The 2026 International Pet Photography Awards Finalists Are Here – and the Bar Is High

If there’s one photography contest that proves pet photography is an art form and not just something people do with their phones when their pet’s being cute, it’s the International Pet Photography Awards. Now in its eighth year, the IPPA has revealed its 2026 finalists, and the competition is as strong as it’s ever been.

This year the competition pulled in 4,220 entries from 48 countries, spread across 12 categories. And as many as four of those categories are brand new for 2026: Commissioned Portfolio, In-Camera Artistry, Phone, and Studio. That last one is particularly interesting to me, considering that I am one of those whose pet photography is all about snapshots of my cat being cute. This is a dedicated category for studio work, rewarding the kind of technical control and lighting precision that often gets overlooked.

With the four new categories, this is what we have this year:

• Action
• Canine Portrait
• Commissioned Portfolio
• Creative
• Documentary
• Equine Portrait
• Feline Portrait
• In-Camera Artistry
• Open Portrait
• Pets and People
• Phone
• Studio

The 2026 finalists were scored by a panel of 27 specialist animal photographers and industry experts from Australia, Europe, USA. Category finalists are the five photographers with the highest combined scores across their top three entries in a single category. The jury picked the overall International Pet Photographer of the Year finalists by the top five images across any category.

You can take a look at the selection of finalists I made completely randomly, but making sure to include some from each category. Make sure to visit the contest website to see the entire list of finalists. And stay tuned, because the winners will be announced on August 1!

Lead image credits: © Katie Brockman (left) and Cerrina Smith (right), courtesy of 2026 International Pet Photography Awards

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