Understanding the 2026 GPPA Image Competition Categories
Choosing the right category is an important part of entering the Georgia Photographic Competition.
The category you select tells the judges what type of image they are evaluating and helps ensure your work is considered alongside photographs created with similar intent. Some categories focus on portraiture and controlled lighting. Others emphasize documentation, commercial purpose, wildlife, or artistic transformation.
For 2026, GPPA has updated several categories and subcategories to make the structure clearer and bring the Georgia Photographic Competition more closely in line with Professional Photographers of America’s Merit Image Review and the American Society of Photographers’ Images of Distinction competition.
While the structures are not identical, the categories are now more consistent across the different organizations.
What Changed for 2026?
Several updates may affect where you enter your images this year.
Boudoir Has Been Added to Portrait
Boudoir is now a dedicated subcategory within the Portrait category.
This category may include subjects photographed in lingerie consistent with the boudoir genre, as well as tastefully artistic figure studies.
Wedding Subcategories Have Changed
Wedding entries are now divided into two subcategories:
The distinction between them depends largely on when and why the image was created.
Reportage Is Now Its Own Category
Reportage has been established as a separate competition category with two subcategories:
These types of images were previously included under Illustrative. Moving them into Reportage better reflects their documentary and photojournalistic nature.
Flowers Is the 2026 Special Category
GPPA’s Special Category changes each year. For 2026, the subject is Flowers.
All images featuring flowers should be entered in this category rather than Landscape/Nature.
The 2026 Competition Categories
Each entry must be placed into one of the following categories and subcategories.
Portrait
Portrait images should portray one or more subjects and reflect the personality of the person or animal being photographed.
General
The General Portrait subcategory includes:
- Families
- Groups
- Adults over age 18
Child
This subcategory is for subjects from birth through age 11.
Teens & Seniors
This subcategory is for subjects between the ages of 11 and 18.
Because age 11 appears in both the Child and Teens & Seniors descriptions in the official rules, entrants with an 11-year-old subject may want to ask the GPPA competition committee for guidance before submitting.
Pets & Animals
This subcategory includes animals photographed in a controlled environment using structured lighting.
The animal may be photographed in a studio or outdoors, but it should be under the control of the photographer, owner, or companion.
This category may include:
- Domestic pets
- Companion animals
- Domesticated livestock
Wild animals, wildlife, and zoo animals do not belong in this category. Those images should be entered in Wildlife.
Boudoir
The new Boudoir subcategory may include:
- Subjects photographed in lingerie consistent with the boudoir genre
- Tastefully artistic figure studies
Wedding
The Wedding category includes images created at or in connection with a wedding.
Entries may include traditional portraits, candid moments, details, or other images that help communicate the people, personality, or story of the wedding.
General
Wedding General includes:
- Traditional wedding portraits
- Stylized wedding sessions
- Images created in connection with a wedding but not photographed on the wedding day
- Bridal portraits created before or after the wedding
Day of Wedding
Images entered in Day of Wedding must have been photographed during an actual wedding event.
They may not come from a styled session.
The image should reflect the personality of the subjects or help tell the story of the event. It must also include a visual reference that identifies it as a wedding, such as wedding clothing, floral arrangements, ceremony details, or another recognizable element.
Composite images are permitted, provided post-production is not the primary element communicating the subject’s personality or the essence of the event.
Most importantly, the image must have been captured on the day of the wedding.
Illustrative
The Illustrative category includes images such as:
- Commercial and industrial photography
- Landscapes and nature
- Cityscapes
- Wildlife
- Still life
- Scenic and pictorial images
- Digital paintings
- Similar illustrative subject matter
Portraits and wedding images are not appropriate for this category.
Commercial
Commercial entries are images intended for use by a client to promote or brand a company, service, or product.
This may include:
- Advertising
- Fashion
- Beauty
- Still life
- Food photography
- Architecture
- Corporate photography
Both composite and non-composite images are allowed, and the entry may be highly manipulated.
Landscape/Nature
This subcategory includes illustrative or graphic depictions of landscapes and natural subjects.
Examples include:
- Landscapes
- Cityscapes
- Trees
- Natural textures
- Close-up nature scenes
- Aerial photography
- Macro photography
- Astrophotography
Composite, non-composite, and highly manipulated images are permitted.
Flowers are specifically excluded from this category in 2026. Any image featuring flowers should be entered in the Special Category.
