We invite researchers, students, and practitioners worldwide to contribute compelling, high-resolution photographs that advance the visual communication of wildland fire science and management across all relevant disciplines. Submissions will be evaluated based on their technical merit, visual insight, and alignment with current research priorities. Winning entries will receive recognition and be awarded valuable discounts toward conference registration.

🖼️ Contest themes

Your submission must fall into one of the following categories:

1. Fire Dynamics & Response: Photographs documenting active fire behaviour and physical processes during prescribed burns or wildfires. This category also encompasses scenes of emergency response and resource management (firefighters, aerial operations, specialised equipment) captured in the immediate vicinity of the fire line.
2. Post-Fire Ecology & Recovery: Images documenting the ecological trajectory following a fire event. This encompasses scenes of burn severity and fire effects, successional regeneration, research plot monitoring, and active landscape restoration and mitigation interventions.
3. Systems, Society & Fire Science: Visualisations that explore the human and analytical frameworks governing wildfire. This includes the socio-economic, cultural, and professional interactions with fire (e.g., community engagement, indigenous practices, field research), alongside technological and policy drivers (e.g., remote sensing, fire modelling, climate linkages, prevention infrastructure).

 

🏆 Prizes

The contest winners will receive a percentage discount on the 10^th ICFFR registration, in the form of reimbursement, in recognition of their contributions to the visual communication of wildfire research.

Award	Prize*
Grand Prize Winner (overall best photo)	100% OFF one conference registration
Category Winners (first place in each of the themes)	50% OFF one conference registration
People's Choice Award (voted on by conference attendees)	50% OFF one conference registration

* The prizes will be in the form of reimbursement, deducting the taxes already paid by ADAI in the original payment (associated with PayPal and Credit card transactions).

 

Non-Transferability

All registration discounts awarded as prizes are non-shareable and non-transferable. The prize (discount) must be used exclusively by the submitting individual whose name appears on the winning entry and cannot be applied to another person's registration or exchanged for cash.

 

📋 Official rules and submission guidelines

Please read these rules carefully before submitting your entry.

Eligibility and entry details

• The contest is free to enter and open to all individuals planning to attend the conference.
• The winning photos for the different prizes will be selected only among submissions made by individuals attending the conference.
• Members of the Jury or the Organising Committee are not allowed to participate in the contest.
• The person submitting the photograph must be the photographer and exclusive copyright holder of the image. Entries submitted on behalf of a third party, or photographs taken by a different individual (including assistants or colleagues), will be disqualified.
• Entrants may submit a maximum of three (3) photos in total across all categories.
• All photos must have been taken within the last five (5) years (i.e., from 1 January 2021 onward).
• Submission deadline: Tuesday, 15 September 2026, at 23:59 AM Lisbon time. 

 

Image requirements

• Format: Digital files only (JPEG or PNG).
• Metadata: The original photo metadata should be maintained (date and time taken, coordinates, camera settings, etc).
• Resolution: Must be high-resolution (recommended minimum 3500 pixels on the longest side and 300 DPI) to ensure suitability for high-quality printing and on-site exhibition display.
• File size: Maximum file size allowed is 10 MB per image.
• File naming: A unique ID will be assigned to your entry in the submission form. Each photo should be named with “Category Number”_”Photo submission count”_”UniqueID”. The correct name will appear once you choose each photo category. Please copy it and use it to rename the photo file before uploading it.

 

Submission requirements

For each submitted photo you must add the following information in the submission form:

• Submission category
• Image title (The name the photograph will be credited with, not the file name)
• Descriptive caption (a 1-2 sentence description of the image, its context or scientific relevance; 50 words maximum)
• Photo location (specific location where the photo was taken, e.g., Latitude/Longitude or "Serra da Estrela, Portugal")
• Date at which the photo was taken

 

Technical and ethical rules

• Originality: Photos must be the original work of the entrant.
• Manipulation: Only minor adjustments (cropping, colour correction, sharpening) are permitted. Photos that have been significantly altered, montaged, or digitally manipulated (beyond standard photo editing) will be disqualified. No AI-generated images are allowed.
• Safety & ethics: All submitted photographs must adhere to internationally recognised ethical standards, including respect for human dignity, privacy, authenticity, and safety, in line with the World Press Photo Code of Ethics (Code of Ethics | World Press Photo) AND/OR the National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics (Code of Ethics for Visual Journalists).
• Copyright & usage: The photographer retains the copyright to their image. By entering the contest, the photographer grants ICFFR and ADAI, as Organiser, an irrevocable, non-exclusive license to use the images for non-commercial purposes, including, but not limited to, conference promotion, website display, social media, and conference program materials, with full credit to the photographer.

 

⚖️ Rights, releases, and liability

By submitting a photograph to this contest, the entrant warrants that they have secured all necessary releases (model releases, for identifiable people, and property releases, for private property, including unique buildings, artwork, or private land) and that the photo may be used by the conference organisers for the non-commercial purposes outlined in the "Copyright & Usage" section.

The entrant agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the conference and its organisers against any claims arising from the lack of a necessary release for any identifiable person or private property depicted in the submitted photograph.

 

🚫 Watermarks and entrant identification

To ensure fair and anonymous judging, photographs must not contain any watermarks, visible signatures, or identifying text within the image frame or the file name. Submissions containing watermarks or other identifying marks will be disqualified.

 

🧑‍⚖️ Judging and results announcement

The contest jury

The winners of the Grand Prize and the Category prizes will be selected by an expert jury. This panel ensures that winning images are not only visually striking but also scientifically and contextually relevant to the wildfire research community.

The jury will be composed of three to five individuals, including:

• One or two key Conference Organizer(s) or Scientific Committee member(s).
• One or two prominent wildfire researcher(s).
• A professional or experienced amateur photographer or a visual communications specialist.

The jury will evaluate submissions based on the following criteria: technical skill, impact, composition, storytelling and scientific relevance. All decisions made by the jury are final.

 

People's Choice Award

Following jury selection, a shortlist of the top entries will be displayed anonymously on the conference website and in the conference hall. During the conference, all registered attendees will be invited to vote for their favourite photo to determine the People's Choice Award winner.

 

Displaying the results and winners

Winning photos and selected shortlisted entries will be prominently featured to celebrate the contest and the visual diversity of wildfire research:

• Official announcement: the winner of the Grand Prize will be announced in the Opening Ceremony. The Category Winners and the People's Choice Award will be announced during the Closure Ceremony.
• On-site gallery: all winning and shortlisted photos will be displayed at the conference venue.
• Digital display and public recognition: the winning images will be published on the conference website and shared across official social media channels after the conference, with full credit given to the photographer, unless the organisation is asked otherwise. During the submission process, you may ask for anonymity.
• Prize discounts will be given in the form of reimbursement for the winners’ 10^th ICFFR registration, deducting the taxes already paid by ADAI in the original payment (associated with PayPal or Credit card transactions).

 

Non-Duplication Clause

The Grand Prize award may not be won together with any other prize. If the photograph selected as the Grand Prize Winner is also the highest-ranking photo in its submission category, the Grand Prize supersedes the Category Winner title. In this scenario, the Category Prize will be awarded to the next highest-scoring photograph within that specific category.

The People's Choice Award may be won together with a Category prize.

The photo awarded with the Grand Prize will not be available for voting in the People's Choice Award.

 

➡️ How to submit

Please submit your entry HERE, filling out the appropriate form and uploading your photos.