ELIGIBILITY:

The 2026 SPIE International Day of Light Photo Contest is open! Help us showcase the transformative and awe-inspiring impact of light on our lives, communities, and planet by submitting your eye-catching images. A special “Judges’ Choice for the Best of Science” prize will be offered this year. 

Theme: The contest aims to showcase the transformative and awe-inspiring impact of light on our lives, communities, and planet.

The photo contest is open to adults aged 18 and up, both amateur and professional photographers, except employees of SPIE and optics.org, their immediate families, the contest judges, and consultants/contractors of SPIE. Immediate family is defined as all grandparents, parents, spouses, siblings, children, grandchildren, in-laws, or anyone living in the SPIE or optics.org employee’s household. Entrants are subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The contest is void where prohibited by law.

How to Enter:

Digital photographs, photo titles, and artist statements must be submitted online via the form on the SPIE.org website.

Entries submitted through mail will not be accepted. Photo Type, Size, Format, and Resolution Photographs depicting the vital role that light and light-based technologies play in daily life must be in digital format, suitable for public exhibition and printing at high resolution.

All images must be 300 dpi or more and at least 3,000 pixels on the longest side. File size should be no less than 5MB and no greater than 20MB. TIF and JPEG/JPG are the ONLY accepted formats.

Please submit the highest quality images that meet these requirements. Images that don’t meet these criteria will not be judged.

Timeframe New for 2026: Photos must have been taken within the past two years, after 16 May 2024.

Re-submissions will not be considered.

Photo Alterations Only limited enhancement of the original photograph is permitted for the purpose of improving brightness and contrast or removing minor cosmetic flaws.

Black and white images are acceptable.

Required Information The photographer’s name, address, telephone number, email address, a title, and an artist statement must accompany each entry.

The artist statement should include the subject of the image, the location and date the image was taken, the 3 of 4 equipment used to capture the image, any adjustments made to the image, a description of how it is tied to the contest’s theme, and any other interesting details about the photo.

Submissions and photo titles to be in English, if possible.

Limit of Entries Each person may submit a maximum of two (2) entries.

Contestants should enter one photo per entry form.

BENEFIT:

Awards:

First Prize: US $2,500

Second Prize: US $1,000

Third Prize: US $500

Judges’ Choice for Best of Science Prize: US $1,000