Wildlife
Images must feature wild animals photographed in their natural environment. This includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and marine life. Photos should reflect authentic wildlife behavior and natural settings.
Zoo animals, game farm animals, rehabilitation center animals, or any captive wildlife are NOT permitted and will be disqualified.
Legal / Eligibility Notes:
By entering this category, entrants confirm that no animals were harmed, trapped, restrained, baited in a harmful way, or placed in distress for the purpose of creating the image. Entrants must follow all local, state, and federal wildlife laws when creating images. The entrant must be the sole creator and copyright holder of the image.
Landscapes
Images must highlight natural scenery such as mountains, forests, deserts, oceans, rivers, waterfalls, or other natural environments. Human or building elements may be present but must not be the primary subject of the image.
Legal / Eligibility Notes:
Entrants are responsible for ensuring they had legal access to the location where the image was captured and that all applicable laws, park regulations, and land use rules were followed. Images must be original work created by the entrant and must not infringe on any third-party rights.
Flora & Macro
Images must feature plant life, fungi, insects, or other tiny creatures, or close-up/macro representations of natural subjects such as flowers, leaves, seeds, moss, fungi, insects, or natural textures and details.
Legal / Eligibility Notes:
Entrants must not damage, remove, or disturb protected or endangered plant species or wildlife to create an image. Ethical treatment of insects and small creatures is required. Focus stacking and standard photographic editing techniques are permitted unless otherwise restricted by overall contest editing rules. Entrants retain copyright but grant contest organizers usage rights as defined in the contest’s general terms.
Portraits
Images must feature a person or group of people as the primary subject. Portraits may be created in any setting (studio, indoor, outdoor, or environmental). There are no nature requirements for this category.
Composites are permitted ONLY if the entrant photographed all elements used in the final image. Use of stock imagery, AI-generated elements, or images captured by another photographer is not permitted.
Legal / Eligibility Notes:
Entrants are responsible for obtaining all necessary model releases from identifiable individuals. The entrant warrants that submission of the image does not violate privacy, publicity, or personality rights. The entrant must be the sole creator and copyright holder of all components of the submitted image.
