Photographic Competition Rules

Any DPPA member in good standing may enter. Out of State and Non-Member guests are welcome to enter, but those scores will not be used for DPPA awards.

To be eligible for awards, DPPA Membership dues must be paid and received by the DPPA Treasurer no later than one week prior to the competition event.

Entrant must have captured and created the original photographic exposure or exposures.

All processing, manipulation, or rendering were done by the entrant or under their direct supervision.

No entry will be eligible if it has been made under the supervision of an instructor or as a class assignment. All images submitted must be self-directed. Images created in an educational environment under direct supervision from an instructor are ineligible.

The entrant must obtain and have access to all necessary releases (model or property) and agree to hold DPPA harmless against all claims and liabilities arising out of DPPA's display, publication, and promotion or other use of each image submitted to DPPA.

The entrant's name shall not appear anywhere in or on the face of the entry.

Once an image has been awarded a merit in prior PPA International Print Competition (IPC), it may not be entered again in any other category of a DPPA competition. Also, once an image has scored 80 or above in a DPPA competition, it may not be entered again a DPPA competition. No image that receives a merit may be entered more than once under any condition, including any image from a merited album.

If multiple entries from one maker utilize the same subject, the entries must be completely different in theme, location, and clothing. Images with the same subjects that do not differentiate themselves enough from each other, are subject to disqualification.                      

Any entry that has been reproduced (in whole or in part) from an existing photograph, portrait, graphic or any other artwork produced by another person or Artificial Intelligence, is a violation of the competition rules and will not be judged, accepted, or displayed.  If any entry, in the good-faith opinion of the competition committee, violates copyright, trademark or any other applicable law, that entry shall be disqualified.  An exception to this, are entry categories that may specifically call out for the inclusion of such components.  In that situation, the specific rules for that entry category will be followed.

You must designate one of the below categories for each entry.

PORTRAIT

Images can portray a subject or subjects from all walks of life and should reflect the personality of the subject(s).

ILLUSTRATIVE

Capturing the beauty of nature, wildlife, industry, and architectural areas are considered illustrative.

Landscape/Nature: This description shares joy and adventures while expressing a sense of place. Wild animals in an uncontrolled lighting environment, zoo animals, flowers, seascapes, cityscapes, urban landscapes, and sunsets with or without people can be placed here.

Illustrative/Commercial: This is used when images are created for a commercial client to advertise a product and promote a brand or company. This can be an interior or exterior of a structure or within an industrial environment. Illustrative can also be conceptual images that tell a story.

DAY OF WEDDING - SPECIAL EVENTS - BAR MITZVAH'S

Images in the Day of Wedding/Events/Bar Mitzvah's, category must be done in connection with an actual event (not a stylized session). Images must reflect the personality of the subject(s) and /or illustrate the story of the event. They must include some visual reference(s) that defines the wedding event (traditional clothing, church, flowers, etc.). Composite images are allowed as long as post-production is not a significant part of displaying the essence or the personality of the subject(s). Images entered in this category are taken during the actual event.     

REPORTAGE/PHOTOJOURNALISM 

Images that illustrate an actual public or non-public event, life an area of human interest, telling news that have meaning on the context or record of events, high impact and /or lasting emotional response. Images that illustrate sporting events are included in this category. ONLY basic color and brightness adjustments, cropping, dodging, and burning in are allowed. Only single-capture images will be accepted. Composite and multiple exposure images will not be accepted. The original captured image (in RAW or JPG) must be available if requested by DPPA.         

CREATIVE OPEN

This category consists of images that have additional photographic elements not created by the maker. All the other PO rules still apply with the exception that an entrant may choose to use photographic elements in the image not created by the maker. These photographic elements must be shown in a guide image. The purpose of this category is to allow makers to enter everyday images that may contain digital backgrounds or other photographic elements not created by the entrant. All necessary releases are required. The jurors will evaluate the entire image, but the photographic elements that were created by the maker must still be merit worthy as well as the overall image.  Artificial Intelligence is a violation of the competition rules and will not be judged, accepted, or displayed.