Environmental Photographer of the Year

What you will actually pay

Entry costs, explained.

Free worldwide for amateur and professional photographers of all ages; up to three photographs.

There is no separate paid route to qualify for the headline title: category submissions are considered automatically. Time spent on captions, permissions and the ethics statement remains part of the cost of preparing a credible entry. [2]

The environmental story needs to be explicit

The 2025 categories address water across landscapes, nature-based solutions, adaptation to flood or drought, and stewardship. The brief is interested in human responses as well as environmental harm. A useful submission should explain what is happening and why it matters, rather than rely on a caption that merely names an endangered place or species. [1]

CIWEM-appointed judges choose the winners and shortlist. Our advice is to make the relationship between photograph and environmental issue legible without exaggerated claims. A striking aerial abstraction, for example, still needs accurate context about the process being shown; visual drama is not evidence by itself. [2]

An established organiser and a relevant audience

CIWEM describes the returning 2025 competition as its 17th edition, supported by Arup and the Brave Blue World Foundation. That institutional context helps explain the emphasis on water and practical environmental responses. [1]

The Guardian published an illustrated selection from the 2023 competition. [3]

For us, the important distinction is between a relevant communication platform and a guaranteed career benefit. We would not translate an institution's involvement into promised sales or commissions. The contest makes most sense where environmental communication is already part of the photographer's work and where reuse through that network is an intended outcome. [1]

Modest cash with targeted publication benefits

The 2025 overall winner was offered £1,000, an interview in CIWEM's Environment Magazine and a Brave Blue World Foundation feature. Four category winners were offered £500 each. Organiser and partner channels, including the foundation's screenings, were part of the stated promotion. These are different recipient-level benefits, not one cash payment for every winner. [1]

Judge the package by whether that setting is useful for your story. A feature can provide a reason to share a project with relevant contacts, but it is not a replacement for a paid commission. This review does not import equipment packages or youth awards from older editions. [1]

Young entrants are allowed; photographs of children are not

For 2025, images had to date from 1 January 2023 onward and must not already have won a top competition prize. Entrants under 18 needed guardian approval. Separately, the rules barred photographs depicting people under 18. Those are distinct rules about the photographer and the subject. [2]

Consent and an ethics statement form part of the submission. Check these before editing a shortlist: a moving photograph is not necessarily an eligible photograph. Documentary work involving vulnerable people deserves a considered account of how it was made and how reuse might affect its subjects. [2]

Read the licence as part of the entry decision

Copyright stays with the photographer, but every entry grants five years of worldwide, non-exclusive sublicensable use for the award and CIWEM activities, including associated merchandising. Partner marketing and onward editorial or promotional distribution are allowed. Revenue-generating third-party licensing is contemplated; ancillary use requires good-faith consultation about a revenue share, not a guaranteed fixed royalty. [2]

This goes beyond displaying a winner in a gallery. Someone choosing this contest should be comfortable with the breadth of the arrangement, rather than assume that free entry means there is no meaningful exchange. Commercial restrictions or subject promises may make another outlet more appropriate. [2]

A completed call with strict authenticity checks

The 2025 cutoff was 23:59 BST on 28 September. Submit high-resolution JPEGs and preserve originals for verification. AI creation and editing are prohibited. Limited conventional adjustments, declared same-scene panoramas, focus stacks and multiple exposures are allowed; adding or removing scene elements is not. [2]

Prepare captions and permissions alongside the files. The next call may revise categories, image dates and licence wording, so use this completed edition to assess suitability rather than as permission to submit under unchanged future conditions. [1][2]