2024
Photo Submission

Competition now closed.

 2021 competition is now closed. Stay tuned: Winners and finalists will be announced in May!

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Ready to submit your entries to this year’s photo competition? Please review the image checklist below and make sure you have completed these steps before you begin.

Have questions? Email us at bigpicture@calacademy.org.

Image Checklist

  • All files should follow these image specifications: .jpg or .jpeg format in Adobe RGB; must be 120 dpi; should be a minimum of 1920 px on the long edge and maximum 3000 px. No borders, watermarks or signatures allowed. Your image(s) will be immediately disqualified if these elements are included.
  • All files for the Individual Photo categories, should be submitted with the following naming convention: category_title.jpg (replace spaces with underscores; do NOT include your name) — example: WingedLife_Flamingos.jpg
  • All files for the Photo Story: Unusual Perspectives category, should be submitted with the following naming convention: photostory_title_imagenumber.jpg (replace spaces with underscores; do not include your name)—example: PhotoStory_ExtraordinaryLife_1.jpg
  • If you are submitting to the Photo Story: Unusual Perspectives category, please include images.
  • We recommend uploading all of your images at once as you can only upload photos at the 'upload stage' on Picter. If you are filling out image descriptions and find you still have more images to add, please use the left-hand menu to navigate back to the upload page.
  • Important: Please double check that you have submitted all desired photos before proceeding to checkout. You may enter up to 10 images (in any category) as a single project. You may enter multiple “projects.” Once you have completed payment for your project, you will not be able to edit or add photos to your project. (Example: If you submit six images (out of a possible ten) and complete payment, you will not be able to return and enter any additional images.) If you’d like to submit multiple projects, you will need to use a different email address for each project.
  • Please read the 2024 Guidelines and Rules.

Competition opens on December 1—please check back then to enter your photos!

All set? Click on the link below to get started on Picter.

Enter NowEnter Now

Competition now closed.

Competition opens January 1, 2017

Accepting submissions until March 15th, 2017.