1. Any professional photographer who is an active or associate member of MPPA and whose membership is current and in good standing on the date of the image submittal deadline may enter. Active Member being defined as a member in good standing according to the MPPA Code of Ethics including payment of annual dues by the renewal date.

2. To be qualified for all awards in the image competition you must have the appropriate entry fee paid online prior to the deadline of 10PM (Mountain Time) on March 31, 2025. Non-MPPA members may submit entries for scores only, and are not eligible for MPPA awards.

3. Only one case per photographer, plus one Senior Folio image. Senior Folio images do not count towards a case score.

4. Entrant must have captured and created the original exposure or exposures. All processing, manipulation and printing or rendering were done by the entrant or under their direct supervision. Furthermore, no entry will be eligible if made under the supervision of an instructor or in an educational environment or as a class assignment. STUDENTS may enter MPPA Image Competition, refer to Student Entry Section 9.

5. The entrant has obtained and has access to all necessary releases (model or property) and agrees to hold MPPA harmless against all claims and liabilities arising out of MPPA's display, publication and promotion or other use of each image submitted to MPPA.

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

7. A maximum of 6 digital entries may be submitted per entrant, plus one senior

   folio entry.

8. Any entry that has been created from an existing photograph, portrait, graphic or any other artwork produced by another person, is a violation of the competition rules and will not be judged, accepted or displayed. If an entry, in the good-faith opinion of the Jury Chair, violates copyright, trademark or any other applicable law, that entry shall be disqualified. Exception is made for Artist Classification, see Section 4(F).

9. Entries of the same subject in multiple images will be allowed, if the images are entirely different concepts, in the opinion of the judges.

10. Entry media is for digital files only.

11. Images previously entered in any past MPPA or PPA MIR competitions are not

    eligible.

12. Images submitted for the 2025 Competition and Exhibition may be used by

    MPPA in the form of awards night slide show, website display, association newsletter, social media and general information packets.

4. Classification of Entries - General AND Master Divisions

A. Portrait -

1. Man (teenage or adult)

2. Woman (teenage of adult)

3. Child (one subject)

4. Couples (two subjects)

5. Pets (A Domestic or tamed animal kept for companionship, does not include wildlife)

6. Groups (Family, teams, groups, etc)

B. Wedding - Images pertaining to brides, groom, we4dding party, or social events.

C. Album - Albums will be judged for impact, creativity, style, print quality, technique, story content, expressions of subjects, lighting, presentation and salability of work. Albums count as 1 entry. Album entries may be submitted in the form of a traditional album digital entry.

1. Digital Album Entries

a. All page/spread files must have the longest file dimension at 4000 pixels, have an embedded color profile of either sRGB or Adobe RGB1998 and saved at a JPEG quality setting of 10. Images created with AI are not allowed.

b. Each page/spread file may contain as many images as you desire. c. An entry shall contain a minimum of 5 page/spread files up to 36 page/spread files.

d. Files are to be numbered in viewing order using two digits, i.e. 01jpg, 02 jpg, 03 jpg, etc.

e. All individual files must be compressed into a single ZIP file. ZIP file must be named: Album Title (use _for spaces, e.g. Summer_Wedding.zip)

f. Studio identification or entrant's name cannot appear on any file within the album entry.

g. Digital Files: Monitor Settings, D65, 120 cd/m2, 2.20 gamma

D. Unclassified/Illustrative - Includes but not limited to creative, scenic/landscape, and wildlife

E. Commercial/industrial - Images that are used to help sell, advertise or market a product, service, person or persons. Architectural images seek to capture the essence of a building or group of buildings in an urban or other setting.

F. Artist - Entries may be reproduced from existing images, portraits,
graphics or any other artwork so long as the entrant is prepared to provide appropriate written documentation indicating permission for usage. This documentation may be requested by MPPA before, during or after the
competition. If an entry, in the good-faith opinion of the MPPA Image Judging Committee, violates copyright, trademark or any other applicable law and cannot be proven otherwise, that entry shall be disqualified and merits revoked, if issued. All processing, manipulation, artwork or rendering must be done by the entrant. Printing may be done under their direct supervision. Entries must have been sourced, composited, manipulated and/or produced by digital means.

You must provide guide/reference images, which must be on the front of the entry and placed either to the side or above/below image. This is to show judges what images you started with, whether it is a composite, painted image, etc.

G. Senior Folio - Senior Folio Competition is intended to be a showcase of a photographer’s unique presentation of a Senior Folio.

1. The Senior Folio must be presented in a digital design folio, in either a barn door or book style. Inside mat may be a standard 4x5 or a design of the photographer’s choice. Manipulation is encouraged!
2. Image total is limited to a maximum of 8 finished images of ONE

individual’s senior session(s). Folios with multiple seniors will NOT be accepted. Images are intended to be finished and manipulated at the photographer’s discretion.
3. All General, Masters, and Students will compete in one category---

awarding only one first, second and third place awards.
4. Judging will be based on technical quality, lighting, posing, finish,

composition, impact, variety and overall storytelling presentation. 5. Only one (1) Senior Folio entry per member is permitted.


7. Senior Folios will not be included in any other scoring, including case scores.

H. Reportage/Photojournalism - Images that illustrate an actual public or non-public event, life, an area of human interest, telling news that have meaning in the context or record of events, high impact, and/or lasting emotional response. Images that illustrate sporting events are accepted 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 or in-camera file stacked images will not be accepted. The originally captured image (in RAW or jpg) must be available if requested by MPPA judges.

A. General Division: 

• 1. "Photographer of the Year" award--- will be determined by the highest total score of the four (4) highest scored case images of each entrant. Master and Student entries are ineligible for this award. Senior Folio is not included in this score. In the event of a case score tie, the artist with the highest scoring image will receive the award. If the highest score is again a tie, then both artists will receive the award.

• 2. “Top Three Photographer” award--- will be determined numerically by using the five highest total scores of the four (4) highest scored images of each entrant. Master and Student entries are ineligible for this award. Senior Folio scores are excluded from this category.

• 3. "Top First Time Entrant" award --- will be determined by the highest three total scores of the four (4) highest scored images for each entrant. Only first time entrants are eligible for this award. Senior Folio scores are excluded from this category.

• 4. First, second and third place category awards--- will be awarded in the specified categories (refer to section 5. Classification of Entries).

• 5. PPA Certified Professional Photographer Award - the PPA Certified Professional Photographer award will be awarded to the “Highest Image Score” by a CPP.

ASP Award will be awarded to the “Highest Image Score” by an ASP Member.