Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest 2024

Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest 2024 is now open for entries!

Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest 2024: Smithsonian Magazine is very pleasant to announce 20th edition of its international annual Photo Contest inviting all photographers all over the world who are 18 years old or older to participate.

Short description

Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest 2024, photography competition organized by Smithsonian Magazine has been recently announced for entries, open to all photographers who are 18 years old or older.

The following six contest categories are drawn from subjects of special interest to Smithsonian magazine:

➜ Natural World: Animals, plants and landscapes; geological or climatological features; and scientific processes and endeavors.

➜ Travel: Locales, peoples or activities in the United States and abroad that convey a sense of place.

➜ People: Portraits and photos of groups or individuals.

➜ The American Experience: Events, objects or activities connecting the American people to their history or their cultural heritage; photographs that tell us what it means to be an American and provide a sense of what it is like to live in this country.

➜ Artistic Images: Visuals that use photography as a creative and imaginative platform to express an idea or concept. These images can be manipulated in any method, either through photo editing software or other techniques.

➜ Drone/Aerial: Any photograph captured using an unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone. Images shot from planes/helicopters are also accepted.

To be eligible for any category, a photograph must have been shot by the entrant since January 1, 2021.

Photo entries will be judged based on creativity, quality, originality, responsiveness to the prompt and overall impact.

The Smithsonian will select 10 finalists per category, a winner for each category, and a Grand Prize winner from the 60 finalists. The 60 finalists will be notified of their status and appear on our website in March 2025. At that time, the public can vote on the offical website for the Readers’ Choice winner from among the 60 finalists. The Readers' Choice winner, Grand Prize winner and category winners will be revealed online in spring 2025.

Submission requirements:

➜ You may submit up to 15 photographs per category for a contest total of 90 submissions. In order to be displayed in our online gallery without being stretched or distorted, photographs must be submitted in .jpeg, .jpg or .gif format, edited for web in sRGB color space, at least 2,000 pixels wide and no larger than 10 MB.

➜ Cropped photos are eligible in all categories. Minor adjustments, including the removal of sensor dust or scratches on scans of negatives, dodging and burning, sharpening, contrast, toning, slight color adjustment and conversion to grayscale are acceptable for all categories. The addition and subtraction of objects is not permitted except in the Artistic Images category. Image composites including HDR and stitched panoramas will be judged as Artistic Images. Images generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI) are not permitted.

➜ Finalists must be prepared to submit an original, unedited digital file or an original negative, print or slide, a high-resolution photograph of at least 300 dpi at 3,000 pixels on the longest side or an original photo negative, print or slide.

Who may enter?

The Grand Prize, Readers’ Choice prize, Natural World, Travel, People, The American Experience, Artistic Images and Drone/Aerial category prizes are open to photographers who are 18 years old or older.

Prize:

➜ Grand Prize: $2,500.
➜ Category Winners: The winners of each of the six categories will receive $500.
➜ Readers' Choice: The winner of the online Readers’ Choice award will receive $500.