 

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Final Decision – The Image Competition Chairperson (Monitor) shall decide any questions not covered in these rules and their decision will be final.

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Notification of judging results – Image competition scores of each quarter will be emailed to each member of the association. Merited images will be posted on the Gallery at www.cippa.org.

 

12. AWARDS

Images receiving a score of 80 or above shall be awarded an "Award of Merit" ribbon. The top image in each category shall be awarded a "Best of Class" ribbon. In the case of a tie, the judges shall decide by a process of elimination. The images from Best of Class that score 80 or above will then be judged by a process of elimination for Best of Show, Second, and Third places.

 

Annual Awards:

A. Eligibility- To be eligible for any of the Category Awards below, the photographer must have entered at least two (2) of the four (4) image competitions throughout the calendar competition year.

Category Awards:
Best of Photojournalism 
Best of Nature / Wildlife
Best of Landscape
Best of Lifestyle
Best of Portrait Studio
Best of Commercial
Best of Architecture / Industrial
Best of Album
Best of Wedding
Best of Fashion/Editorial

Best of Illustrative
Best of Open Nature, Animals, & Landscape
Best of Open People & Events
Best of New Artist
Best of Electronic Imaging
Best of Creative Imaging

 

B. The above awards require a photographer to enter a minimum of four (4) entries in a specific category, spanning at least two (2) separate competitions (with the exception of the album category, where only a total of two (2) entries are required in at least two (2) competitions).

 

C. The award is given based on the highest aggregate score of an individual’s four (4) entries in a single category. Only a photographer’s four (4) highest scores are totaled. If there is a tie between two or more photographers in any category, the photographer with the highest-scoring image will be the winner of that category.

 

D. The above Category Award(s) are given only if there are four (4) or more image entries competing in that particular category throughout the year, with at least one image scoring 80 or above. If any image scores 79 or below, it can be re-entered in any future competition.

 

E. The Photographer of the Year Award is awarded to the individual with the highest aggregate score of their four (4) best scores in three different categories. An individual must have entered at least six (6) entries spanning at least two (2) separate competitions to be eligible for this award. The first tiebreaker will be the next highest score in any category. The next tiebreaker will be the next highest score in a non-duplicated (twice scored) category

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revised 7/5/2026