By entering the STERN-Preis, you agree to and accept the following terms and conditions:

Submissions of photographs (hereinafter: "works") before or after the entry deadline are not eligible and will not be considered for the contest. Submissions to the STERN-Preis will only be accepted online through PICTER.

Works submitted to the competition must not contain any watermarks, signatures, markings or other identifying features of the creator. Works containing such features will be rejected and excluded from the competition. The date, location and name of the photographer must be included in the metadata of the image files.

The creator of the image must own all rights to the submitted work and must not infringe any intellectual property rights and/or copyrights. All permissions or consents from the people depicted (and/or copyright holders) and any necessary release forms must be obtained at the time of submission.

The STERN-Preis accepts submitted works on a basis of trust. By submitting the work, the entrant automatically declares that he or she is the author of the work and that the submitted work does not infringe any intellectual property rights or copyrights.

The STERN-Preis reserves the right to reject any work submitted without the required information (name, address, curriculum vitae, description, etc.).

Photo series published in a German-language newspaper or magazine or on the website of a publishing house or professional journalistic editorial office in 2024 may be submitted. Photo series published in magazines, weekly newspapers or on websites must contain at least five images.

All photos must be accompanied by accurate captions and descriptions in German. Pictures must not mislead by re-enacting or staging events.

In certain cases, re-enactments or staged scenes may be acceptable if they clearly serve the purpose of documenting the story/topic. In this case, however, the direct impact on the scene, such as re-enactments or posed portraits, must be noted in the captions.

In photojournalism, we do not stage or re-enact events. Photographers may direct subjects of portraits, cover shootings or studio work. In presenting such images, we must avoid giving the impression that they were captured spontaneously. We do not add colour, create photomontages, create AI-generated images, remove objects or flip images. We do not digitally alter images beyond making minor adjustments for colour correction, exposure correction and removal of dust spots or scratches necessary to ensure faithful reproduction of the original image. Excessive use of burning, dodging or colour saturation is not permitted.

Submitted photos may be edited for cropping, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and saturation (up to and including conversion to black and white). However, there is a strict "Don't move any pixels" rule. The addition of image information (compositing of several images or parts of images) or the removal of image content (retouching of unwanted parts of images) is not allowed. The jury also reserves the right to request and inspect raw data from photographers for shortlisted images.

The following applies to photo series in the reportage photography category:

• Entries can be submitted by the photographers themselves or by editorial teams.

• A maximum of one work per photographer will be considered.

• Please combine magazine publications as double pages in one PDF file. 

• The published photo series in magazines, weekly and monthly newspapers or on websites must contain at least five images.

• Unpublished photos of the submitted route can be attached in addition to the published photos (max. 20 photos in total).

Image formats:

• JPG (RGB color space with metadata).

• Min. 3000 pixels on the long edge at 300dpi

• The images must be numbered consecutively and the file must bear the name of the photographer (example: 001_Mika_Mustermensch.jpg).

• Please include the captions in the metadata and upload all images via the PICTER call for entries.

By submitting a work, the entrant authorizes STERN-Preis to publish, share, or distribute the work(s) for promotional purposes in print, digital, social media, and television without time or geographic limitation. However, the work(s) will not be shared with any individual, organization or other third party.

The copyrights to all submitted works remain with the creator(s). The STERN-Preis will add the name of the author to all photos if the photos are shown on television and in digital, print or social media during the exhibition or for promotional purposes.

Despite all technical precautions taken by the STERN-Preis, it cannot be ruled out that someone will retrieve and use image or film recordings of the works on the Internet. The STERN-Preis accepts no liability for misuse by third parties.

The jury of the STERN-Preis will carefully examine each submitted work. This process will take some time. Please do not contact us to ask if you have been selected. We will notify you in due course.

We thank you for your participation and wish you good luck.