2024 Celebrate Michigan contest is here; how to enter your photos

Auroras. An eclipse. A draft. An explosion of summer colors and festivals. It’s time to Celebrate Michigan with the 18th installment of our annual photo contest.

The Detroit News’ Celebrate Michigan Photo Contest is open to all amateur photographers. The competition rewards outstanding photos of Michigan, its people, places, events and wildlife, with nine prizes of as much as $300 handed out at the end of the summer.  

Enter your images in one of our three themed categories:

• Views and vistas: For your pictures of landscapes, beaches, woodlands and urban beauty.
• Fur, feathers and flora: For your pictures of wildlife, pets, critters and flowers.
• Candid captures: Pictures of people doing the things they love to do — or have to do — in Michigan.

You can enter as often you like, as long as you were the photographer, you’re not a professional photographer, and the photo wasn’t selected as a Celebrate Michigan finalist in previous years. All photos must have been taken within the last five years, on or after May 23, 2019, so those wintery landscapes can be entered, too. Drone images are allowed, provided you follow all FAA regulations when taking them. Images produced by computers or artificial intelligence are not allowed.

How to enter the contest

Enter the contest at detne.ws/submit-photos

Each of 12 weeks, with the week ending at noon on Thursdays, judges from The Detroit News photo staff will select one finalist and one finalist runner-up for each category. At the end of the contest, the judges will select one winner and one award of excellence from among the finalists and runners-up in each category. A People’s Choice winner in each category will be chosen by an online public vote, Aug. 26-Aug. 30.

Each of the six winners will receive $300. Three additional Awards of Excellence, from the remaining finalists, will be chosen by the Detroit News photo staff and will receive $100 each.

See the full contest rules at detroitnews.com/celebrate-michigan. And start shooting.