Please see the Official Contest Rules, Guidelines, and Prizes for more information.
Create an account or log in and select "Enter" in the top navigation bar to follow the submission process (you must have an account to submit a photo). The process includes uploading a photo(s) and providing photo details, agency, and photographer information. When a photo is received, it will be reviewed to ensure it meets all qualifications before being loaded on the website. Photo moderation may take up to 72 hours.
Employees of participating agencies are ineligible to enter the contest. If you selected that you were an employee when you created your account, the function to enter will be disabled. If you are not an employee of one of the participating agencies and checked this box in error, please contact sharetheexperience@recreation.gov to remove this restriction.
All photos and comments enter a moderation queue once received to ensure they meet qualifications before being loaded on the website. Moderation of photos and comments may take up to 72 hours. If your image or comment still does not appear after 72 hours, you can contact sharetheexperience@recreation.gov for more details. Due to the large volume of submissions, participants are not contacted when a photo is rejected.
Photos must be taken on federal public lands or waters managed by one of the following participating agencies:
The 2025 contest will be open from June 17 to December 31, 2025. Winners will be announced in Spring/Summer 2026.
For the 2025 photo contest, photographs taken between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2025, will be accepted.
The winning photos must be of sufficient quality to be used in print publications. Photos with less than 2560 x 1950 resolution will not be eligible to win prizes.
Photos must be in JPEG format. We are not able to accept any other format at this time.
Entries are limited to ten (10) per month (First day of each month at 12:00 am ET—last day of each month at 11:59 pm ET) during the contest's duration.
Photos cannot contain watermarks, writing, or symbols of any kind.
Each photo can be submitted in up to 2 categories. An overwhelming number of entries are submitted to Scenery & Seasons, while categories like Outdoors for All and History & Heritage receive fewer entries overall. Be intentional and creative when choosing your photo categories!
Participants retain ownership of all photos submitted. Please refer to the official contest rules for more information on how your photos can be used.
Due to the volume of submissions, it is difficult to screen for manipulations when accepting photos. Acceptance of a photo submission is not a certification the photo has met the requirements of the official contest rules. All finalist photos are carefully vetted. Contest sponsors have the right to request finalists provide the file recorded by the camera, such as RAW files. All prize winners are required to sign an affidavit certifying that their photo adheres to the official contest rules.
The Federal Recreational Lands Pass is your ticket to over 2,000 federal recreation sites. The pass covers entrance fees at participating national parks and national wildlife refuges, standard amenity fees at national forests and grasslands, and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation. A pass covers entrance and standard amenity fees for a driver and all passengers in a personal vehicle at per-vehicle fee areas (or up to 4 adults at sites that charge per person). Children aged 15 and under are admitted free. More than 800,000 Interagency Annual Passes are sold each year.
Get your pass now at the USGS store.
Three monthly winners are chosen each month of the contest. The photo will be picked by a judging panel and selected based on the same judging criteria as the overall winner: originality, artistic composition, technical quality, photographic technique, and showcasing the best of America's recreational opportunities. The monthly winners receive an automatic entry into the judging phase and a Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass.
The images will be displayed on www.sharetheexperience.org. Depending on how your photo does in the contest, you could find it displayed on the front of the 2027 Federal Recreation Lands Annual Pass!
We value your personal information and privacy and adhere to strict laws and practices regarding it. Please see our Privacy Policy.
Please email: sharetheexperience@recreation.gov