Enter IPM26 - The BIPP's International Print Masters competition

Competition Overview

The BIPP’s International Print Masters competition is open to all professional photographers worldwide, with no discrimination of sex, race, religion, nationality or ethnicity.

The Print Masters is a two-stage competition, with the first round of judging on the digital entries. The selected top scoring images in each category will be invited to submit prints for the second round of judging.

As well as an overall Print Master award, Print Master awards will also be awarded for the individual categories.

Images from eligible UK citizens and residents may be considered for entries as Team UK for the World Photographic Cup (a prestigious annual international competition).

All images must have been captured since 1st January 2024.

Entry Guidelines

Round 1 - Digital Images

Files should be uploaded as sRGB JPEGs.

Files should be submitted at 4000px on the longest side. Smaller will be rejected on upload, larger is not necessary.

File names must be under 32 characters and must not contain any symbols.

Borders, keylines, watermarks or identifying information must not be added (and will result in disqualification).

Please do not strip copyright and date EXIF (where possible we will aim to preserve the embedded info) and we do require to validate the image has been shot since 1st January 2024.

Round 2 - Print

The top scoring images in each category will be invited to submit prints for the second round of judging. Failure to deliver the original files or a print for judging will result in disqualification.

Prints should be mounted, overall size 50x40cm (minimum printed area approximately 10×8″ or 25x20cm). 20×16″ mounts are also acceptable. The 5:4 ratio of the mount does not dictate that your image is also cropped to 5:4 (hint: borders).

Prints can be face-mounted on board (or any rigid substrate) or in matted mounts (“passpartout” for the Europeans). We recommend all prints are mounted using a relatively rigid backing board and held flat in the mount.

Entries which do not conform to the mounted size requirement (50x40cm) will be disqualified. Framed prints will be disqualified. Loose prints will be disqualified.

For overseas entrants (or anyone who doesn’t make their own prints), competition prints can be ordered from Digitalab and Loxley Colour.

1. Check the Rules

Make sure you know the rules before entering!

General Rules

Category Rules

Entrant Checklist

2. Register/Login

You need to be registered to enter the competition.

First time entrants: register here

If you’ve entered previous BIPP competitions, you should not need to re-register.

3. Begin Entry

Enter your images

Competition Categories

Each category has a full description and specific rules which should be read and understood in conjunction with the common/ general rules.

Failure to comply with the category definition and rules can result in penalised scores or disqualification. We do however reserve the right to reassign an entry to a more appropriate category and will endeavour to do so rather than disqualify.

Judging & Scoring

Judging of the digital round will be performed by a pool of BIPP judges and invited international guest judges.

Print judging will be performed in-person by a subset of these judges – prints will be assessed using a standard competion light box.

Images are scored to our judging standards, not relative to each other.

Awards are assigned based on the following scoring ranges:

Diamond (100) – Truly exceptional work of historic or defining quality. Virtually flawless, unmistakably original, and unlikely to be equalled within the competition cycle. A reference image for the category.
Platinum (95 – 99) – Exceptional, rare professional work. Demonstrates mastery, authority, and clarity of vision. Judges would expect to see this level of work recognised at the highest international level.
Gold (90-94) – Outstanding, category-leading professional work. Original, resolved, and difficult to fault. Sets a clear benchmark within the category.
Silver (85 – 89) – Exceptional professional work. Strong concept, excellent execution, and confident authorship.
Bronze (80 – 84) – High-quality professional work. Clear creative or commercial strength. Judges actively respond to it.
Commended (77 – 79) – Strong professional work with clear intent, good control, and thoughtful execution. Memorable but not exceptional.

More information on scoring is available in our Judges’ Scoring Guidelines and General Judging Guidelines.

Images selected for the print finals need to score Commended or better in the digital round (the actual cut-off will vary by category).

Eligibility

The competition is open to professional photographers worldwide (there is no requirement to be a member of the BIPP, but if you would like to join our community, we welcome international members).

Exclusions

Members of the competion and judging team may not enter the competion.

AI Exclusions

All imagery is expected to be the work of the photographer. Prompt-generated imagery and elements are not permitted.

However, AI tools are increasingly common in modern post-processing workflows and, pragmatically, we are not excluding their use. The use of Adobe Lightroom, Imagen, Evoto, Topaz AI tools, etc. (not an exhaustive list) in post-production are perfectly acceptable.

Use of Photoshop’s generative tools presents more of a challenge in terms of rules. Adding new images elements using generative tools is not acceptable, but using the same tools to remove elements (which would have been possible using traditional tools) is permitted.

The raw files of all finalist entries will be examined for compliance. Finalist entries which do not comply with the rules will be disqualified. Failure to provide the appropriate files for the deadline will result in disqualification.