Impressum Photo Award 2026

Competition Brief

The Impressum Photo Award 2026 is a photography competition that the Impressum team is putting together. It is connected to the Appennino Foto Festival in the Marche region of Italy. This is the time they are doing this. The competition is open to all photographers no matter where they are from or how good they’re. Anyone can join, from people who learned photography in school to people who taught themselves. The only rule is that people between 16 and 20 years old can enter for free. The best photos will be shown in an exhibition in Italy. There will also be a ceremony to give prizes to the winners.

The competition has categories. These include taking pictures of nature, cities, news, abstract things and pictures taken at night. You can also take pictures from the air. There are two categories. One is for style photography like using film. The other is for pictures made by computers. Both of these categories are about making things new. One category that might be really interesting is the city category. This is because it is about showing how complicated and interesting cities can be. The Impressum Photo Award 2026 is looking for pictures of cities from towns, to big cities. The Impressum Photo Award 2026 wants to see how people live in these places.

Intent

The competition is asking photographers to take pictures of all the things they see in the world. It is divided into eight different groups. The Urban group wants photographers to show how people change the world and make cities from really cool buildings to normal everyday things where buildings are important to people and the community. The Urban group and another group have an idea: making things better as a way to heal, where walking, either really walking, thinking about it or using it as a symbol helps to make nature, areas, buildings and communities better. The competition wants to see pictures of regeneration which’s, like a process of healing and the act of walking is a big part of that it can be walking in a city or walking in a park or just thinking about walking and how that helps to make the world a better place. The photographers should take pictures of how people and buildings and nature’re all connected and how they can help each other to become better this is what the Urban group and the other group are looking for.

Purpose

The competition gets really big. The best pictures are shown to everyone in a special exhibition. They pick the 10 photographs in each group and the top 3 projects in each section and put them up for people to see. There is a prize that people who visit the exhibition can vote for but you have to be there, in person to vote. They do not let people vote on the internet. All the people who made it to the finals get to go to the prize ceremony. The Appennino Foto Festival wants to make it easy for people to take pictures and bring together people who like taking pictures on their platform.

Categories

The eight competition categories are:

• Nature. It captures landscapes with little to no presence.
• Urban. This category is about the built environment, from villages to big cities.
• Stories of People. It focuses on stories, emotions and daily life.
• Nocturnal. This category explores the world at night. The effects of light.
• Abstract. It uses light, shadow and texture to change how we see things.
• Aerial. This category offers a perspective from high altitudes showing unique patterns.
• Photojournalism. This is about documentary photography that shares stories and witnesses history.
• There are also two project categories:

1. Analogue Photography Project
2. AI-Generated Images Project.

Both projects are about regeneration, as a healing journey.

Requirements

When you send in your pictures you can only send a total of 25 photos and no than 10 photos for each category. The photos have to be in JPEG format. The longest side has to be at least 1,920 pixels. The file size cannot be than 3 MB. You can crop your photos. Only, up to 35 percent of the original picture. You can make some changes to your photos like making them a little brighter or changing the colors but you cannot make big changes that alter the whole scene. You cannot. Remove things from your photos or move things around. Photos made by computers are not allowed in the categories they can only be sent in the category for computer-made photos. You can only enter each photo in one category. If your photo is chosen as one of the best you have to send in the file to prove it is real.

Jury

The technical jury is composed primarily of professional photographers, with a smaller number of editors and gallerists. Judging is conducted anonymously; jury members vote without knowing the identity of the photographers. The jury’s decisions are final and unquestionable. The 2026 jury members are:

1. Alessandro Bergamini – Professional Photographer
2. Cinzia Canneri – Professional Photographer
3. Giuseppe Capriotti – Photographer
4. Edoardo Catini – Photographer
5. Alessandro Curti – Photographer
6. Barbara Dall’Angelo – Professional Photographer
7. Valerio Minato – Photographer
8. Helmut Pilo – Photographer
9. Christian Tasso – Documentary Photographer
10. Francesca Tilio – Photographer

Registration Fees

The €30 entry fee covers participation across all submitted categories with up to 25 photos total. Registration is completed via the official online form on the Impressum website.

Prizes and Rewards

All prizes are photography equipment vouchers, not cash. Total prize value is €3,900 plus material goods and publications. The popular jury prize is awarded exclusively by physical visitors to the exhibition with no online voting.

Key Dates

Further dates for the top selection phase, finalist notification, and prize ceremony have not been published. Participants should monitor the official website at impressumphotoaward.it for updates.

✦ ArchUp Competition Review

The Impressum Photo Award is a good Italian photography competition. It has been around for six years. Is supported by the Appennino Foto Festival. The Impressum Photo Award has a jury made up of ten photographers who do not reveal their names. This makes the competition fair. To make sure everything is fair the Impressum Photo Award asks for the photo files from the finalists. This helps to keep out photos that have been changed or made by computers. You have to pay thirty euros to enter the Impressum Photo Award. This is a price because you can send up to twenty five photos in different categories. Your photos might also be shown in an exhibition. There is a prize ceremony. The prizes are vouchers for photography equipment, not money. This might not be as exciting for people from countries who enter the competition. The Impressum Photo Award also has a prize that is chosen by the people who visit the exhibition. This is a touch because it involves the community. If you like taking pictures of buildings and cities the Impressum Photo Award has categories for aerial photography. These categories are a way to enter the competition because it is well organized and honest. The Impressum Photo Award is a competition, for photographers who want to show their work.

Final Thoughts

Impressum 2026 is a good competition that is easy to understand. It has judges and clear rules for checking the photos. The best part is that they will show the photos, in an exhibition. I think it is great that they let photographers who are 16 to 20 years old enter for free. If you want to join you need to sign up by 26 April 2026.

Registration Deadline

Brought to you by the ArchUp Editorial Team

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