The Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU) is organizing the "Physics Photography 2026" competition, which is open to FZU employees as well as high school and college students. The competition runs from April 1 to August 31, 2026, and will conclude with an awards ceremony in the fall of 2026.
The competition is divided into two separate categories:
Category A – Current and former employees of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
All employees of the Institute of Physics are eligible to participate, whether they are employed under an employment contract or under a contract for work or a contract for services. Former employees of the Institute of Physics may also submit entries to the competition.
Category B – High School and College Students
Students enrolled in high schools and colleges located in the Czech Republic who hold regular student status as of August 31, 2025, are eligible to participate.
Dates:
Competition opens: April 1, 2026
Deadline: August 31, 2026
Prizes for winners:
Category A
1st place: 10,000 CZK
2nd place: 5,000 CZK
3rd place: 3,000 CZK
Category B
1st place: 5,000 CZK
2nd place: 3,000 CZK
3rd place: 2,000 CZK
Submitting Photos:
Each contestant may submit up to five individual photos or a maximum of two series of five photos each.
Photos may be taken with mobile phones, cameras, or microscopes; images generated or edited by artificial intelligence will be disqualified from the contest.
Please send photos to fotosoutez [at] fzu [dot] cz. In the email, include the author’s name, the titles of the photos, the category, and a description of up to 400 characters, including spaces.
Images must have a minimum resolution of 300 DPI, a minimum side length of 2500 px, and must be free of watermarks or similar distorting modifications. The maximum file size for a single image is limited to 12 MB.
Judging:
Awards in both categories will be granted based on the votes of a jury composed of renowned photographers, senior staff, and members of the FZU’s PR and Outreach Group. All entries will be judged anonymously. The expert jury will primarily evaluate the educational and aesthetic value of the photographs (originality, composition, and execution).
Announcement of Results:
The results will be announced in the fall of 2026; the exact date will be specified later. If any of the winners are unable to attend the announcement in person, they will be notified of their placement via email. The results will also be published on the FZU website. For communication with contestants from secondary schools and universities, as well as with former employees, the email address from which the contest entries were submitted will be used.
Conditions of Participation:
By submitting their work (photograph) to the competition, participants hereby solemnly declare that they are the author of the submitted work and that they are therefore entitled to fully dispose of this copyrighted work within the meaning of Act No. 121/2000 Coll., as amended (the Copyright Act), to fully dispose of it and to grant FZU consent to its use to the extent corresponding to the purpose, content, and objectives of the competition, in particular for the popularization of science and research and FZU. The entry must not infringe upon the copyright or personality rights of third parties. By entering his/her work in the competition, the contestant also grants the organiser a non-exclusive consent (licence) to use the work free of charge, in all known ways, domestically and internationally, without limitation of quantity, for the entire duration of the copyright ownership of his/her work.
By submitting photographs to the competition, the author grants the organizer permission to use the photographs free of charge in print and online media, including social media and all FZU promotional and educational materials, as well as to use them free of charge to promote the competition and the FZU and to display the photographs at public events.
The deadline for submitting photos to the contest is August 31, 2026.
Photos for the contest will be accepted only electronically via email at fotosoutez [at] fzu [dot] cz.
Persons under the age of 18 may only participate in the competition with the written consent of their legal guardian. It is the contestant’s responsibility to attach the legal guardian’s consent to the competition photos sent to fotosoutez [at] fzu [dot] cz.
If the photos do not meet the specified criteria, the organizer or the jury has the right to disqualify them from the competition.
Final Provisions:
The Organizer reserves the right to request the presentation of identification to verify the winner’s identity. By submitting their entry, contestants consent to the processing of their personal data, provided that it is used solely for the purposes of the contest. The contestant has the right to revoke their consent to the processing of personal data at any time by contacting fotosoutez [at] fzu [dot] cz.