Legality/Terms of Entry

Visual Integrity

The Best of Photojournalism places a high priority on visual integrity and representing the ethical standards of the National Press Photographers Association and the industry at-large. All entrants are expected to adhere to the National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics.

NPPA Code of Ethics

Visual journalists and those who manage visual news productions are accountable for upholding the following standards in their daily work:

1. Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects.

2. Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.

3. Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording subjects. Avoid stereotyping individuals and groups. Recognize and work to avoid presenting one's own biases in the work.

4. Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see.

5. While photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events.

6. Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.

7. Do not pay sources or subjects or reward them materially for information or participation.

8. Do not accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage.

9. Do not intentionally sabotage the efforts of other journalists.

10. Do not engage in harassing behavior of colleagues, subordinates or subjects and maintain the highest standards of behavior in all professional interactions.

Ideally, visual journalists should:

• Strive to ensure that the public's business is conducted in public. Defend the rights of access for all journalists.

• Think proactively, as a student of psychology, sociology, politics and art to develop a unique vision and presentation. Work with a voracious appetite for current events and contemporary visual media.

• Strive for total and unrestricted access to subjects, recommend alternatives to shallow or rushed opportunities, seek a diversity of viewpoints, and work to show unpopular or unnoticed points of view.

• Avoid political, civic and business involvements or other employment that compromise or give the appearance of compromising one's own journalistic independence.

• Strive to be unobtrusive and humble in dealing with subjects.

• Respect the integrity of the photographic moment.

• Strive by example and influence to maintain the spirit and high standards expressed in this code. When confronted with situations in which the proper action is not clear, seek the counsel of those who exhibit the highest standards of the profession. Visual journalists should continuously study their craft and the ethics that guide it.

Visual Integrity

To photograph means to write with light. Visual journalists must attain and maintain the highest ethical standards in order to be considered the best of photojournalism. The last year has seen tremendous technological growth in the areas of artificial intelligence in the most common software applications we use.

The use of AI generative tools to create, add, remove, expand or alter images or videos in any way is expressly prohibited. The content of a photograph or video clip -- what is seen and what is not seen, what is heard and what is not heard -- is locked at the moment it is recorded.

Making/capturing the image

Photographers must not intentionally alter the scene they capture in any of the following ways:

• You must not add objects.

• You must not move/take away objects.

• You must not "stage" situations -- meaning you must not deliberately arrange objects, subjects or situations that are not already occurring.

• You must not "set-up" situations -- meaning you must not deliberately create a situation that does not exist. For example, bringing disparate characters together in a place they would not be, giving or directing subjects to wear particular clothing, or creating or altering a scene by painting, adding objects, or people that aren't normally in that location or occur in that location.

• You must not ask your subject to re-enact actions or scenes that occurred in the past in order to make a photograph.

• Portraits and formal interviews have different rules. Portraits and formal interviews can be constructed as long as they are identified as such. They must not be made to look like they are naturally occurring events.

Post-production

Post-processing, in and of itself, is not manipulation as long as it is within normal limits of toning and color correction.

Types of post-processing that count as manipulation:

• Dramatic changes in color that alter the original color of the scene. For example, changing a gray sky to blue. Color correcting sensor/white balance issues from incorrect camera settings is allowed.

• Changes made by dodging or burning, adjustments to brightness, contrast, color, saturation, sharpening or clarity that significantly alter content by obscuring, enhancing or diminishing elements in the photograph.

• Just like during the making/capturing of an image you may not add, move, remove any objects or persons. You may only use the cloning tool – or any other tool – to remove dust spots on the image created by the lens, the camera sensor or dust from scanning physical negatives. You may NOT use digitals tools or software to alter the content that was visible to the camera at the moment the photograph was made. Altering the sequencing of an audio or video recording so as to change the meaning of someone's statement or apparent actions is prohibited.

