Session Details 2025

June judging session

The QEP session “June 2025” will be in Alingsås, Sweden, on June 28-29. Registrations are open.

The application fee is € 185. Early birds fees for a first period will be € 170.

A cost of € 60 is asked for panels return. (NB! Return shipping to non-EU countries may include additional fees).

The address to send panels is: (to be communicated)

Panels must arrive NOT LATER THAN June 27. Panels arriving later may be judged at the discretion of the Chairman.

Apply to become a Qualified European Photographer

Rules and Regulations

Eligibility for QEP Qualification

To be eligible to apply for a QEP Certificate, the candidate:

Must earn a living as a maker of still images, either photochemical or digital. The QEP Certificates are only available to those who are authors of the original images and they are not intended for photographic laboratory technicians or support staff.
Must be a member of a national professional photographers association. The national association must be a member of the Federation of European Professional Photographers. Unless otherwise agreed by the relevant FEP member association, applications have to be sent directly to the FEP. A copy of the entry form must be transmitted by the entrants to the relevant association. Application by non members are accepted providing they are professional photographers legally registered and resident in European countries where there are no FEP member national associations to represent them. If such an application is received from a photographer who is not member of a FEP affiliated association, they must be registered with the relevant tax authorities as a professional photographer and must show their VAT registration number or certificate of professional insurance which will be validated by the FEP.
May be self-employed or an employee.
Must fulfil the necessary requirements in technical skills and meet an internationally acknowledged artistic and aesthetic standard already achieved by existing FEP QEP qualified photographers.
Must accept the FEP European Code of Professional Conduct.
FEP Code of conduct

Submission of Work

Candidates must submit a panel of 12 printed images. Every print must be clearly numbered on the back to correspond with the visual guide; a directional arrow is also required.
Each submission must be accompanied by a QEP application form. (Candidates must print it after their online application online and send it together with the prints)
The application is done online. Log-in, then apply through our website (when a session is open).
apply online
During the registration online, candidates must upload all 12 images. These images will be published in the QEP galleries of successful candidates. Images can also be uploaded later after payment has been made, however both payment and image upload are required for the entry to be considered complete.
Files should be uploaded at the original file resolution, at least 4,000px on the long side. The pixel count of an image must not exceed 100 Megapixels (100 MP) otherwise it will be not accepted by the system.
Note: Filenames should be under 32 characters and contain no special symbols or accents.
Panels may be submitted in any category of your choice, e.g. Portrait, Wedding, Advertising, Landscape, Architecture, Industrial, Commercial, Press, Reportage, etc.
The submission must be prints, colour, monochrome or a mixture. Supporting evidence such as books, albums, calendars etc is not allowed in QEP applications. However, candidates may give a title to their panel or give a written description of a few sentences about the work if theye so choose.
Prints must be mounted on light cardboard or foamboard, polyboard, kapaboard or the equivalent. Each mount must contain a single image. The mounting boards must not be longer than 50 cm on the longest side and not shorter than 30 cm on the shortest side.
No frames are permitted. Total weight of pictures, including the case, max. 8 kg.
All photographic prints must be submitted in a reusable case, not exceeding the maximum sizes of 55×60 cm, for easy handling and return shipping. Cases received exceeding these sizes will not be returned. FEP cannot be held responsible for loss or damage during transit.
Any deviation from these requirements (sizes, mounting, resolution, weight, etc.) must be communicated in advance when submitting the entry form and will only be judged at the Chairman’s discretion. Failure to comply with these criteria may result in disqualification.
Anonymity of candidates will be respected at all times; however, the FEP secretariat will inform the candidates’ national association of the candidate’s participation.
If an application is submitted by a photographer who is not member of a FEP member association, he/she may be asked to submit, as well as their registration number as indicated above, some evidence of professional status, perhaps a photo of premises, interior or exterior, and/or an example of a brochure, website address, or any further publicity material; the criteria are indicated in the application form.
The appropriate application fee must accompany the submission, as indicated in the QEP application form. It is possible to pay online through the website or by wire transfer.
The submitted images will be judged by 5 international judges. The QEP candidate must achieve a majority of 3 VOTES OUT OF 5 to be considered successful.
Successful photographers will receive a printed certificate for display in their studio.
QEP certificate holders may then apply for a MASTER QEP certificate after one year.
Unsuccessful candidates will receive a constructive critique of their panel indicating why, on this occasion, it has not been successful.
Unsuccessful candidates may repeat the application at the next available judging session.
The jury reserves the right to disqualify a panel if the content contravenes contemporary ethical standards.

Application Fee

To facilitate the organisation of the judging session as early as possible, we invite you to send your application in early. An application fee of € 185,00 is due to cover costs, such as venue charges, certificates, jury expenses, etc. For those sending in their application within the given date, an Early Bird saving of € 15,00 will apply. After that date the full application fee of €185,00 will apply. Be an early bird. Save money!

Candidates must send their fees through the website by credit card (or in absence of one, through a wire transfer directly to the FEP). The FEP secretariat will verify the membership of the candidate and of payment of the entry fee. Registration will be valid only when FEP receives evidence the entry fee has been paid by the candidate. If you prefer paying through a wire transfer please contact secretariat@europeanphotographers.eu

Return of QEP Prints

To cover the costs of return transportation to the address indicated on the application form you must enclose proof of payment of an additional fee of € 60,00. Return shipping to non-EU countries may include additional fees. ATTENTION: Candidates have 15 days to remove their panels, otherwise they will be destroyed unless other arrangements have been agreed.

Judging

The Jury will be drawn from delegates nominated annually by the national organisations within their relevant QEP and Master QEP holders, and then selected by the FEP Jury Chairman.
The decisions of the jury are final and binding. No contact with the Jury Chairman or jury members is allowed before the judging. No contact with jury members after the judging session is permitted.

Copyright and Releases

The copyright of all images submitted remains with the copyright holder. FEP reserves the right to use any of the images submitted, without payment, for display and publicity purposes for this and future FEP awards or projects. It is vital that the candidate obtains the permission of the client and/or the copyright holder and any relevant model release where appropriate before submitting the work.

Violation of the rules

Any violation of the FEP Qualifications rules will result in sanctions ranging from disqualification of the photographs submitted by the perpetrator for the qualification session in question, to a suspension from participating in subsequent editions of the FEP Qualifications and FEP Awards competition for a period of 2 years.

Any disqualifications due to the participant not being the sole copyright holder of submitted entries, will automatically mean disqualification of all submitted entries and a two-year suspension from participation in the FEP qualifications and FEP competitions, as decided by the FEP’s board on May 15, 2023.

A validation committee consisting of the Chairman of the FEP Qualifications, the FEP President and the FEP CEO will investigate any violations and decide on sanctions to be taken.

Secretariat and Organisation

All candidates will receive written notification of the result of their submission from the FEP Secretariat. ONLY successful candidates will be announced. The anonymity of all candidates will always be respected including during judging sessions. Only the judges and the organisational staff are allowed to enter the judging room. However, upon agreement with the relevant FEP member association hosting the judging session & the Chairman, some public maybe be admitted in the judging room for educational purposes.

The FEP Secretariat will not put forward for judging any panels unless the following procedures have been adhered to, neither will these panels be returned to their authors, if:

the images submitted do not conform to these rules
the submission fees has not been paid
the membership of the candidates has not been confirmed by the relevant association.
the content contravenes contemporary ethical standards

The total weight of the panels, including the case, must not exceed 8 kg. Submissions whose return of print service fee has not been paid will not be returned.

The level of illumination for all print jury session will be equivalent to one second at f16 with a meter setting at 100 ISO.