The 5th “Gran Digital ” Circuit is a cultural event in the field of artistic photography consists of 4 Contest with 4 themes per contest and is sponsored by the FIAP, ISF, GPU, FIAF and is organized by the Circolo Fotografico Arno (Italy).
PATRONAGE:
Trofeo Andromeda: FIAF 2026M36 – FIAP 2026/xxx – ISF 2026/24 – GPU L260094
Trofeo Cassiopea: FIAF 2026M37 – FIAP 2026/xxx – ISF 2026/24– GPU L260094
Trofeo Orione: FIAF 2026M38 – FIAP 2026/xxx – ISF 2026/24 – GPU L260094
Trofeo Sirio: FIAF 2026M39 – FIAP 2026/xxx – ISF 2026/24 – GPU L260094
CONTACTS
Chair: Fabio Pratellesi
Email: fabio.pratellesi@gmail.com
Address: Via Garibaldi 103, 50063 Figline e Incisa Valdarno (FI)
Entry Form: Available on the www.arnofoto.it/GranDigitalt website
Website address: www.arnofoto.it
Exhibition Software Provider: HPCM (Hiho Photo Contest Manager) program for the management of photographic competitions provided by HIHO srl.
RULES
The Circolo Fotografico Arno Association, with the Patronage of FIAP-Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique, GPU– Global Photographic Union, ISF-Image Sans Frontiere e FIAF-Federazione Italiana Associazioni Fotografiche, is organizing the International Circuit of Digital Photography Contests: “5th Gran Digital”, which includes the following events: Trofeo Andromeda, Trofeo Cassiopea, Trofeo Orione and Trofeo Sirio. The Gran Digital is a cultural event in the field of artistic photography. The contest is open to all amateur and professional photographers worldwide. Entrants must own the copyright to all submitted photographs. The images must have been photographed in every part (even the smallest) by the entrant himself/herself.
2)The Circuit is open to digital works. By digital works, we mean both photos taken directly digitally and files resulting from a scan, in the following themes:
A) Open Monochrome (Monochrome Digital)
B) Open Color (Color Digital)
C) Landscape Photo (Color Digital – Monochrome photos are also accepted)
D) Enviroment Photo (Color Digital – Monochrome photos are also accepted)
You can submit up to 4 works for theme. For a maximum total of 16 Photos.
The images, of all themes, must be sent in JPG format with a size, pixel dimensions,
minimum 1920 and maximum 2500 on the longest side; Resolution 300 dpi; maximum 4MB; sRGB color space.
Image titles must not exceed 35 characters, including spaces.
Images without valid titles will be rejected and participants will be asked to resubmit
their registration with valid titles. The organizers will not create titles for participants.
The file name should be as you would like it to appear in the catalog; the programming system will arrange the file name as required for the minutes.
However, it is mandatory to correctly fill out all required fields when completing the form.
For naming, only the alphabet from A to Z (see above for unacceptable letters) and the numbers from 0 to 9 can be used.
Submit up to 4 works per theme. Maximum total 16 Photos.
The same photo can’t be entered in different themes.
The color images can’t be presented as monochromatic photos.
Photos that have participated in previous editions will not be accepted.
It is not necessary to be a member of any photographic organization, national and/or international.
Please do not use the following characters:
These characters are not part of the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange) and are therefore not supported by the Internet.
Çç Ññ Õõ Àà Ää Ââ Éé Èè Êê Ëë Óó Òò Öö Øø Ôô Ùù Ûû Üü Ÿÿ Îî Ïï ß
3) All entries must be submitted through the specific form available on the https://grandigital.arnofoto.it/website.
Regarding the participation of Italian photographers who belong to the FIAF, Italian Federation of Photographic Associations, in light of the FIAF Competition Regulations in force from 1 January 2025, images that have had admissions in years prior to 2022 can also participate in this initiative.
However, please note that any admissions obtained with these images, while not incurring penalties, will not be counted in the FIAF Statistics.
For the sake of completeness, please note that only images that may have had previous admissions in the years 2024, 2025 and 2026 will be counted in the FIAF Statistics, as well as, obviously, unpublished.
