The Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique
– FIAP (or International Federation of Photographic Art) is an international body made up of photographic federations and associations in 92 countries on five continents.
It is recognised by UNESCO and represents the benefits of more than one and a half billion amateur and professional photographers worldwide. One national society in each country is appointed as the Operational member.
PSSA is FIAP’s Operational member for South Africa. Jill Sneesby is the Liaison Officer serving as liaison between FIAP and all PSSA members. Jenny Stillwell is the Distinctions Co-ordinator.
As an affiliated Society, we enjoy all the benefits of belonging to the largest body representing photographic art in the world today, including all the benefits of participating in FIAP-sponsored Salons and attracting entries from abroad to Salons on the SA International circuit, which enjoys FIAP patronage.
Fully paid-up members of PSSA are welcome to apply for FIAP Distinctions, which are based either on International Salon acceptances in salons with FIAP patronage – Category A Distinctions or by submitting a themed portfolio for assessment – Category C Distinctions.
Category A – Based on Salon Acceptances – Co-ordinator: Jenny Stilwell
Notes:
Acceptances for the NFIAP to the EFIAP/p are cumulative.
No acceptances prior to 2025 will count for the NFIAP.
10 acceptances per image to count.
Opening Date for applications – 1 March 2026
Closing Date for applications – 31 March 2026
Full details of the application process should be downloaded here. FIAP Category A Distinctions – Application Procedure
Please be sure to complete steps 1 and 2 in the document prior to continuing, and send your completed PSSA-APPLICATION-FORM-CATEGORY A-2026, together with your payment of the initial application fee, to Jenny Stilwell at jenny@thenet.co.za between 1st and 31st March 2026.
Only on confirmation from Jenny should you proceed to the next step.
DOWNLOADS
- FIAP-DISTINCTION-REQUIREMENTS-2026
- FIAP Category A Distinctions – Application Procedure
- PSSA-APPLICATION-FORM-CATEGORY A-2026
- DOC 047_2025 New FIAP Excel Dossier_EN
FIAP list of acceptances with patronage numbers 202511
Category C – Based on a themed portfolio – Co-ordinator: Jill Sneesby
Closing date for applications:
15 January, 15 May & 15 October
Distinctions in Category C are earned by submitting a series of pictures (portfolio) that is then reviewed on quality and coherence.
No previous FIAP Distinctions are required.
The cost of the application is made up of two parts – firstly, a handling fee of R500-00. Payment should be made into the PSSA account with your name and FIAP as the reference:
Account Name: PSSA
Bank: ABSA
Account number: 4052639245
Branch Code: 630-137
The FIAP fee for the PFIAP is €70-00 and is paid directly online at the same time as your portfolio is uploaded.
Further information is available from jillsneesby@gmail.com
The images must be coherent and show a good level of Artistic Photography. Each theme must have either colour or black & white pictures.
Each image must have the following properties:
– format JPG
– 300 dpi, best quality
– at least 3600 pixels on the longest side of the image and saving no smaller than 2 MB.
Images and themes submitted for the various Portfolios distinctions must be distinct from one another and not similar. They must have different titles. Same or similar images cannot be used in different portfolios. Pictures used for successful MFIAP portfolios cannot be used.
FIAP Patronage is granted to international events accessible to participants from all over the world. Applicants for FIAP Patronage have to conform to conditions listed in the FIAP Book.
Any club interested in hosting an international salon with FIAP patronage should first ensure that they have applied for a place on the PSSA calendar.
FIAP Patronage can be applied for online by logging in to the FIAP Platform www.myfiap.net
Events to which FIAP Patronage has been granted can be found at the following link: https://www.myfiap.net/patronages
The FIAP Photo Academy was established in 2020 to promote the Art of Photography and to share our passion for Photography.
This is achieved by the establishment of a series of Online Events and recordings are available on Youtube. Browse the list and watch when and where you like.
FIAP News is a digital magazine that is produced quarterly by FIAP and shared worldwide. It contains news of all major FIAP events and shares information and articles from FIAP affiliated photographic organisations and photographers around the world.
FIAP are always on the lookout for articles and images for the FIAP News. A new column is the Youth Photographers Gallery, a space for photographers under the age of 25 to have some photos published in FIAP’s magazine. This is for individuals and thus is good for any young photographer who is interested.
The Recommendations section is a place for FIAP Photographers to recommend places and events for photography, sharing their personal insights as a photographer into the best location and best times for photographers to be in these places. Any photographer can send articles for this section.
For those interested in submitting an article to FIAP News, details can be found on the FIAP News Service page Click here.
To read the FIAP News Editions, click on the magazine covers to download the pdf magazine. The pdf is best viewed in two-page view.
To read the most recent FIAP News Edition online as a flipbook, Click here.
Biennials are one of the most important events offered by FIAP. They are organised every two years in a different member country. Even years for Black and White and Nature Biennials, odd years for the Colour and Youth Biennials.
These are team competitions.
The Black and White, the Colour and the Nature Biennials have a very particular characteristic, different from the international contests. It is not only the quality of the individual work that counts, but FIAP ask for coherent collections, as well of the viewpoint of inspiration and conception as form the viewpoint of execution and presentation.
The judgement of the collections is made in two steps:
1) the judgement of each work of the collection
2) the global judgement of the collection
The collection obtaining the highest score by the addition of the points of the first and the second judgment, wins the World Cup of the corresponding Biennial. Individual awards are also granted to the best works.
The winning images can be viewed here.
View the PSSA entries and results by clicking on the links below.
Previous Biennial Results can be found on this website under the Competitions & Results tab/International Results/FIAP Biennials
FIAP World Cup for Clubs – results to follow
105 FRAMES – One heart in Shandong – click here
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