Entry disqualification due to manipulation

If the judges have any questions regarding any possible image manipulation, entrants will be required to submit images as recorded by the camera. The judges will have a private conversation regarding the entry and the entry may be disqualified.

Additionally, filmmakers and photographers cannot be paid by anyone with a commercial stake in the story, and no branded content will be accepted. Work created as a team photographer or videographer is therefore prohibited.

Stories should honor the viewer's trust, and under no circumstances should scenes depicted as candid be set up, directed or controlled in any way.

Any re-creations of scenes to illustrate events in the past must be clearly marked as such. Special effects and music should be used sparingly and not alter the truthfulness of the narrative.

If the judges or Best of Photojournalism committee finds cause to disqualify an entry after judging has been completed and awards have been announced, that award position will be vacated. Decisions about the eligibility and integrity of all entries reside wholly with the committee and their decisions are final.

Technical Guidelines

Entries for the 2024 Best of Photojournalism competition will be entered via the online portal, which will go live on December 18, 2023.

Entries will be accepted from December 18, 2023, through 11:59 P.M. PT on January 21, 2024.  All entries must have been made between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023. The exception is story category entries which may contain images made in prior years but the majority of the work must have been made between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023.

Entry is free for NPPA members in good standing at the close of the contest (January 21, 2024) and $75 for non-members. If you choose not to join the NPPA, the fee will be collected during the entry process. Membership status will be checked at the closing of the entry time frame. Non-members who have not paid the entry fee may be disqualified. If you are entering on behalf of others (e.g., you are a contest editor), you may not use your membership status to waive the registration fee for others -- each individual entrant must be a member or pay the fee. On team entries, if one of the team members is a member of the NPPA, the entry fee is waived.

Each entrant may have up to 20 entries spread across any combination of disciplines (Still Photojournalism, Picture Editing, Online Video, Presentation and Innovation, Video Photojournalism, Video Editing and Documentary) and categories. This 20-entry limit applies to all disciplines and all entrants including Video Photojournalism and Video Editing. Multiple entries in one category will count towards the total number of entries. (For example, if you enter two images in the Sports Action category, that accounts for two of your 20 total entries.) A single photograph, story, video or package may not be entered on its own in more than one division, with one exception: the same video/story/package entry may be submitted in both Video Editing and Video Photojournalism, exclusively. No other cross-division entries are allowed. A photo may be entered in both a single category and as part of a picture story, portfolio, or compilation. A video may also be entered in both a single category and as part of a compilation. Each entry counts as one towards the 20-entry total.

Please read the individual Category descriptions for more information as some categories have additional restrictions.

Thumbnails will be required for video entries and should be 1920 x 1080 pixels in a JPG format. Online entries will need a screen grab to be uploaded. These will be uploaded with the media or links on either the first page of an entry or the second.

Non-English language videos may be entered but must be subtitled, there is no promise that the judges will be fluent in other languages.

For some categories, you may be asked when material was first published or broadcast.

The rules as posted to the Best of Photojournalism web site are considered final. Please feel free to send any questions along to bop@nppa.org.

Preparing Your Entries

We will not fix or recategorize any entries that do not follow the guidelines. Entries that do not meet the criteria or are improperly categorized will be disqualified from the competition.

Still Photojournalism

Entrants to the Still Photojournalism division must ensure their pictures provide an accurate and fair representation of the scene they witnessed so the audience is not misled.

Photographs must have complete, accurate captions and associated metadata as described below. Photo credits or other identifying information must be removed from the caption (but may remain in other metadata fields).

No multiple exposures, panoramas or stitched photos, produced either in-camera or with software, will be accepted.

Photographs may not be altered or manipulated during post-processing except for basic toning/contrast adjustments or by cropping. See the Visual Integrity guidelines for further information.

Entrants must be prepared to provide file(s) as recorded by the camera for images that proceed to the final stages of the contest when requested. These file(s) will be requested between February 12 and February 22, 2024. Failure to provide these files when requested may lead to the disqualification of the entry.