4) The participation fee, intended as a lump sum reimbursement for the Association’s expenses incurred in organizing the competition, including those necessary for image management, possible reception of the judges, production of the prizes, postage for the delivery of prizes not awarded during the awards ceremony, printing of the exhibited images, and anything else necessary for the success of the competition and the awards ceremony, is set at €40.00 (for FIAF members the fee is reduced to €34.00) or $45 per participant, regardless of the themes entered, and is valid for the four themes of the four competitions.
The amount can be forwarded through PayPal to the following e-mail: pagamenti@arnofoto.it or by bank transfer to IBAN: IT95B0881105463000000703425 (with payment by bank transfer it is mandatory to send the payment receipt to the address: concorsi@arnofoto.it)
The works not accompanied by the participation fee will not be accepted and will not have the right to participate.
The subscription fees for groups are as follows :
From 10 to 20 Participants: 36,00 Euro – US$ 41,00
From 21 to 30 Participants: 34,00 Euro – US$ 39,00
From 31 to 50 Participants: 30,00 Euro – US$ 35,00
From 51 to 100 Participants: 28,00 Euro – US$ 33,00
Group Registration method: Each person in the group must complete the registration form. Upload the images using the appropriate form on the website. Do not make the payment from the website. The entire sum, i.e. the sum of the fees, must be paid via PayPal to the following e-mail: pagamenti@arnofoto.it or by bank transfer to IBAN: IT95B0881105463000000703425. When done, send the list of participants and the payment receipt to concorsi@arnofoto.it. Each person in the group will be authorized to participate in the circuit.
5) Awards
Awards for the Circuit:
The Best Author award will be awarded to the author who has obtained the highest number of accepted works. In the event of a tie, the total score obtained by the accepted works is valid. In case of further equality, the number of prizes obtained by the accepted works will be valid.
Absolute Best Author of the Circuit: Trophy and reimbursement of US$ 400,00 in Amazon vouchers.
Prizes for each Contest:
Best Author of the Contest: FIAP PIN and reimbursement of US $ 200,00 in Amazon vouchers.
Best Photo of the Contest: Trophy and reimbursement of US $ 200,00 in Amazon vouchers.
Best Photo of each Theme: FIAP Gold Medal.
Prizes for each Theme of each Contest:
Free Monochrome Theme
1 Gold Medals (GPU)
1 Silver Medal (GPU)
1 Bronze Medal (GPU)
3 Special Jury Prizes (FIAF Diploma)
6 Honorable Mentions (HM Ribbon) ) (GPU )
Free Color Theme
1 Gold Medals (Gran Digital)
1 Silver Medal (Gran Digital)
1 Bronze Medal (Gran Digital)
3 Special Jury Prizes (FIAF Diploma)
6 Honorable Mentions (HM Ribbon) (FIAP)
Landscape Theme (Color / Black and White)
1 Gold Medals (Gran Digital)
1 Silver Medal (Gran Digital)
1 Bronze Medal (Gran Digital)
3 Special Jury Prizes (FIAF Digital Diploma)
6 Honorable Mentions (HM Ribbon) (FIAP)
Environment Theme(Color / Black and White)
1 Gold Medals (ISF)
1 Silver Medal (ISF)
1 Bronze Medal (ISF)
3 Special Jury Prizes (ISF Diploma)
6 Honorable Mentions (HM Ribbon) (FIAP)
For a total of 217 Rewards and $ 2,000.00 in Amazon Coupons
6) PLEASE NOTE:
Prizes cannot be cumulated within the same theme of each competition, but they can be awarded across different themes, even within the same competition.
Therefore, please note that multiple prizes will not be awarded to works by the same author belonging to the same theme within the same competition.
Cross-section/theme prizes, such as Best Author and Best Work of the Competition, are excluded from the calculation.
However, no work may win more than one prize in the same competition (for example, placing first in a theme and also being named Best Work of the Competition).
Prizes not collected at the awards ceremony will be sent to the addresses provided on the registration form at the organizers’ expense, but the recipients are responsible for their transportation.
