Groups & Categories
Two groups, four categories
The 6th WMPA has a Theme Group and an Open Group, each with two categories. Each category is entered, judged and awarded separately.
| Group | Category |
|---|
| Group 1 · Theme: "Home" | Single Photo |
| Photo Series (4–6 images) |
| Group 2 · Open | Nature & Landscape |
| Art & Creativity |
Group 1 · Theme: "Home"
Home is more than a place where we live: it holds our memories, emotions, and sense of belonging, serving as a spiritual anchor wherever life may take us.
“Home” is more than a physical place. It is where memories, emotions, identities, and one’s sense of belonging take root. Through images of people, places, nature, culture, and everyday life, this category invites photographers to explore what home means to them—where they come from, what they cherish, and where their hearts belong.
- Use photography to tell stories of the emotional connections and harmonious relationships between people and family, land, nature, and culture, expressing memories of, care for, love of, and hopes for home.
- Works may portray the land that raised and nurtured us, the mountains and rivers we long for, or familiar corners of the cities we call home.
- Capture family members, friends, and pets, as well as natural environments, cultural traditions, and everyday scenes that embody the warmth and humanity of life.
- Entries may be documentary or conceptual, reflecting the photographers’ personal experiences and feelings about Home, and their interpretation of what “Home” means to them.
- Single Photo: one photograph per entry.
- Photo Series: a group of 4–6 photographs on the same subject, entered as one work. Up to three series per entrant.
- Shooting location: entrants may provide the location where each photo was taken. It becomes part of the work’s information and a distinctive feature of this year’s competition. To protect privacy, give only the city, state or province, and country; no street address is needed.
- Prohibited content: commercial advertising, images involving violence or vulgarity, and images generated with AI are not accepted.
- Allowed capture methods: the phone's built-in camera and camera apps, including long exposure and intentional camera movement (ICM).
Post-processing allowed: standard adjustments to exposure, contrast, white balance, color and sharpness; cropping and horizon correction; dust-spot removal and noise reduction; AI-assisted noise reduction, masking and subject selection; multiple exposures and focus stacking that comply with these rules.
Not allowed: changing the composition or substance of the original scene; using generative fill, generative expand or any other generative AI tool to create or alter image content; submitting work created wholly or partly by AI.
Group 2 · Open
Single photographs on any subject other than the "Home" theme. Photo series are not accepted in this group.
I. Nature & Landscape. Natural elements such as animals, plants or natural phenomena, or works with the landscape as the main subject. Allowed: standard adjustments to exposure, contrast, white balance, color and sharpness; cropping and horizon correction; dust-spot removal and noise reduction. Not allowed: changing the composition or substance of the original scene; adding, replacing, moving or removing compositional elements; using generative AI tools to create or alter substantive content; submitting work created wholly or partly by AI.
II. Art & Creativity. Any subject. We encourage every kind of photographic, creative and artistic technique to express your ideas, emotions and imagination. Post-processing and re-creation are unrestricted, including abstract and conceptual images and visual art. Work created wholly or partly by AI is not accepted.
