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MedFoto Competition Rules 2026

MedFoto 2026 – Open submissions from 1st April to 15th May

MedFoto is a photographic competition that aims to promote a type of photography that showcases the sea world as close to reality as possible.

Images of the Mediterranean Sea and its immediate surroundings, captured with respectful attitudes toward people, animals, plants, and the natural environment.

We are looking for innovative and inspiring photographs, with a focus on documenting marine biodiversity and the relationship between people and the marine world.

Do you accept the challenge?

The competition is open to both amateurs and professional photographers of any nationality.

The organization reserves the right to interpret these rules and modify any aspect if deemed necessary.

The competition is open to both amateur and professional photographers of any nationality, except for those involved in its organization, the jury, and their direct family members.

All participants are subject to these rules.

Registration will be open from April 1st to May 15th, 2026. The registration fee is 15 € per participant, and it entitles participants to submit up to fifteen photographs in any of the categories.

Note: The proceeds from the registration fees are used to print the photographs for the exhibition, thereby contributing to a wider dissemination of the MEDFOTO values.

Any communication with the organization should be made via email to info@medfoto.org

The organization will communicate with the public via the website www.medfoto.org

All information related to the competition, prizes, etc., will be published here. Only finalists and winners will receive private communications.

The photographic subjects of the competition are the Mediterranean Sea and its coastline. Photographs taken in other geographical areas will not be accepted.

A maximum of fifteen photographic submissions per participant (whether individual photographs or photo stories) can be made in any of the following categories:

  1. Landscape: Images showing Mediterranean coastal landscapes above sea level— from shore to open sea, from broad views to specific details, from wild areas to humanised zones and coastal towns—always with a photographic spirit, playing with subject, light and composition.
  2. Wildlife: Wild Mediterranean fauna and flora photographed in their natural environment above the sea surface: seabirds, cetaceans seen from the surface, coastal flora and fauna. Both aesthetic portraits and images capturing behaviour are accepted.
  3. Sports & Leisure: Nautical sports (sailing, rowing, kayaking, waterskiing, swimming, etc.) showing skill, difficulty, spectacle, or the pleasure of practising them. Also leisure activities around the marine and coastal environment.
  4. Sea Trades: Professional activities at sea: people who work and live from the sea—fishing, sailors, and similar professions.
  5. Underwater: Photographs taken underwater: fish and other animals, plants and vegetation, underwater landscapes, and underwater activities.
  6. Conservation & Climate Change: Management of marine and coastal natural resources, environmental issues and solutions, climate change effects.
  7. Popular: Prize for the best photograph captured directly in JPEG format with devices that do not produce RAW files (mobile phones, compact cameras, action cameras, drones). Also includes analogue photographs available only as digitised JPEGs. The subject matter is limited to the themes of the previous categories.
  8. Photographic Story: A set of six photographs on a theme related to the Mediterranean. The story’s interest and narrative treatment will also be valued. Each story counts as one of the fifteen submissions.

Deadlines: Participants have until May 15th, 2026, at 23:59 CET to register and upload a maximum of fifteen photographs related to the competition theme to www.medfoto.org.

Formats: Photographs must be taken with digital or film cameras and submitted as JPEG files with a minimum of 2,500 pixels on the longest side.

EXIF data must remain intact.

Images must have been originally captured in RAW format or on film, except in the “Popular” category. DNG files are only accepted if native to the camera (Pentax, Ricoh, Leica, DJI, some mobile phones…).

The organization will request these original RAW files from a selection of photographs pre-selected by the jury in order to verify their authenticity. If the original photograph is on film, the original negative or slide will be required. In this case, the cost of sending and returning the material by registered 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 has received an award.Processing: Regarding the processing of photographs, basic photographic development adjustments are accepted: exposure corrections, white balance adjustments, contrast or saturation adjustments, noise reduction, sharpening, removal of sensor dust spots, etc. Black and white photographs are allowed, as well as HDR images, panoramas, and focus stacking composed of multiple shots, provided they were taken at the same moment and depict a real situation.

Reframing (cropping) of the original photograph is permitted, as long as the final resulting image is no smaller than 2,500 pixels on its longest side. The original photograph may not be enlarged through interpolation, nor with applications such as Topaz Gigapixel AI, Photo AI, Adobe Photoshop, etc.