Wildlife
Wildlife is intended for animal images created in an uncontrolled environment where the photographer or owner does not control the animal.
This includes:
- Animals photographed in the wild
- Zoo animals
- Other wild animals
Composite, non-composite, and highly manipulated images are allowed in this category.
A simple way to distinguish the animal categories is to consider the level of control involved. A pet photographed under structured lighting belongs in Pets & Animals. An animal photographed in the wild or at a zoo belongs in Wildlife.
Reportage
Reportage is a new category designation for 2026.
These images document real events, areas of human interest, newsworthy moments, or scenes capable of creating a meaningful record or lasting emotional response.
Reportage entries are subject to stricter editing limitations than most other categories.
Only the following adjustments are permitted:
- Basic color correction
- Brightness adjustments
- Cropping
- Dodging
- Burning
Only single-capture images are accepted.
Composites and multiple-exposure images are not allowed. Entrants must also be able to provide the original RAW or JPEG file if requested by the competition committee.
Images from the day of a wedding should be entered in Wedding rather than Reportage.
General
General Reportage includes images illustrating:
- Public or private events
- Everyday life
- Human-interest subjects
- Newsworthy moments
- Events with historical, emotional, or documentary significance
This subcategory may also be described as photojournalism.
Sports
The Sports subcategory is for images documenting sporting events.
Because it falls under Reportage, the same single-capture and limited-editing rules apply.
Artist
The Artist category is designed for conceptual work that has been substantially altered, manipulated, painted, restored, or artistically transformed from its original condition.
Entries may include:
- Digital painting
- Traditional painting or drawing
- Photographs
- Stock photography
- Artwork created by other artists, with written permission
- Combinations of multiple artistic elements
All processing, manipulation, artwork, and rendering must be completed by the entrant.
Guide images must be displayed on the submitted entry.
Creative (Open)
Creative entries are judged on the maker’s:
- Original vision
- Artistic proficiency
- Digital proficiency
- Technical execution
The artist is responsible for both the concept and the work used to create the finished piece.
Restoration
Restoration entries are judged on the artistic, digital, and technical skill used to restore an image.
The original image must be included as a guide image. The rules also recommend including at least two additional guide images showing stages of the restoration process.
Close-up guide images of especially challenging areas are also encouraged.
Special Category: Flowers
The 2026 Special Category is Flowers.
This category includes photography that showcases flowers in any creative form.
Both composite and non-composite images are allowed, and highly manipulated images may also be entered.
The category is intentionally broad and encourages experimentation. Entrants may submit traditional flower portraits, macro studies, artistic composites, botanical imagery, or more imaginative interpretations.
Because this is the designated flower category for 2026, all images featuring flowers should be entered here rather than in Landscape/Nature.
Choosing the Right Category
Begin by considering the purpose and creation of the image.
Ask yourself:
- Is this primarily a portrait created to show the subject’s personality?
- Was the animal controlled during the session, or photographed in the wild?
- Was the image created for a commercial client?
- Does it document a real event with only minimal editing?
- Was it photographed during an actual wedding?
- Is the artistic manipulation the primary reason the image exists?
- Does the image feature flowers?
The subject alone does not always determine the answer. How the image was created, how much control the photographer had, when it was photographed, and how it was processed can all affect where it belongs.
For example, an athlete photographed during a structured portrait session may belong in Portrait, while an athlete documented during an actual game would belong in Reportage: Sports.
Similarly, a controlled portrait of a domestic animal belongs in Pets & Animals, while a zoo animal or an animal in the wild belongs in Wildlife.
A Few Important Reminders
Entrants should review the complete 2026 Georgia Photographic Competition Rules before submitting their work. The full rules contain important information about eligibility, image creation, artificial intelligence, supporting photographic elements, repeated subjects, guide images, file preparation, and disqualification.
A few category-related rules are especially important:
- Once an image earns a GPPA exhibition merit with a score of 80 or higher, it may not be entered again in another GPPA category or future GPPA competition.
- Images of the same subject may be entered more than once only when the concepts are entirely different.
- Entrants may submit any number of images, but only their top eight entries can count toward special awards, earn merits applicable to the Georgia Master of Photography Degree, and receive the related competition recognition described in the rules.
- Images created under the supervision of an instructor or as a class assignment are not eligible.
- Text-to-image artificial intelligence may not be used to create an entry in whole or in part under the 2026 AI statement. Limited non-text-prompted tools, such as certain Photoshop automations, may be permitted as described in the full rules.