MedFoto Competition Rules 2025

Registration for the competition is open to anyone, amateur or professional photographer, of any nationality, except for the people responsible for the organization of the competition, the jury and their direct relatives.

All entries are subject to these rules.

Registration will be open from 1^st April to 15^th May 2025 at the website: www.medfoto.org. It costs €15 per participant and entitles participants to submit up to fifteen photographs in any of the categories.

Any communication between the participants and the organisation must be made in writing by e-mail to info@medfoto.org.

The organisers will communicate with the general public via the website www.medfoto.org. In this space, all information relating to the competition, the prizes, etc. will be published. Only finalists and winners will receive private communications.

The main theme of the competition is the Mediterranean Sea and its coastline. Photographs taken in other geographical areas will not be accepted.

Participants may submit up to fifteen (15) photographs distributed in any of the following categories:

1. Landscape: Photographs that show Mediterranean landscapes above sea level. From the coast to the high seas; from a general viewpoint to specific details of surroundings; from wild landscapes to populated areas and coastal villages. Always displaying the location with a photographic spirit, playing with the subject, the light and the composition.
2. Wild life: Wild fauna and flora photographed in their natural environment, above sea level: seabirds, cetaceans from the surface, flora and fauna from the Mediterranean coast, etc. Whether they are portraits in search of aesthetics or capture the character of the species, such as images that show interesting behavior.
3. Sports and leisure: Nautical sports (sailing, rowing, kayaking, water-skiing, swimming, etc.) trying to capture their difficulty, expertise, spectacular image or the pleasure of doing them. Also the leisure activities that take place around the marine and coastal environment.
4. Marine trades: Professional activity of people who work at sea, who live from the sea, such as fishermen, sailors, etc.
5. Underwater: Photographs taken under the surface of the sea: fish and other animals, plants, vegetation, underwater seascapes, underwater activities.
6. Conservation and climatic change: Management of natural marine and coastal resources, environmental problems and their solutions, effects of climate change.
7. Popular: Award for the best photograph captured directly in Jpeg format using photographic devices that do not provide an original RAW file, such as some mobile phones, compact cameras, action cameras, or drones. Also, photographs obtained with analog cameras for which only a digitized Jpeg file is available. The theme of the photographs in this category is limited to the set of the previous categories.
8. Photographic story: Report of six (6) photographs on a topic related to the Mediterranean. In addition to the photographic quality, the interest of the story will be valued, as well as its narrative treatment.

Deadlines: Participants have until 11:59 pm CET on 15^th May 2025 to register and upload to the website www.medfoto.org a maximum of fifteen photographs related to the theme of the competition.

Formats: Photographs taken with digital or film cameras are accepted, which must be submitted in digital JPEG format, reduced to a size of 2,000 pixels on their longest side and with a maximum weight of 2 MB per photo.

The camera’s EXIF data must remain intact. Each file will be given a name that begins with the number of the category to which it is submitted, followed by an underscore and the title of the photograph or a number, which can be given by the camera itself or by the author (For example: “1_gavinacorsavolant” or “3_IMG34567”).

Photographs must have been originally obtained in RAW format or on photographic film, except in the category “Popular”. The DNG format will only be accepted if it is the original format of the camera used (Pentax, Ricoh, Leica, DJI…).

The organization will request these original RAW files from a set of photographs preselected by the jury to verify their authenticity. If the original photograph is in film format, the negative or original slide will be requested. In this case, the cost of shipping and return by certified mail or courier will be borne by the author.

This request for the original file or photograph does not mean that the photograph is a finalist or awarded.

Once the jury’s verdict is made, from the photographs selected as finalists, a file at the camera’s original resolution (in TIFF or high-quality JPEG format, Adobe RGB color space) will be requested for printing and exhibition at the MedFoto exhibition. This final file must present framing and color adjustments identical to those of the JPEG originally submitted at registration.

Processing: Regarding the processing of photographs, basic adjustments of photographic development are accepted: global or zonal exposure corrections, white balance adjustments, contrast, tone or saturation, noise reduction, sharpening, removal of dust spots on the sensor, etc. Black and white photographs and also HDR, panoramic, and focus stacking photographs, composed of several shots, are accepted, as long as they are taken at the same moment and depict a real situation.

Re-cropping of the original photograph is allowed, as long as the resulting final image has no less than 3,000 pixels on its longest side (this before reducing it to the delivery format of 2,000 pixels). The size of the original photograph cannot be increased by interpolation, nor by applications such as Topaz Gigapixel AI, Photo AI, Adobe Photoshop, etc.

