Rural Water on Display – Photo Contest

Categories for the 2026 Photo Contest are:

Official Rules of the WaterPro Conference Digital Photo Contest 

Submit a photo no smaller than 300 ppi.

ELIGIBILITY:  Anyone affiliated with rural water is eligible to enter. You must be a citizen of the United States. NRWA employees, NRWA National Board Members, their immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children), and household members of employees are not eligible to enter.

By submitting an entry to the Rural Water on Display Photo Contest, entrants certify their participation in this photo contest is not illegal or in violation of any law, regulation, treaty or administrative act, and that the laws of their governing jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry do not prohibit or restrict the receipt of any prize under this contest.

The National Rural Water Association/WaterPro Conference reserves the right to reject any entry if, in their sole discretion, the laws of an applicable jurisdiction, including but not limited to the entrant’s jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry, would prohibit or limit the National Rural Water Association/WaterPro Conference from proceeding with the Contest as intended or the consideration or awarding of any Prize would impose additional administrative, tax, operational, or legal burdens on the National Rural Water Association/WaterPro Conference.

ENTRY PERIOD

The Photo Contest entries will close on July 15, 2026. Entries submitted after the entry period will not be eligible.

FINAL VOTING PERIOD

Final voting will be conducted by popular vote via the WaterPro Conference app. Voting will begin onsite at the WaterPro Conference on Monday, September 15, at 9:30 a.m., when the exhibit hall officially opens. Final voting will close at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15. Winners will be announced during the luncheon on Wednesday, September 16.

ENTRIES/SUBJECT MATTER

To ensure eligibility for the contest, please submit a file no SMALLER than 300 ppi at the time of entry. The finalists’ photos will be printed and enlarged for display. Previously published material for which non-exclusive rights were granted may be entered as long as you still maintain the right to grant us a license. You must be able to disclose when and where the photo appeared previously to the National Rural Water Association/WaterPro Conference.  Photos previously submitted for this contest will not be accepted. 

If you choose to include people in your submission, you are responsible for obtaining the necessary releases from the individuals depicted and must be able to provide copies of those releases to WaterPro Conference management upon request.

The following submissions are ineligible:

• Photos previously submitted for this contest (Rural Water on Display) in previous years.
• Photos that violate or infringe upon another person’s rights, including but not limited to copyright and photographs of persons without the necessary consent required by law in your jurisdiction. The National Rural Water Association/WaterPro Conference reserves the right to require entrants to submit evidence of the subject’s legal consent to be photographed for the submitted photograph, which may include a signed waiver from the subject. NOTE: Waiver requirements vary by jurisdiction, and the entrant is responsible for obtaining a legally enforceable waiver from any photographed subject.
• Photos that contain sexually explicit, nude, obscene, violent or other objectionable or inappropriate content.
• The National Rural Water Association/WaterPro Conference shall determine entry eligibility in its sole and absolute discretion.

HOW TO ENTER

All images must be submitted through our photo contest registration link, including all required fields.

Entries must originate in digital files, color or black and white is acceptable, so long as they are submitted electronically in a .jpeg .jpg, or .png form.

PHOTOS

Your photo must have some relationship to rural water, and can be an object, action/event or landscape.  The object of this contest is to depict rural water on display.

1 (one) entry per contestant, per category.

JUDGING    

Images will be judged in the semi-finals (contest committee) based on originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact and artistic merit.

• Photos that have been digitally altered beyond standard optimization (removal of dust, cropping, reasonable adjustments to exposure, color and contrast, etc.) will be disqualified.

The panel will evaluate all valid entries and choose photos from each category to advance to the finals, which will be held at the WaterPro Conference 2025 in New Orleans. Entrants need not be present to win.

Photos will be displayed in a prominent area near the WaterPro Exhibit Hall and judged by attendee app voting. Each attendee is allowed one vote per category. 

By entering this contest, the contestant gives NRWA/WaterPro Conference the right to use this photo at their discretion.

Entries who make the semi-finals will be displayed in the WaterPro Conference Exhibit Hall during the WaterPro Conference, winners will be chosen by popularity vote from attendees.  The conference app will be utilized for casting votes.  Don’t forget to download the WaterPro Conference App when it becomes available!

The top three placings in each category will receive prizes. If winners are present at the Conference, we would like to conduct a photo opportunity with the Contest Sponsor.

Grand Prize:  $500.00 cash and a chance to possibly have your photo published in an upcoming issue of Rural Water Magazine.

1^st Place in each category:  $250.00 Amazon Gift Card

2^nd Place in each category:  $150.00  online camera store gift card

3^rd Place in each category: $75.00  online camera store gift card