Prestigious photo contest answers ‘what is a photo?’

We love to muse over how “real” photography is defined here at The Verge now that generative AI is so prolific, and the World Press Photo competition might have the answer. The prestigious award celebrates the best of photojournalism, where capturing reality is paramount.

Prestigious photo contest answers ‘what is a photo?’

‘A photograph captures light on a sensor or film. It is a record of a physical moment.’

The winning entry for 2026 — “Separated by ICE,” captured by photojournalist Carol Guzy — was announced yesterday. The harrowing photograph shows children clinging to their father after an immigration hearing. The photo had to abide by specific rules around the use of AI tools to be eligible for the competition, with the independent, nonprofit organization behind the award insisting that “AI-generated images are not photography.”

“A photograph captures light on a sensor or film,” the organization said in its entry rules. “It is a record of a physical moment.” The organization also breaks down the exact tools and equipment that are permitted to qualify:

All photographs entered into the contest must be made with a camera. No synthetic or artificially generated images are allowed, and no use of artificially generative fill is allowed in post-production. Any use of these tools will automatically disqualify the entry from the contest.

Smartphone photographs are permitted only when captured in standard shooting mode; submissions created using HDR, portrait mode, creative lighting effects, or panorama mode are not eligible.

The use of smart tools, or AI-powered enhancement tools is possible within the contest rules, as long as these tools do not lead to significant changes to the image as a whole, introduce new information to the image, nor remove information from the image that was captured by the camera.

Tools that immediately breach the contest rules and are not allowed are all AI powered enlarging tools such as Adobe Super Resolution and Topaz Photo AI. These tools are based on generative AI models that introduce new information to enlarge and sharpen images.

There are still a few gray areas, such as AI tools for denoising, automatic color/contrast adjustments and object selection, which are permitted so long as they’re not used extensively and don’t “alter, add or remove information from the photograph that was captured by the camera,” according to World Press Photo. The organization also links to a page that breaks down what qualifies as photo manipulation under its rules.

It’s one of the most comprehensive lists of requirements we’ve seen for defining what counts as authentic photography, and could serve as a benchmark for how us normies think about the topic going forward.