Run a photo competition from first entry to final placement.
Loupe handles the whole competition: collecting entries from your photographers, one or two rounds of judging, the mail that goes with each stage, and standings ready to publish and announce.
Single or two-phase judging · Metadata and generated-image checks for admins · Full audit trail
Collect the entries
Share one entry link and let photographers sign in with an emailed code and upload their own work — or import a photographer list and a ZIP of photos and upload on their behalf.
Judge in one round or two
Two-phase: judges claim the finalists against per-category quotas, then jurors place an ordered ranking. Single-phase: judges place their own top N per category and it ends there. Each phase opens and closes on your word.
Publish the results
Standings come out of your points table and tie-break rule, ready to read as a ranked grid or run as a carousel showcase on the night — then announced with the winner email.
Everything a competition actually needs
The unglamorous parts included — quotas, deadlines, approvals, privacy and a record of who did what.
Passwordless entry
Photographers get a six-digit code by email — no account to create, no password to forget. Every public form is bot-checked.
Bulk import
Bring in a photographer list from CSV and a whole shoot from a ZIP, matched by filename and attributed in one pass — including archives that carry no names at all.
Review queue
Self-uploads land as submitted and wait for approval. Work the queue from the keyboard — approve, reject, reveal the entrant, delete — so nothing unvetted reaches a judge.
What the file says
The EXIF, XMP and IPTC record is read on the way in and kept for admins: when and where a photo was taken, and an amber flag on any file claiming to be AI-generated.
Rules, limits and a deadline
Per-category entry limits and photo rules — color or black and white, smallest and largest long edge — checked as the photographer picks and again on the server. Past the submission deadline, registration and upload close outright.
Private shortlisting tools
Ratings, picks and Lightroom-style color labels, private to the judge who made them — a familiar way to work a pool down that decides nothing on its own.
Ways through the pool
One, two or three up with a filmstrip and a full-screen view. Podium walks one photo at a time against the places filled so far; Focus gives the photo the room, with numbered buttons to place it.
Only submitted ballots count
A part-finished ranking saves itself as you go, and completeness is what the submit step asks for. A ballot nobody submitted is absent from the result — never counted as a row of zeros.
Standings and showcase
Points tables and tie-break rules, a per-ballot breakdown naming who placed what where, and a carousel showcase — click any photo to fill the screen — for the awards night.
Email already written
Eight emails ship with wording that works out of the box — receipt, rejection, finalist, winner and the four phase announcements. Override any of them from a template library shared across competitions, preview as you type, and test-send to yourself first.
Photos stay private
No stored file is reachable from the web. Every image is served through a route that re-checks role, phase and status, and the copy judges see has had its location and camera serial stripped out.
Roles, and a record
Admin, judge, juror and photographer access is checked at the edge, again in each area, and again in the queries behind them — and who approved, promoted or changed a role is written down as it happens.
Four stages, in order
- 1
Set it up
Create the competition, add categories with their own entry limits and photo rules, set the points table and tie-break rule, and assign your judges and jurors.
- 2
Gather entries
Send the entry link to your photographers, or upload for them. Self-uploads queue for review so nothing unvetted reaches judging.
- 3
Judge
Judges work through the approved entries and submit. In a two-phase competition they claim the finalists; in a single-phase one they place their top N and the result is already in.
- 4
Score and announce
Jurors rank the finalists in Phase 2. Standings, placements and winners come out the other side — ready to show on the night and to email out.
One app, three kinds of people
For organizers
One place to run the whole thing: entries, people, phases, results and the mail that goes with them. No spreadsheets passed around by email, no lost attachments, and a record of every decision.
For photographers
Follow a link, get a code, upload into the categories that are open — and get a receipt listing everything that arrived.
For judges and jurors
A focused view of the photos you are meant to see, when you are meant to see them — keyboard-driven, saved as you go, and one clear submit step at the end.
Request Demo
If you want to try it out for your organization, request a demo and see Loupe with every feature switched on.