Drone Photo Awards 2027 (Siena Awards)

Check a photo against these file rules, free and in your browser.

• Open to professional and amateur photographers; the Italian rules add 'of any age'. Entrants under 18 need a parent's or legal guardian's consent to upload images (Siena Awards site terms 8.5). soft

  “Drone Photo Awards competition is open to professional and amateur photographers.”

• You must be the sole copyright owner and creator of each photograph, have the right to enter it, and it must not infringe anyone's rights; each person depicted must have granted permission to be portrayed as shown (rule 8). The FAQ leaves model releases to the laws of the place where you shot. hard

  “You are the sole copyright owner and creator of the photographs.”

• AI image generation software may not be used to create or enhance an entry: no AI-generated elements added to a camera image and no extension beyond the frame with AI generative fill tools. Any entry found to have been created or enhanced with AI software is disqualified with all the photographer's other entries; the photographer is barred from future editions and may face legal action for damages. No AI editing tool is allowed by name, and the rules ask for no camera files. hard

  “It is strictly prohibited to employ AI image generation software for the creation or enhancement of images submitted for consideration in the Award. This includes integrating AI-generated elements into images originally captured by a camera, as well as artificially extending images beyond their original boundaries using AI generative fill tools. Any submission found to have been created or enhanced with AI software will be immediately disqualified from the Awards, along with any other submissions from the respective photographer.”

• Finalists must be able to supply a high-resolution digital file of at least 8 MB, at least 2400 x 3600 px at 300 dpi. hard

  “Finalist Entrants must be able to provide a high resolution digital file of minimum 8 Megabyte (Minimum Pixel Size 2400px x 3600px at 300dpi).”

• No signatures, watermarks, copyright marks or logos on the image, and no borders: only bleed photographs. hard

  “Photos with signatures or watermarks are not allowed.”

• An aerial contest: the about page welcomes aerial photography and videos captured by any means, from fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles to balloons, kites and parachutes. Six single-image briefs ask for images from the sky and Abstract asks for 'Aerial photography'; the Videos and Series briefs do not mention aerial capture. soft

  “This competition welcomes submissions of aerial photography and videos captured through various means, encompassing fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, balloons, blimps, dirigibles, rockets, kites, and parachutes.”

• Animals category: unethical treatment of animals is not allowed. hard

  “Unethical treatment of the animals is not allowed.”

• Published and unpublished work is accepted, as are images that won prizes in other competitions or are entered in competitions still under way. soft

  “Yes, images that have won prizes in other competitions or that have been submitted to other competitions currently underway are eligible.”

What you grant

Copyright stays with the entrant: "Siena Awards recognizes you retain full ownership of the copyright in each photograph that you have submitted." (rule 9). Rule 10: "The entrant allows the contest organizers to use, free of charge, the entered images for promotional purposes related to the photo contest and the Siena Awards Festival, such as catalogues, calendars, videos, websites, and official merchandising (e.g., tote bags, notepads, bookmarks, etc.). No photographs entered for the Siena International Photo Awards will be offered for sale or used by sponsors for any commercial purposes other than for the marketing of the Siena Awards Festival, the competition, the exhibition, the catalogue, and the creation of official merchandise (always with mandatory credit to the photographer), without the photographer’s approval." Rule 4: "Winning photographs may be included in the future in traveling group gallery exhibitions and/or screenings and projections at arts institutions and festivals worldwide." FAQ: "Your images are NEVER used for any purpose other than the promotion of the Drone Photo Awards (exhibition, poster, annual publication/catalogue, postcard, tote bags, notepads, bookmarks, social, etc.), and all the initiatives connected to it." and "By entering the competition, you are agreeing to be included in the annual publication that showcases the full collection of winning images." The about page says "winners and finalists grant the Drone Photo Awards limited and restricted use of winning photos solely for promoting the photographers themselves and for marketing the Drone Photo Awards competition", but rule 10 covers every entered image. The Siena Awards site terms, linked from the rules page, add (8.7.2): "All entrants understand that any image submitted to the site may be used by the Siena Awards for marketing and promotional purposes. You hereby grant the Siena Awards a non-exclusive, irrevocable licence in each Entry throughout the world in all media for any use connected to the promotion of the Siena Awards and all the initiatives connected to them." Terms 8.1: "The Siena Awards may publish any material You submit, post, upload, email or otherwise transmit to it or to the Site at its sole discretion and it shall be entitled to make additions or deletions to any such material prior to publication." Terms 13.4: "in no circumstances will You be entitled by reason of any such breach to enjoin or restrain the distribution, exhibition, broadcasting, advertising or exploitation of any photographs or any Entry." Rule 11: "Any photograph used by Siena Awards shall carry a credit line." Rule 12: "You acknowledge that Siena Awards and its event partners assume no responsibility and are not liable for any image misuse."

Duration

No end date stated; site terms 8.7.2 call the licence "non-exclusive, irrevocable"

Exclusivity

none

Attribution

Required

Copyright retained by photographer

Yes