Photomontages (except for the HDR, panoramas, and focus stacking mentioned above), in-camera double exposures, or any manipulation or alteration of the original image are not allowed. This includes deleting, moving, or adding any element, whether a person, animal, object, branch, debris, floating particles, bubbles, or reflections in underwater photographs, etc. Adding borders, watermarks, or signatures to the photographs is not permitted.

At MedFoto, we aim to showcase and highlight the reality of our world. For this reason, images created using artificial intelligence tools (AI, such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Firefly, ChatGPT, etc.) are not accepted in this competition. Photographs in which AI has been used to add or remove elements, expand the original framing, etc., such as Generative Fill or Generative Expand in applications like Adobe Photoshop, Luminar Neo, Canva, or similar, are also not permitted

Code of Ethics: Plants and animals must have been photographed with respect and without causing them any harm or excessive disturbance, in accordance with AEFONA’s code of ethics.

Overall Prize: MedFoto 2026 Photography Award, awarded 1,000 euros, for the best photograph of the 2026 edition.

Category Prizes: Prize for the best photograph in each category – 8 winning prizes for each of the eight categories, awarded 300 euros each.

Special Prizes: 3 prizes:

    • Costa Brava Prize: A photograph within the geographical limits of the Costa Brava (between the municipalities of Blanes and Portbou), awarded with a weekend stay in a bungalow at Camping la Ballena Alegre for 4 people.

    • l’Escala Prize: A photograph within the geographical limits of the municipality of l’Escala. Consists of an experience in l’Escala for two people, including one night at a hotel with breakfast, one lunch or dinner, and a visit to the Museum of the Anchovy and Salt or Alfolí de la Sal — Museum of l’Escala.

    • Natura Còmica Prize: A photograph from the “Wildlife” or “Underwater” categories that is funny or unusual. The prize will consist of a package of products from the Empordà, one night at a hotel, and a one-year subscription to the Association of Friends of Aiguamolls and the natural heritage of Empordà.

Regarding photographs competing for geographical area prizes, it will be valued if they include preferably some identifying element that recognizes the area.

For photographs competing for the geographically restricted awards, preference will be given to those that include an identifiable or recognisable element of the area.

In addition to the winning photographs, the jury will select a number of photographs and accompanying texts to be included in the exhibition of the competition.

The same photograph may not be entered in multiple categories or compete for more than one prize, except for the special awards. Prize amounts are subject to the applicable tax withholdings.

The jury will be composed of six experts in 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), as well as Marc Casanovas, the winner of MedFoto 2025.

The jury reserves the right to change photographs from one category to another if deemed appropriate, to disqualify any image that does not comply with the competition rules, and to declare any prize void if the submitted works do not meet the minimum required quality.

The decision will be made public 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; however, in the event of any doubt, the Catalan version shall prevail.

The award ceremony and the opening of the exhibition will take place on July 24, 2026, at 7:00 pm, at Club Nàutic l’Escala. On the same day, an exhibition featuring a selection of the best photographs will open and will remain on display until August 15, 2026, at the facilities of Club Nàutic l’Escala.

    • April 1: Opening of registration and submission of photographs.
    • May 15: Deadline for submission of photographs.
    • May 16: Start of the jury’s selection process.
    • May 30 – June 5: Request for original RAW files or original negatives/slides for verification purposes.
    • June 15: Final jury meeting and decision.
    • June 16: Submission of high-resolution files by finalist authors, if applicable. From June 17 onwards: Public announcement of finalists and publication on the competition’s Instagram account.
    • July 24, 19h: Award ceremony and opening of the exhibition at Club Nàutic l’Escala.
    • August 15: Closing of the official 2026 exhibition.

Participants declare to the organization that they are the sole holders of the copyright of the submitted photographs and assume responsibility for any claims regarding image rights of persons or properties appearing in their photographs.

By participating in the MedFoto photography competition, the authors of the finalist photographs grant Alive Fundació and Club Nàutic l’Escala the non-exclusive right to reproduce, publish, exhibit and communicate to the public, by any means, the 42 selected photographs for the purpose of organizing the exhibition, as well as for dissemination and promotional activities always related to the competition and with proper credit to the author.

For any other use outside the scope of the competition, or by third parties, the organization will contact the author of the photographic work in order to agree on the conditions of use.

Download the Rules (PDF)

Supported by:

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