Please remove any personal tags, rating or color codes.

File names in story and portfolio categories must begin with a sequence number (01, 02, etc.) to ensure the final round judges see them in order. Each image should be saved as an RGB file. Do not save them as CMYK.

Images should be sized to be 3000 pixels on the long dimension.

Image files must be saved as a JPG with a quality setting of High (9 on a 12 point scale, 8 on a 10 point scale). File sizes should be no more than 5 MB.

Including the correct metadata and file formats in your entry is critical to the smooth running of the competition as well as the post-event archiving of material. The judges will rely upon the entrants to ensure the following standards are met. Failure to meet these requirements may result in a disqualification of an entry.

Image metadata can be entered in whichever image management program you are most familiar with. So, if you already use Photo Mechanic, Bridge, Lightroom, MediaPro or some other tool, you can enter the metadata in your familiar working environment.

If you do not currently have a preferred image management tool, Camera Bits has a free 1-month trial version of Photo Mechanic.

The following IPTC fields are required for entries:

• Caption/Description – See Caption Guide below.

• City, State/Province and Country

• Date – The date the image was made.

• Photographer and Credit/Byline (please fill in both) – The name of the photojournalist who made the image. Please be consistent from photo to photo. For example, please use Joe E Smith for each image, not Joe Smith on one, Joseph Smith on another, J.E. Smith on a third, and so on.

• Source – Your employer or client.

• Copyright – Who holds the copyright on the image (this may be the entrant, employer or client).

• Contact Email – Please use the same address here as you will use when you create your account for submission.

• Contact Phone – Please use the same phone number here as you will use when you create your account for submission.

Caption Guide:

Captions must be accurate and answer the basic questions of good journalism. They must be written in English only and follow basic AP style. Here are the basic AP guidelines.

• The first sentence of the caption should follow this structure:

• The first clause should describe who is in the photograph and what is going on within the photo in the present tense followed by the city, state or province and country (if outside the United States) as appropriate. The last portion of the first sentence should be the date. Use absolute dates and absolute locations, meaning you should have a date of, "Monday, December 18, 2023" and not just, "Monday" or "last Tuesday."

• Captions must give attribution of action not seen (e.g. the scene of accident where more than 10 died, according to police).

• Names should always be listed in order, left to right, unless it is impossible for the caption to read normally otherwise.

• With multiple people identified within the caption, enough representations to placement are necessary that there is no confusion for who is who.

• The second sentence of the caption is used to give context to the news event or describes why the photo is significant.

• If in doubt of the need for a second sentence, leave it off.

• Whenever possible, try to keep captions to no more than two concise sentences, while including the relevant information.

• Try to anticipate what information the reader will need. 

Example: Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., delivers his policy on Iraq speech in Clinton, Iowa, on Sept. 12, 2007. Obama called for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. combat brigade.

(Adapted from the AP Style Guide)

If the photograph is a portrait, the caption must make it explicitly clear that the photograph is a portrait and was posed and directed.

For the story categories, within the caption block of the first image in a story, you must include a short overall story description at the top of the caption (up to 100 words). There may also be a fillable field for this in some categories.

How to Enter

When you select a category, you will see a window where you can drag and drop your image or images. In single-image categories, you'll bring one image in. In multiple image categories, you can drag them in as a group. You will be able to change the order on this page as well.

Captions will be automatically read from the metadata (provided they are in the correct field). After uploading, click NEXT and you'll see the images and their captions. You can edit the captions if needed -- for instance, if you forgot to remove your credit information. Depending on server load, it may take a few moments for the captions to be encoded and displayed.

Picture Editing

For newspaper and magazine entries, you must convert the entry to JPG files. Please make sure they have been saved as RGB files and not CMYK. They should be at least 3000 pixels tall.

Double-page spreads should be combined into one JPG so judges can see how the entire page works. Multiple-page entries should have each single page or double-page spread entered as an individual JPG -- you want the judges to experience turning the pages as your audience did.

