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Applications are open for the Prince Albert Il of Monaco Foundation Environmental Photography Award 2025. This annual award was created with the aim of rewarding photographers who put their creativity to good use in raising awareness about Earth protection.
The Prince Albert Il of Monaco Foundation's Environmental Photography Award was launched in 2021, in honour of the Foundation's 15th anniversary. This annual award was created with the aim of rewarding photographers who put their creativity to good use in raising awareness on Earth protection.
It has the dual purpose of celebrating the incredible beauty of our planet and highlighting the environmental challenges we face through five categories: Polar Wonders, Into the Forest, Ocean Worlds, Humanity versus Nature, Change Makers: Reasons for Hope.
Photographic art, with its immediate and universal language, represents a formidable vehicle for raising awareness. It reinforces, in a virtuous way, the process of awareness on major environmental issues, such as biodiversity, climate and the ocean. Environmental photographers can encourage us to change, to innovate, to invent sustainable solutions in order to better rethink our lives and ourNeconomies. They reveal a real "field of possibilities" for new generations who aspire to a more harmonious relationship with Nature.
The photographs - almost 11,000 images participated in the 3rd edition of the competition in 2024 - are carefully selected by a jury of internationally renowned professional photographers for their technical and aesthetic excellence but also, and above all, for the relevance and strength of their message.
Grand Prize Winner (Environmental Photographer 2025) (chosen by the jury among the 5 category winners)
- 5,000 € grant
- Invitation (including travel and accommodation) to the opening ceremony of the exhibition in the Principality of Monaco
Category Winners
- 1,000 € grant for each of the 5 category winners
Public Award & Students’ Choice (to be chosen for each across all categories)
- 500 € grant for the Public Award winning image as well as an invitation (including travel and accommodation) to visit the SEK International University's Amazon research station in Ecuador
- 500 € grant for the Student’s Choice winning image
For all shortlisted photographers
-Featured in the Environmental Photography Award 2025 exhibition in Monaco and on its international tour
-Published in, and receiving two complimentary copies of the Environmental Photography Award 2025 book
1. Eligibility
1.1 The Award is global and open to photographers of all nationalities who will be aged 18 or over on 3rd November 2024.
1.2 It is the responsibility of each entrant to ensure that they have read and will abide by these rules and Photocrowd’s Terms and Conditions. By submitting an entry, each entrant agrees to these rules, that their entry complies with these rules, and that they will be liable to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Photocrowd and their licensees in respect of any damages or losses incurred as a breach of the rules.
1.3 Employees or agents of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Photocrowd, their families or other persons connected with this promotion (excluding the sponsors) are not eligible to enter. Also, ineligible to enter are any persons benefiting (on the day of the submission of the photograph(s)) from the Foundation’s support, either directly or indirectly.
1.4 Proof of eligibility must be provided upon request. Use of a false name or other false details will result in disqualification.
1.5 Entrants are required to create a Photocrowd account in order to facilitate entry to the Award and provide their contact details, but participation in, and engagement with the wider Photocrowd community is not a requirement of entry to the Award.
2. Submission Rules
2.1 All entries must be submitted via the Photocrowd online platform, before the closing date of 23:59 (CET)/ 22:59 (UTC) on 3rd November 2024.
2.2 Entry is free of charge. Photographers can enter up to 5 images in each of the 5 categories, allowing therefore for a maximum of 25 images in total. If any photographer is found to have entered more than 5 images into a category, all their entries will be invalidated and removed from judging.
2.3 Images (including similar images taken from the same series of photographs) are eligible for entry even if they have previously won a national or international photography award (including winner, runner-up, highly commended or equivalent) or are entered into a competition where the results are pending.
2.4 Submitted images must have been shot within the past 5 years. The shoot date must be no earlier than 1st September 2019.
2.5 The same image cannot be entered into multiple categories. Please check the brief for each category to enter the image in the most relevant one. Images can only be shortlisted by the Jury in one category.
2.6 All submitted images must be free of watermarks, text, copyright symbols, logos, and frames. Inclusion of any of these or similar additions to the image will invalidate the entry.
2.7 Each participant is personally responsible for the images they submit to the contest, the additional information they provide about those images, and all information provided by them on the Award entry form.
It is essential that submitted images include an image title, and additional information that will assist the Jury in making their decisions (especially the name of the species represented and the exact location of the photo). When uploading images there will be the opportunity to add a title and description to each image.
All submitted images must contain the original camera metadata, showing the type of camera and lens used, and shot settings.
Images that do not include a title or additional information are unlikely to be considered by the Award jury. Titles and edited text from the descriptions will be used to accompany images in the award exhibition and book.
Where the Jury believes that an image has been entered into the wrong category, we reserve the right to move it into the category to which the Jury believes it is more relevant.
2.8 There is a required minimum image size of 3000 pixels on the shortest side of the image. Images should be saved as jpegs at the highest quality available, at 300 dpi resolution, with a colour profile attached - preferably Adobe RGB(1998).
It is advised that the largest file size available is submitted to the award, to allow interrogation of the image’s quality by the Jury. Where a file is not sufficiently large to allow an image’s quality to be assessed, it will be considered ineligible for shortlisting.
2.9 The welfare of the people, animals and habitats in any images submitted to the award is of great importance to the Foundation, our partners and the Jury.
Photographers taking part in the award are required to observe behaviour that is respectful of people, animals, and the environment. By submitting an image to the awards, you confirm that all subjects in those images were interacted with before, during and after the image-making process in a way that treated them respectfully and did not result directly or indirectly in them experiencing damage, distress, injury or death.
