Photo Contest 2025

NOAA announces the ninth annual coastal management photo contest. From balancing development with natural areas to protecting our economic powerhouses, coastal management keeps our coasts thriving. We want to see your photos of coastal management in action. Show us your natural infrastructure projects, beautiful beaches you work to protect, working waterfronts, and more! Find inspiration from the list of nine categories.

Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges and featured on our social media during the month of May.

To Enter

Submit your images (minimum of 1,200 pixels wide, no more than 10 photos) to OCM.NERRS.PhotoContest@noaa.gov and fill out this photo release form. All images MUST include the following: photographer’s name, short description of what is shown in the photo, which category you want the photo included in, and where the photo was taken.

Deadline

Photos must be submitted by May 2, 2025, to be eligible for the contest.

Categories

Photos must fall into one of the following nine categories.

1. Areas We Protect (e.g. beach scenes, coral reefs, marsh sunsets)
2. Recreation
3. Public Access
4. Permitting (e.g. nourishment, development, green infrastructure)
5. Coastal Hazards
6. Marine Debris
7. Ocean Planning (e.g. aquaculture, wind energy)
8. Hazard Mitigation
9. Economics (e.g. working waterfronts, ports)

Additional Contest Rules

1. Photographers must be at least 13 years of age or older as of April 1, 2025.
2. You are the owner of the photo and have the right to publish it (including having the release form, linked above, for anyone identifiably pictured).
3. By submitting a photo, you are giving NOAA, the national estuarine research reserves, and the state coastal management programs permission to use the photo for other purposes, such as within NOAA’s photo galleries, on the coast.noaa.gov website, for social media, and in other office publications. We will, of course, provide credit to photographers whenever their photo is used.
4. Photos that are submitted without information stated under “To Enter” will not be considered.
5. You are eligible to submit photos if less than 20 percent of your total income is from photography.
6. No watermarks on submitted photos.
7. Photos must be a minimum of 1,200 pixels wide (but the bigger, the better!)
8. Only 10 entries per person.
9. Please keep the content clean and appropriate. Inappropriate content will not be accepted.

Email us with questions at OCM.NERRS.PhotoContest@noaa.gov.