Best of 2024: Photo Competition
2024 was a year of trials, triumphs, and unforgettable moments. It’s time to celebrate the stories we captured through our lenses—moments that held beauty, emotion, and meaning even in the midst of challenges.
Our Best of 2024 Photo Competition invites you to showcase your most impactful images from the past year.
About the competition
The Best of 2024 competition celebrates photography as an art form that preserves authentic, powerful moments. There are no categories—we believe every photograph deserves a fair chance, free from restrictions. Whether it’s a breathtaking landscape, a candid portrait, or a slice of everyday life, if your image tells a story, it belongs here.
Our judges will select the Top 5 winners who represent diverse genres and styles, ensuring a wide array of voices and visions are celebrated.
Why enter?
Recognition: Share your work with a global audience that values authenticity and artistic expression.
Feedback: All shortlisted entries will receive feedback on their photographs
Be featured: All shortlisted entries will be featured in Issue 12 of the Journal, our flagship publication.
Exclusive rewards
Each winner will receive:
- A high-quality print of their winning photograph.
- A 6-month subscription to the Journal.
Submission Details
- Entry fee: $5 per photo. Submit as many photos as you wish!
- Deadline: Submissions open from 15 January to 28 February 2025, 11:59 PM NZT.
- How to Enter: Submit your photos via our official competition page.
Terms and judging
- Eligibility: The competition is open to all photographers, amateur and professional, worldwide, except for those directly employed by Excio and Captivating Photography Journal and those judging the competition. Entrants under the age of 18 must have parental or guardian consent to enter.
- No categories: There’s no need to choose between “landscape” or “nature”—let your image speak for itself. Entries submitted outside this period will not be considered.
- Judging criteria: Photos will be evaluated on originality, impact, composition, technical quality, and artistic merit.
- Submission guidelines:
Photos must be the original work of the entrant.
There are no categories and any subject matter is welcome.
- Digital post-processing is allowed, except for the use of AI replacement, auto-generative, and extension tools. The original image must be taken by the entrant.
- The submitted photograph should be in .jpg or. jpeg format, no less than 1500px on the short edge.
- Entries must not contain any infringing, threatening, false, misleading, abusive, harassing, libelous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, scandalous, inflammatory, pornographic, or profane content.
- Rights and permissions:
- By entering the competition, entrants grant Excio and Captivating Photography Journal a royalty-free, non-exclusive license to display the entries, in whole or in part, in any media now existing or subsequently developed, for the purpose of this photo competition only, including advertising and promotion of the competition.
- Any photograph featured will include a photographer credit. Excio and Captivating Photography Journal will not be required to pay any additional consideration or seek any additional approval in connection with such uses.
- Data protection: Personal data received in the course of the competition will be processed in accordance with applicable data protection laws and will only be used for the administration of the competition.
- Indemnity: By entering, participants agree to release and hold harmless Excio and Captivating Photography Journal and its affiliates, from any claim, action, liability, loss, injury, or damage arising from participation in the competition or receipt or use of any prize.
- Amendments: Excio reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions at any time. Any amendments will be posted on the competition website.
Acceptance of Terms and Conditions: By submitting an entry to the competition, the entrant agrees to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.
Photography is more than an art—it’s a way to hold on to the moments that matter most. Join us in celebrating the beauty, resilience, and creativity that defined 2024. Let your images shine and remind the world why photography is a timeless form of storytelling.
Submit your best shots today and be part of Best of 2024. Together, let’s celebrate the moments that made this year unforgettable!