Any images of animals or habitats must also be in conformance with any existing legislation regarding permitted or forbidden interaction with that species or habitat.
Images of captive animals are not allowed. The only exception is if the image documents a specific situation, in which case it must be clearly described in the caption.
Live baiting is not permitted.
With these policies in mind, we reserve the right to ask for further information from the photographer about their photographic methods and the state of the animals and habitat before, during and after the shot was taken.
2.10 It is extremely important that submitted images must not deceive the viewer or attempt to disguise or misrepresent the reality of nature. Images show the scene and subjects as they were shot, and exhibiting behaviour that was not manipulated, staged, or coerced by the photographer.
Adding or removing objects (e.g. animals, plants, people, items of civilization and traces thereof), or digital composites, are not permitted.
2.11 Use of AI image generation software to create or augment images for entry into the Award is strictly prohibited. This includes the addition of AI-generated elements into an image shot originally on a camera, and the extension of an image beyond its original boundaries using AI generative fill tools. All longlisted images will be verified by the checking of RAW files, and the Jury reserve the right to request a screengrab of your image cataloguing software showing multiple images from the same shoot. If a submitted image is found to have been created or augmented using AI software it will immediately be withdrawn from the Award along with any other submissions from that photographer, and the photographer will not be eligible for entry into future editions of the Award. If the AI-generated/augmented image has already won one or more Award prizes, the submitting photographer will be required to reimburse the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation for the monetary value of those prizes, and may be prosecuted for damages compensation. In case the image and the photographer have been promoted by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, legal action may be taken for moral prejudice against the Environmental Photography Award and the Foundation. These conditions apply without time limit.
2.12 Photographers may make reasonable use of digital darkroom techniques which enhance quality but do not distort the photograph. Major alterations are not allowed, the cloning out/removal of elements in an image is forbidden.
Adjustment to levels, curves, colour balance, colour saturation, dodging and burning, selective adjustments using layers and blemish and dust spot removal are all examples of acceptable manipulation, when used in moderation.
You may crop your images in the interests of composition, correcting horizons, etc. The crop must not distort the meaning of the image by excluding important parts of the original framing. Your cropped image must be at least 3,000 pixels on the shortest side as we will ask for files at least this size should your image/s win or be shortlisted.
2.13 Jurors have the discretion to reject any entry which has been, in their opinion, over-manipulated and therefore compromises the integrity of the original image.
2.14 Participants whose images will be considered in the final round of Jury deliberations will be requested to submit the original RAW camera files of their submitted images, as well as more details about the circumstance of their images. The original file must be in a RAW format (not JPEG) and include the original camera metadata. In some cases, screengrabs of the cataloguing software showing other images from the same shoot may be requested. This request will be made by email sometime after 9th December 2024 and must be responded to by 20th December 2024.
2.15 The Promoter and Photocrowd reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to disqualify or remove any entry that does not comply with the rules or the spirit of the awards, or the values of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, at any stage of the awards.
Award Judging
4.1 Once the entry period has closed, the jury will convene to determine the category winners, the grand prize winner (Environmental Photographer of the Year) and a shortlist of images across the five categories. The voting procedure for the jury members on the Photocrowd platform is anonymous.
4.2 The shortlisted images that will form the Award exhibition and book will be publicly announced on the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s website and on Photocrowd on 31st March 2025. All Award entrants will be emailed with this announcement. The Award winners will not be announced on this date.
The Public Vote will be launched online on 31st March 2025 for a period of two weeks, at the same time as the Student’s Choice Vote, which is limited to the high school students of the Principality of Monaco.
The Environmental Photographer of the Year grand prize winner, category winners, Public Award winner and Student’s Choice winner will be publicly announced on 15th April 2025. An exhibition will take place in Monaco in June 2025. The photographers will be informed of the exact dates as soon as possible.
4.3 Please refer to our Jury page for more information on the Jury members. The Jury’s decision is final and binding in all matters and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the decisions.
5. Copyright and permissions
5.1 All imagery MUST be the exclusive work of the submitting photographer and may not include any element that is the copyright of another or shot or created by another.
5.2 The Copyright for each image entered will remain with the submitting photographer.
5.3 By entering the Award and submitting your photograph(s), you hereby grant the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Photocrowd Ltd, and the award’s sponsors a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to use your photograph(s) free of charge for any purpose connected with the Award, including (but not limited to), promoting the Award within printed and online media, the inclusion within printed and digital versions of the Award book, display at the Award exhibition in the Principality of Monaco and at any other venues where the exhibition may be displayed, use in press, promotional and institutional materials, and social media networks related to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. The Foundation undertakes to display copyright information alongside all uses of submitted images. No photographs entered in the awards will be offered for sale or used for any commercial purposes other than in the Award’s book (see 5.4) without prior approval of the photographer.
5.4 The shortlisted and winning images will be collected in a high-quality, hardcover, bilingual (French/English) Awards book. This is to be published for the opening ceremony of the exhibition in the Principality of Monaco. To this extent, the Foundation may collaborate with a publishing house. No royalties will be received by the Foundation or by photographers whose work is included in the book. Photographers whose work is included in the book will be sent 2 copies of the book free of charge, to the address provided by each photographer when entering the awards.
5.5 If recognizable individuals appear in submitted images, the author must have obtained their consent and, if the subject is a minor, the consent of the legal representative.
Entrants are required to create a Photocrowd account in order to facilitate entry to the Award and provide their contact details, but participation in, and engagement with the wider Photocrowd community is not a requirement for entry to the Award.
Click on the link to the application website to apply.
Apply for Prince Albert Il of Monaco Foundation Environmental Photography Award