How to Enter

When you select a category, you will see a window where you can drag and drop your image or images. In single-image categories, you'll bring one image in. In multiple image categories, you can drag them in as a group. You will be able to change the order on this page as well.

For online galleries, when you select a category that requires a link or links, on the first page you will see a window where you can drag and drop a thumbnail of the page. When you click NEXT, you'll be able to paste in the links that are part of the submission as well as a login and password combination if the work is behind a paywall. Presentation entries without thumbnails may be disqualified.

If you have a team entry, there will be a field to fill out on the second page for team members. Please include the entire team there as this is what will be published.

Video Photojournalism, Video Editing, Documentary and Online Video

All entries should be compressed for smooth playback online. Videos must be mp4 format at 720p resolution. If you already have a video compression tool that you're familiar with, use it. If you don't, Handbrake is a popular choice.

How to Enter

When you select a category, you will see a window where you can drag and drop your video file. Once it finishes uploading (there is a purple progress bar below the file as it uploads), click NEXT and you must upload a thumbnail on that screen. Video entries without thumbnails may be disqualified.

If you have a team entry, there will be a field to fill out on the second page for team members. Please include the entire team there as this is what will be published.

After selecting your category, upload your video file by dragging it into the upload window.

After clicking NEXT, upload your thumbnail and add any team members.

Online Presentation and Innovation

Either web links or videos may be submitted, depending on the categories (web links are required for Innovation and Presentation categories).

How to Enter

When you select a category that requires a link or links, on the first page you will see a window where you can drag and drop a thumbnail of the page. When you click NEXT, you'll be able to paste in the links that are part of the submission as well as a login and password combination if the work is behind a paywall. Presentation entries without thumbnails may be disqualified.

Legality/Terms of Entry

Assertion of Copyright

All persons submitting entries in the National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism competition ("Entrants") warrant and represent that each and every image submitted ("Entry" or "Entries") is his/her own original work, whether created as an independent photographer or an employee, and that he/she has the unrestricted right to grant to the National Press Photographers Association ("NPPA") and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, by and on behalf of the University of Georgia Grady Colleges of Journalism and Mass Communication ("UGA") (collectively, "BOP"), the permissions set forth below.

Permission to Use Entries

The Entrant---or their employer or assignee---retains the copyright to all entries. All Entrants to the BOP warrant that they are either the copyright holder or are authorized by the copyright holder to submit entries to the BOP. The Entrant hereby grants permission to the BOP to reproduce, display, publish and distribute the submitted entries in order to promote and carry out the mission of the BOP, including, but not limited to: (1) executing, reporting on, highlighting, promoting, and publicizing the BOP judging, results and winning entries; (2) showcasing the BOP and the results through exhibitions, online displays, awards ceremonies and compendiums such as the Best of Photojournalism issue of News Photographer Magazine; (3) educational, research, and archiving purposes related to the BOP and  inclusion in perpetuity in the permanent BOP archive which is housed in part on NPPA and UGA servers and in the University of Georgia Special Collections Library archive; and may be publicly displayed as such; and (4) to sublicense to third-parties and service providers as needed to carry out the above BOP initiatives. Additionally, the BOP is not obligated to publish any submitted entries.

The Entrant further warrants that the entered images were taken or initially published during 2022 and that submission of the Entry does not breach any law, and that no third party has any claim or objection regarding the above rights granted to the BOP.

Finally, each Entrant consents to the use of his/her name, and/or picture by BOP in any promotional and public relations materials or for any other purpose related to the National Press Photographers Association and/or the Best of Photojournalism Contest.

Agreement to Rules

I accept all Entry rules of the NPPA Best of Photojournalism Contest.

Acceptance of Ethics Code

I adhere to the NPPA Ethics Code and promise that my entries were created in accordance with its principles.

By clicking I agree to terms and conditions on the submission form, you are agreeing to the statements above.