7) Calendar
Expiry date: October 1, 2026
Juries deadline: October 11, 2026
Submission of Results: October 21, 2026
Award ceremony: November 21, 2026
Catalog and Awards Submission: December 20, 2026
8) Juries
The judging for the four trophies will be held online from October 4 to 10, 2026.
The jury’s decision is final and binding.
The acceptance of the works and the awarding of prizes will be at the sole discretion of the jury and will be final.
The jury’s deliberations will be conducted remotely. The judges will use color-calibrated monitors, and the images will not be enlarged or reduced beyond their original resolution. The images will be displayed at 100% of their original resolution, as provided by the author.
The EXIF data will be available to the judges throughout the judging process.
A competitor’s images will not be presented to the judges consecutively. The images will be distributed in the same order as submitted by the participant.
For the initial voting, each judge will use the HPCM (Hiho Photo Contest
Manager) program for managing photography contests, provided by HIHO srl.
Each juror will rate each photograph from 3 to 9 according to their preference.
A rating of 3 will be given to works that are off-topic, 4 and 5 to works that they consider not to
accept, 6 and 7 to works that they consider to be acceptable, and 8 and 9 will be given to works that the juror intends to nominate for a prize.
Since each jury is composed of three members, we will have a minimum rating of 9 and a maximum rating of 27.
The final phase of the jury’s work, i.e., evaluating the photos and awarding the prizes, will always take place remotely but with the jurors connected simultaneously via the ZOOM platform.
The acceptance rate will not be more than 30%
Trofeo Andromeda
Laura Bolognesi(Italy) AFI-EFIAP-EFIAF
Ana Šišak, EFIAP (Slovenia) EFIAP
RICOS ANDREAS GREGORIOU(Cyprus) EFIAP/p
Trofeo Cassiopea
Marevi Denaxa(Greece) PPSA,AFIAP,R-ISF4
Walter Gaberthuel(Italy) EFIAP, MPSA2, GPU CR4
Silvana Retter(Germany) EFIAP, EPSA,GPU Crown 3
Trofeo Orione
Francoise Morio (France) EFIAP/b PPSA
Robert Millin(England) MFIAP,EFIAP/d4,GPU Zeus,MPSA
Veniero Rubboli(Italy), EFIAP/d3, AFI
Trofeo Sirio
Stefano Stefanoni(Italy) EFIAP/b, EFIAF/b
JEF LEMMENS(Belgium) EFIAP/d3; GMPSA/s
Andriana Malekides, EFIAP (Cyprus)
The acceptance rate will not be more than 30%
9) The catalog will be produced in pdf, with all the winning works, the jury’s report and the list of admissible works and participants. And sent to all participants by email or by WeTransfer. For Italian authors, by FIAF regulation, all accepted photos will be inserted.
The catalog is not available for download from the website.
A download link will be provided. The file will be put in a cloud space of Circolo Fotografico Arno. For Italian authors, by FIAF regulation, and for non-Italian authors all accepted photos will be inserted.
10) Statistics, minutes of the juries and both winning and admitted photographs will be published in the https://grandigital.arnofoto.it/ website and left there until the next edition. All entrants shall receive the results via email
11) The entrant shall be held responsible in handling any image rights or liberties of the subject matter of the photograph and shall irrevocably consent to the Promoters publishing the photographs.
By participating in the Circuit, the author authorizes the non-profit publication of his images (full or partial) on catalogs, screenings, websites, magazines and whatever else the organizers deem necessary for the promotion of the Circuit itself.
12) Though the organizers will attempt to treat all submitted work with the utmost care, they are not responsible for any damage or loss that may occur during the sending of entries, whatever the cause.
13) We inform you, according to the article. 13 and 14 of the EU Regulation 2016/679 of 04/27/2016, hereinafter referred to as GDPR (General Regulation for the Protection of Personal Data), that the personal data provided as part of the international Gran Digital, photography contest will be collected and recorded by the Circolo Fotografico Arno – on paper, electronic and / or computerized and / or telematics media- protected and treated in ways that ensure security and confidentiality in accordance with GDPR regulations. We inform you that the data provided to us will only be used for strictly related and instrumental purposes to the event. To this end, as part of the Initiative, your data may be published online on the competition website ((www.arnofoto.it) or/and in the competition catalog. The data is required in order to be able to participate in the contest.
