Excire launches free AI-judged photography competition offering $7,000 in prizes

PRC, the AI technology company behind the Excire photo-management software, is hosting a free-to-enter photography competition featuring instant AI judging and huge prizes.

Excire’s “People in Focus” competition—running now through June 30th—invites photographers to submit people-centric images of all types, from studio headshots and environmental portraits to everyday moments and candid street scenes. But unlike conventional photography competitions, “People in Focus” submissions will be evaluated entirely by Excire’s in-house AI model, which has been purpose-built to analyze and score photos based on aesthetic qualities. The AI has already been used to judge several international photography competitions and provides near-instantaneous results.

After submitting an image, the entrant can instantly review its rank; the first-place, second-place, and third-place images at the time of the competition’s close will receive $4,000, $2,000, and $1,000 USD, respectively. Additionally, all participants will receive a special 20% discount code to use on all Excire products (valid through June 30th, 2025).

The contest marks two milestones: the 20-year anniversary of PRC, and the 10-year anniversary of Excire software. Characterized by a blend of innovative AI tools and a user-friendly interface, Excire image-management programs have helped tens of thousands of photographers maintain an accessible, well-organized media catalog over the past decade. And the anniversary competition’s unique premise—judging via an aesthetically-trained AI model—is yet another example of the company’s commitment to fusing cutting-edge AI with real-world creative needs.

“Photographers spend hundreds of hours each year on tedious photo-management tasks, from organizing and finding specific shots to selecting the best images from a vacation or photoshoot,” explains Professor Erhardt Barth, CEO of PRC and a machine learning expert at the University of Lübeck. “Excire’s AI helps photographers bypass these time-consuming tasks so they can spend more time taking photos and appreciating their own hard work.” (The Dead Pixels Society interview Barth in 2020. Listen here.)

How AI judging works

Excire’s AI model has been trained by expert photographers using hundreds of thousands of images to intelligently score photos based on aesthetic characteristics. This form of competition judging comes with two major advantages, according to the company:

• Instant results: There’s no waiting around for a human judging panel to review the entries. The user uploads an image, clicks the Submit button, and instantly discovers their (current) position in the competition.
• Extreme fairness: Human judges can be inconsistent and biased. Excire’s AI judge, however, analyzes submissions with unerring consistency.

The competition page includes a leaderboard, which maintains a live display of the top 20 images submitted to the contest. As more photographers send in images, the top 20 may change, so entrants are encouraged to check back regularly to see how their photos are performing.

“Of course, artificial intelligence can’t replace human taste,” says Professor Barth. “But it can objectively analyze what makes a photo great. Excire’s AI offers impartial evaluations without subjective bias and has already served as a juror in several prestigious photo contests.”

Competition Details and Eligibility

• Photos should be submitted by following instructions on the competition page.
• The competition is open to photographers worldwide who are over the age of 18.
• Images must be submitted before 11:59 PM CEST on June 30th, 2025.
• Participants may submit up to one image per day while the contest remains open for a maximum of 30 submissions; however, only the highest-ranking photo will be eligible for a prize.
• Images that are generated by AI or that include dominant AI elements are ineligible. Images that do not qualify as people or portrait photography are also ineligible. Excire has the right to remove any such images from the contest without prior notice.
• Users that receive a top 20 ranking must upload the originals to verify that files were not created by AI.
• Images submitted for the competition will NOT be used for AI training purposes.