Photomontages (except HDR, panoramas, and focus stacking), double exposures in-camera, or manipulations or alterations of the original image, such as erasing, moving, or adding any element, whether a person, animal, object, branch, debris, or floating particles, bubbles, or reflections in underwater photographs, etc., are not allowed. Adding borders, watermarks, or signatures to photographs is not allowed.

At MedFoto, we want to show and value the reality of our world. Therefore, in this contest, images created by artificial intelligence (AI) tools (such as MidJourney, StableDiffusion, etc.) or photographs in which AI has been used to modify them, add or remove elements, expand their original framing, etc., such as Generative Fill or Generative Expand in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Firefly, or similar applications, are not accepted.

Ethical code: Plants and animals must have been photographed with respect and without suffering any harm or excessive disturbance, following the ethical code of AEFONA. In categories 2 Wildlife and 5 Underwater, photographs of captive, domestic, stuffed animals, or cultivated plants are not accepted.

• 2025 MedFoto photography prize, awarded 1,000 euros.
• 8 prizes for the winners of each of the eight categories is awarded 300 euros each.
• 4 special prizes:
  • Photograph taken within the geographic limit of the Costa Brava (between the towns of Blanes and Portbou), with a weekend in a bungalow at Camping la Ballena Alegre for 4 people.
  • Photograph taken within the geographic limit of the municipality of l’Escala, consisting of an experience in L’Escala for two people that includes one night in a hotel with breakfast, lunch or dinner and a visit to the Anchovy and Salt Museum or to the Alfolí de la Sal – L’Escala Museum.
  • Young Talents. Photograph presented by a person up to 21 years old on the day of opening of registrations, consisting of a voucher of 200 € for photographic material.
  • Comic Nature Prize. Photograph from the categories “Wildlife” or “Underwater” that is funny or unusual. The prize will consist of a basket of products from Empordà, one night in a hotel, and a one-year subscription to the association of Friends of the Aiguamolls and the natural heritage of Empordà.

Photographs that are competing for the geographic limit prizes must include preferably some identifying or recognizable element of the area.

In addition to these award-winning photographs, the jury will select up to a total of 36 images and 3 photographic stories to be included in the exhibition of the competition.

The same photograph may not be entered in several categories, nor may it be entered for more than one prize, except for special prizes. The amount of the prizes is subject to the corresponding tax deductions.

The jury will be composed of six experts in the fields of photography and the marine environment: photographers Adriana Olsina (ESP), David Salcedo (ESP), Laura Carrau (ESP), Oriol Alamany (ESP), Ugo Mellone (ITA), and Xavier Salvador (ESP).

The jury reserves the right to change the category of photographs if deemed appropriate, disqualify any image that does not comply with the contest rules, and declare any of the prizes void if it considers that the submitted works do not meet the minimum quality to be deserving of it.

The verdict will be announced on July 26, 2025, during the public award ceremony. The jury’s decision will be final.

The organization reserves the right to interpret these rules and to modify any aspect if deemed appropriate. The rules are published in different languages, but in case of any doubt, the Catalan version will always prevail.

The award ceremony and exhibition opening will take place on July 26, 2025, at 7 PM, at Club Nàutic l’Escala. On the same day, the exhibition of a selection of 36 of the best photographs and 3 reports submitted will be inaugurated, which will be on display until August 26, 2025, at the Club Nàutic l’Escala facilities.

• 1^st April: Opening date for registrations and presentation of photographs.
• 15^th May: Closing date for the presentation of photographs.
• 16^th May: Start of selection tasks by the jury.
• 5^th June: Request for RAW files for photo verification.
• 17^th June: Final meeting of the jury and the results.
• 18^th June: Request for high-resolution files from the finalists.
• From 1^st July: Public communication of finalists and publication on the competition’s Instagram account.
• ^26th July: Awards ceremony and opening of the exhibition at the Club Nàutic l’Escala.
• 26th August: Closure of the exhibition and end of the 5th edition of the competition.

The participant declares to the organization that he/she is the sole owner of the copyright of the photographs submitted and is responsible for any image rights of the people or properties that appear in his/her photographs.

By participating in the MedFoto photographic competition, the authors of the finalist photographs grant the Club Nàutic l’Escala and the Fundació Alive the non-exclusive right to reproduce, publish, display and communicate to the public via any method the 42 selected photographs, for the exhibition, and for marketing and promotional use related to the competition, always citing his/her authorship.

For any other use that could be presented outside the scope of the contest, or by third parties, the organization will contact the author of the photographic work to agree on the conditions of its use.