Public profiles are for contest winners and category winners. Depending on the contest, other awards and honors may be included in the artist directory. Please refer to the awards and benefits section of each contest to see which honors will have their profiles featured in the artist directory.

We welcome participation by any individual content creator at least eighteen (18) years of age or older, other than affiliates, employees, or family members of Creative Resource Collective, LLC (the parent company of reFocus) or any Competition Jury member.

We define professional photographers as those who sell or publish their work regularly or earn or have earned the majority of their income from their photography.

A photographer who does not meet the definition of professional as specified at left may submit their work as a non-professional.

Yes, we accept sepia photos as submissions.

Yes, we offer student pricing to both photography and non-photography students.

Entrants from the following list of countries will receive our global discount, which will be automatically applied during the submission process based on the IP address of the device used to enter any contest.

Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia or Zimbabwe.

AI-generated images are not accepted into any reFocus contest.

Please submit your images using the following format. Any images that do not adhere to the following format will not be accepted as submissions. Please do not mail in physical submissions as they will not be accepted.

No, it will not. In this case, simply add "Untitled" in the "Title" field during the submission process.

This contest accepts single image entries and there is no limit on how many single image entries you may submit. We recommend that, for any images that cross categories, you consider entering them into multiple categories. If the same image is entered into multiple categories, each image will be judged as a separate entry and will be considered based on its merits in those individual categories.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, we do not have any restrictions on where your submitted images may have also appeared. Images that are on your website, have been featured in a publication, or have won other awards (reFocus or otherwise) are welcome.

Yes, eligibility is not dependent upon having created the artwork during a specific time period.

This is part of your journey as a photographer! When choosing submissions, it might be helpful to think about how much each category aligns with your entry. If you feel like the scales are tipping in favor of a specific category, chances are you should submit to that category. You are encouraged to submit your images to as many categories as you see fit.

If the same image is entered into multiple categories, that image will be judged as a separate entry for each category and will be considered based on its merits in those individual categories. We recommend that, for any images that you feel may work within multiple categories, that you consider entering them into multiple categories. We also encourage you to think outside of the box in your submissions.

You will not be able to complete your submission until all required information in the entry fields has been entered.

Entries ‘Saved for Later’ can be accessed in the submissions tab of your artist portal. You can start and save your entry at any time, but once you submit payment you can no longer edit your submission.

For certain contests, a series entry consisting of 2-5 images may be submitted. Please refer to the contest page to determine whether series entries are accepted.

Yes, you can submit your images to as many reFocus contests as you’d like regardless of whether it has previously been awarded.

reFocus does not require your images to be exclusive to any of our contests or prohibit you from submitting the same image to another contest, reFocus or otherwise.

You may pay for your entries at the final stage of the submission process. All major credit cards. All payments are in USD.

At this time, we only accept USD.

Every time you participate and pay for entry into one of our contests, you receive a percentage of what you paid back in Reward Dollars. To use your reward dollars, log in to your account and apply your credit during the summary stage of entry, right before you check out.

Judging is done blindly in a two-step process in which a select number of entries are nominated for awards in each category via a preliminary round.

Subsequent judging rounds take place in which each judge's rankings are aggregated to determine the category and overall contest winners.

Additionally, all nominated entries will be granted eligibility to win the People's Vote Award within each category. Please note that all judging for reFocus's awards, such as for our One Shot or Photographer of the Year contests, will take place prior to the People's Vote contest starting in order to maintain anonymity. The winner of this award will be based on the number of votes it receives by the general public, relative to the other entries in its category.

Contacting or lobbying judges is strictly prohibited. Any associated entries belonging to a participant who contacted or lobbied judges will be disqualified.

After judging is completed but before the winners are announced, all entries nominated by the jury will automatically be entered into the People’s Vote Awards where the public will vote on their favorite images within each contest category. The winners of the People's Vote Award will be based on the number of votes received by the general public relative to the other entries in their respective categories.

The opportunity to win this honor is included at no charge and is in addition to competing for the title in your entry’s category as part of your submission. Winners receive a public profile in our Artist Directory, a featured location in our Winner’s Gallery, and other benefits as outlined in each contest page’s Awards & Benefits Chart.

With tens of thousands of people visiting the reFocus Awards website and People’s Vote Award Gallery during the voting period, this unique honor is one of the many ways we aim to increase the chances of our artists, like you, being discovered and getting well-deserved recognition.

Please note that in order to maintain the most positive experience for all nominated artists, the number of votes each entry receives during the public voting period will not be visible.

An email notification will be sent to the email listed on your account. You can also find your nominated entries on the submissions page of your artist portal as well.

We will notify you by email you by email 1-2 months after the close of the contest.

Whether your image is nominated or receives an award, we encourage you to celebrate your achievement by sharing it with your network. To assist in this, all winners will receive shareable assets such as press releases, badges, and certificates which can be downloaded in your account profile.

We occasionally use submissions to administer and promote the competitions. If we are to use your image, anytime we display your entry, we will credit you as the owner of that image.