IAG Photo & Video Contest 2025

The IAG is happy to announce that its Photo and Video Contest continues in 2025, with a new format! The Contest will run from 2024-2026. Find below the details on conditions, prizes and guidelines for the contest – as well as an example for photo submission. Find also the list of current and previous themes at the bottom of the page.

Conditions:
The contest is open to geomorphologists worldwide, belonging to active National Scientific Members of the IAG.

Throughout the year, there will be two themes for each quarter (January-March, April-June, July-September, October-December): one for the photo competition and one for the video competition. The themes for the entire year will be announced at the beginning of January 2025. Participants can send us their best photo or video on the current theme – as well as a text describing the scope of the photo/video and its scientific interest (location, landform, process).

Selection Committee* will evaluate all photos and videos submitted before the end of the three-month period. Two winners are therefore selected every three months: one for the photo competition and one for the video competition The evaluation will be based on the scientific importance of the photo/video, their relevance to the theme, the overall aesthetics and composition of the image, and the clarity of the descriptive text. The winner’s photo or video will be published on the IAG website and shared on the IAG social media, along with its descriptive text. Guidelines for submission are detailed below.

An appropriate example of a photo submission is available below, and here in pdf.

Prizes:
At the end of the year, the 4 Winners of the photo contests and the 4 Winners of the video contests will be put in competition. The Selection Committee* will choose one photo and one video among those, designating an Overall Winner for both the photo and the video contests. The two Overall Winners will be granted 50% reduced registration fees for a given IAG international or regional conference (for 2025: the 11th International Conference on Geomorphology, 2026, New Zealand).

Guidelines:

  • Participants must belong to one of the active IAG National Scientific Members;
  • Participants must submit their photo/video before the 20th at the end of each quarter (ex. before March 20st for the first iteration);
  • Themes for the whole year and for both the Photo and Video Contests are announced all together in January (find it below);
  • Photos must be in JPG, PNG or TIFF formats, and must not exceed 5 Mb;
  • Videos must be in MP4 or WebM formats, and must not exceed 200 Mb and 2 minutes;
  • brief text (≤ 150 words) summarising the scientific interest of the photo/video must be provided;
  • Both the photo/video and the text have to be sent to the IAG via an online storage link (e.g. Dropbox or Google Drive), at iaggeomorph@gmail.com(subject: ‘Photo & Video Contest‘);
  • One author can make a single submission once;
  • Previous Winners are not allowed to participate again within the same year;
  • By submitting your photo/video, you agree that the IAG can use it for illustration purposes on its website, social media, and trimestral Highlights;
  • By submitting a photo/video, participants declare bindingly that they are the authors of the photos/videos and that they own all image rights. The rights of third parties may not conflict with publication. Furthermore, participants agree to the free publication of their photos/videos submitted as part of the contest, and to the announcing of their full name and of the title of the photo/video by the contest organiser. All image rights remain with participants. By participating in this contest, participants accept these terms and conditions.

*The Selection Committee is constituted of active IAG members (part of the Executive Committee or not) and Young Geomorphologists (members of IAG Network of Young Geomorphologists’ Groups) – with a balance kept. As the contest is aimed at being perennial, the Selection Committee will be subject to change in the future.


List of themes (current themes are written in bold):

Photo Contest
January-March Aeolian forms and processes
April-June Biogeomorphology
July-September Landslide risk
October-December Sandstone geomorphology
Video Contest
January-March Geomorphology from the air
April-June Fieldwork in challenging terrain
July-September Fluvial sediment transport
October-December New methods and techniques in geomorphology

Example for photo submission (pdf here):


Pinnacle – striking example of dryland erosion
by Katja Laute, Norway

The Castil de Tierra has become the symbol of the Bardenas Reales region which is geographically located in the south-eastern margin of the Navarra Province in northern Spain. The Bardenas Reales is a semi-desert natural region situated in the middle-western sector of the Ebro depression. The geology is made up of Tertiary and Quaternary sediments. Rainfall events, wind and high temperatures enhance surface wash and erosional processes and have created fascinating erosional features and landforms such as canyons, isolated hills and talus flatirons. The Castil de Tierra is a striking example for differential erosion of the predominant clays and sandstones and the related landforms. Pinnacles like this one are usually considered penultimate stages of tableland dissection (via mesas and buttes).