Close-up Photographer of the Year
Close-up Photographer of the Year 8 · by Close-up Photographer of the Year (opens in a new tab)
Entries closed
Judging in progress
- Closed 13 JUL
- Fee from £5
- UW cat. 1 of 11
An international competition for close-up, macro and micro photography of nature. Its Underwater category takes close-up and macro shots of anything in fresh or sea water, and underwater images have won the overall title.
Key dates
Entries open
May 2026
Early-bird ends
Final deadline
Results
Jan 2027
- Entries close (payment cut-off follows at noon UTC the next day): Sun 12 Jul 2026
- Final picture upload: Sun 19 Jul 2026
Entry fees
| Up to 6 pictures | £22 |
|---|---|
| Up to 6 pictures (early bird)EARLY BIRD | £20 |
| Up to 15 pictures | £33 |
| Up to 15 pictures (early bird)EARLY BIRD | £30 |
| Up to 30 pictures | £44 |
| Up to 30 pictures (early bird)EARLY BIRD | £40 |
| Young CUPOTY (17 and under) | £5 |
Pictures in a package can be spread across any categories. Early-bird prices applied to payments made by 7 June 2026.
Prizes
£2,500, a macro kit prize bundle and a trophy for the overall winner
- cash
- gear
- publication
Other category winners receive £250; the Top 100 appear in an online Hall of Fame and the ebook.
Which category to enter
This is a general contest. Underwater work belongs in this category:
Underwater
MacroClose-up and macro images of any plant, animal or object in fresh or salt water; close-focus wide-angle is also accepted.
Restriction: Subject should be fully submerged unless the image is a split-level shot; microscope images are not accepted in this category.
Other categories (10)
Animals · Insects · Plants · Fungi & Slime Moulds · Intimate Landscape · Studio Art · Butterflies & Dragonflies · Arachnids · Invertebrate Portrait · Young CUPOTY
Who can enter
Not verified yet.
Rules at a glance
Not summarised yet — check the official rules.
Your image rights
Standard licenceYou keep copyright. Shortlisted and winning images may be used royalty-free to promote the competition for five years after results. Any other use needs your permission and agreed terms.
- Licence
- Contest promotion only
- Duration
- Limited (Non-exclusive, royalty-free licence on winning, Top 100 and shortlisted images for five years after the winners are announced; those images may also stay in an online winners archive indefinitely.)
- Commercial use by organiser
- No
How "Standard licence" is decided
- Read carefully: the entrant grants an exclusive licence or transfers rights, or the organiser may use entries commercially (sell, license, use in paid products).
- Photographer-friendly: use is limited to promoting the contest, there is no commercial use by the organiser, and credit is promised.
- Standard: everything in between — typically a broad non-exclusive licence for marketing without commercial resale.
This is our plain-language summary, not legal advice. Read the official terms before entering: official rules & terms (opens in a new tab).
Judges
- Henley Spiers
- Jaime Culebras
Research notes
Separately from the main competition, a themed CUPOTY Challenge runs 1 to 30 November 2026. Only two CUPOTY 8 judges could be confirmed from search extracts of the homepage; the full jury was not found. Official pages were read via search-engine extracts rather than directly.
Provenance
Verified · 5 sources
- CUPOTY rules (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
- CUPOTY 8 categories (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
- CUPOTY prizes (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
- CUPOTY FAQ (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
- CUPOTY homepage (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
All editions
- Close-up Photographer of the Year 8closed Mon 13 Jul 2026Judging2 judges
- Close-up Photographer of the Year 7closed Sun 13 Jul 2025Results out Results (opens in a new tab)