By entering this competition, you explicitly consent to the use of the personal data you provide, including email addresses, which will be held, processed, and used by the exhibition organizers for purposes related to this exhibition. You also explicitly consent to the forwarding of such information to organizations that have granted official recognition, patronage, or accreditation to this exhibition. You acknowledge and agree that entering this exhibition means that the status and results of your participation may be made public.
Your email address and contact information will not be made public.
We inform you that you may exercise in your capacity as an interested person, you have the rights referred to in art. 15 RGPD (including, by way of example, the rights to obtain confirmation of the existence of data concerning it and their intelligibly communication, the indication of the methods of processing, updating, rectification or integration of data, cancellation) by request without formalities to the Data Controller.
The owner of the data processing is the Circolo Fotografico Arno with legal headquarters in Via Roma 2 in Figline e Incisa Valdarno, Florence, through its own president, temporary, Eros Ceccherini.
14) Provisions
I hereby expressly agree to FIAP document 018/2017 « Conditions and regulations for FIAP Patronage » and FIAP document 033/2021« Sanctions for breaching FIAP regulations and the red list ». I am particularly aware of chapter II « Regulations for International photographic events under FIAP patronage » of FIAP document 018/2017, dealing under Section II.2 and II.3 with the FIAP participation rules, the sanctions for breaching FIAP regulations and the red list.
15) ACCEPTANCE OF FIAP RULES
Images created by artificial intelligence are not permitted in competitions managed under the patronage of FIAP.
IMAGES CREATED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THIS CONTEST! Please note that all parts of the image must be photographed by the author, who holds the copyright of all submitted works. Violators will face a lifetime ban!
For the DIG and Portfolio for Digital Images sections, submitted works must retain technical EXIF data (i.e., camera and shooting data).
The EXIF data retention requirement is mandatory for all works accepted from 2025 onwards and for unpublished submissions. It is only desirable to retain such data for works already accepted prior to 2025.
16) CERTIFICATION
By submitting an image, the entrant certifies the work as their own (images may not incorporate elements created by others, such as clip art, images, or drawings downloaded from the Internet). Aliases are not permitted. Entrants grant the organizers permission to reproduce, free of charge, all or part of the submitted material for publication and/or display in contest-related media. This may also include low-resolution publication on a website.
Note: Entrants who indicate that their images may not be reproduced or used “will not be awarded” or included in the contest audiovisual material “and may be subject to disqualification” by the contest organizers. The organizers assume no responsibility for any misuse of copyright.
Alteration and Computer Generation.
Subject to restrictions, images may be altered, electronically or otherwise, by the creator. Adjustments to enhance or creatively modify images are permitted, provided the underlying photograph is preserved in a way that is obvious to the viewer. Images cannot be entirely computer-generated and must be the sole work of the author. All parts of the image must be photographed by the author, who holds the copyright to all submitted works.
17) ACCEPTANCE OF FIAF RULES
Participation in the competition, by simply submitting your work to the organizers, constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of these rules and the FIAF Competition Rules, and in particular, but not limited to, full and unconditional acceptance of Chapters 4 (Eligible Photographs) and 5 (Sanctions) with all their paragraphs.
Participants are reminded that participation in the Nature, Travel, World in Focus, Reportage, Journalism, and/or “Traditional” (TRAD) sections requires the availability of RAW files for the submitted photographs and compliance with the rules governing their provision to the Competition Control Commission, should the submitted photos be subject to inspections for compliance with the FIAF Competition Rules. The full text of the FIAF Competition Regulations, which it is the participant’s responsibility to know, is available on the FIAF website (www.fiaf.net) and can also be requested by email from FIAF at: areedizioniconcorsi@fiaf.net. Participants in the Competition, both FIAF members and non-members, grant FIAF the right to manage their participation data and the works submitted, both for the purposes of managing FIAF Statistics and the FIAF websites dedicated to collecting and disseminating the results of the Competitions it sponsors and recommends, and the related awarded and admitted works.
