2026 EIA Calendar Competition

Terms & Conditions

1. General
   • Eligibility: The competition is open to photographers of all ages and nationalities.
   • Competition Period: Submissions will be accepted from Monday 21 July until 11:59 PM BST on Thursday, 21 August 2025.
   • Submission Limit: You may submit up to three (3) photographs per person.
   • How to Submit: All entries must be submitted digitally via the official entry form on our website above.
2. Image Subject & Ethical GuidelinesThe welfare of wildlife and the preservation of its habitat are paramount. Entries that do not comply with these ethical standards will be disqualified.
   • Authenticity: Images must be of wild animals in their natural or freely adopted habitat.
   • Relevance: Photographs should relate to one of EIA's four core campaign areas:
     • Wildlife: Elephants, pangolins, and Asian big cats (e.g., tigers, leopards).
     • Forests: Natural forest landscapes and their biodiversity.
     • Oceans: Marine ecosystems and ocean wildlife (e.g., whales, dolphins, sea turtles).
     • Climate: Images that depict the causes or effects of climate change, or the beauty of the environments threatened by it.
   • Prohibited Submissions:
     • No Captive Animals: Please do not submit photographs of animals in zoos, commercial game farms, or any other captive environment. This includes pets and domestic animals. The only exception is for wildlife photographed during a documented rescue and release process.
     • No Baiting: The use of live or dead bait, scent lures, or sound recordings to attract or manipulate animal behavior for a photograph is strictly forbidden.
     • No Animal Distress: We will not accept images that show an animal in distress, or where the photographer's presence has clearly caused harm, stress, or a significant alteration in the animal's natural behavior. Photographers must not endanger themselves or the wildlife.
3. Technical & Digital Manipulation Rules
   • Image Format: Images must be less than 10mb
   • Resolution: To ensure quality for printing, images must be high resolution. While you may submit a smaller file for judging, you must have a high-resolution version available (at least 3000 pixels on the longest side at 300 dpi) if selected as a winner.
   • Digital Adjustments: We accept basic digital editing and processing. This includes adjustments to:
     • Brightness, contrast, and levels
     • Colour balance and saturation
     • Cropping
     • Sharpening
     • Removal of sensor dust spots
   • Prohibited Digital Manipulation: The following adjustments are not permitted:
     • Composites (combining multiple images into one).
     • Adding, moving, or removing significant elements or animals within the frame.
     • AI-generated or heavily altered images that misrepresent the original scene.
   • Watermarks: Please do not include any watermarks, logos, or text on your submitted images.
4. Judging, Prizes & Notification
   • Judging Panel: A panel of judges from EIA will select one overall winner for the cover and twelve additional winners for the monthly pages.
   • Judging Criteria: Images will be judged on their originality, technical excellence, composition, emotional impact, and relevance to EIA's work and mission.
   • Prizes: The overall winner and the twelve monthly winners will receive:
     • A feature in the EIA 2026 Calendar.
     • Full photo credit in the calendar.
     • A feature on EIA's social media platforms and website.
     • A complimentary copy of the finished 2026 calendar.
   • Notification: Winners will be notified by email by early 28 August 2025.
5. Rights & Usage
   • Copyright: You, the photographer, retain full copyright of your images at all times.
   • Usage Rights: By entering the competition, you grant the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use your submitted photograph(s) for the purposes of creating, marketing, and distributing the 2026 calendar. This includes, but is not limited to, use on the EIA website, social media channels, and in press releases related to this competition and the resulting calendar. EIA will always provide a credit to the photographer wherever the image is used.