The complete text of the FIAF Competition Regulations, which is the responsibility of the participating author to know, is available on the FIAF website
For the DIG and Portfolio for Digital Images sections, submitted works must retain technical EXIF data (i.e., camera, lens, flash, and shutter speed data).
The EXIF data retention requirement is mandatory for all works accepted from 2025 onward and for unpublished submissions. It is only desirable to retain such data for works accepted prior to 2025, particularly 2024.
18) Also, please note:
By participating in the competition, the author, whether or not a member of FIAF, grants the organizing association and FIAF the right to archive and reproduce their awarded and accepted works in catalogs, other non-commercial publications, the Circolo Fotografico website, the portal used to manage the competition, and websites promoting the event and the dissemination of photography.
19)Participants are emphasized that participation in Nature, Reportage, Photojournalism, Travel, World in focus, Travel Images and / or “Traditional” (TRAD) sections, presupposes the availability of the RAW files (or original photographs in the case of works deriving from scans) of the photographs presented and compliance with the rules governing their possible supply to the Competition Control Commission, in the event that the submitted photos are subject to verification of compliance with the FIAF Competition Regulations.
For this reason, participants in the Nature, Reportage, Photojournalism, Travel, World in focus, Travel Images and TRAD defined themes sections must be in possession of the RAW file (or the original photographs in the case of works resulting from scans) of the photographs presented.
20)For the DIG and Portfolio sections for digital images, the works presented must retain the technical EXIF data (i.e. the technical Camera and Shooting data); for Nature Photos / Reportage / Travel Photos also conservation of geostationary data if available for the camera used; for aerial photographs from a drone, conservation of geostationary data in whatever section the photos are presented. It is mandatory to respect this EXIF data retention requirement for all new works that will be proposed by 2025 onwards, while the presence of such data is only desirable for those who have already had admissions in 2023 and 2024.
The complete text of the FIAF Competition Regulations, which is the responsibility of the participating author to know, is available on the FIAF website and can also be requested via email from the FIAF itself at the address: “. Participants in the Competition, both FIAF Members and non-Members, grant FIAF the possibility of managing their participation data and the images presented, both for the purposes of managing FIAF Statistics and the FIAF Sites responsible for collecting and disseminating the results of the Competitions Sponsored and recommended by it and the related images awarded and admitted.
21) Definition
Monochrome: A black and white work fitting from the very dark grey (black) to the very clear grey (white) is a monochrome work with the various shades of grey.
A black and white work toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the black and white category; such a work can be reproduced in black and white in the catalogue of a salon under FIAP Patronage.
On the other hand a black and white work modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome) to stand in the colour category; such a work requires colour reproduction in the catalogue of a salon under FIAP Patronage.
Landscape
Landscape photography portrays world spaces that may be in turn either huge and borderless or extremely confined, and may include rural or urban areas, both natural or industrial.
Environment
Environmental photography refers to all those images taken in any place, in any situation, with the implicit and/or explicit presence of human beings.
Both in small and large spaces, both in the open countryside and in urban centres. An environment is any place where people, things and places specifically designated to the context interact. It could be a workplace, a nursing home or a school. It is important that the subjects are an integral and non-random part, the fortuitous passage of a person from a place or the artificial and non-real reconstruction of a place is not an environment, a studio photo of a farmer simulating sowing is off topic, or the student who carries out a task not in the place designated for study (school, home, library) is off topic..
20) Participation in the Contest implies the entrants’ total, unconditional acceptance and the acknowledgment of their entire understanding of these Regulations.
21) Image creation and ownership
In all sections of the exhibition the images must be created as photographs taken by the competitor. They cannot embed identifiable images produced by others (for example: clip art, substitute skies or stock images). Images created in whole or in part by image creation software (often called “AI” images) are not permitted. Modification or alteration of images is permitted within the limits specified in the section definitions.