On September 16, Sohu officially announced the SMAGE·2026 Sohu Featured Image Annual Competition, and the collection of entries officially started today.
SMAGE·2026 Sohu Featured Image Annual Competition has been fully upgraded on the basis of the classic “China Drone Image Competition”. The image track is more diversified, and the four major units cover aerial photography, recording, nature, first-person perspective, sports, astronomy, meteorology, underwater, macro, travel photography, ancient architecture photography and many other characteristic image fields. There are 45 cash prizes with a maximum prize of 15,000 yuan, which are professionally selected by an authoritative jury. The official event platform for this year’s competition is Sohu Video Follow Stream. After being created by Sohu for many years, the functions of the Follow Stream product have become more mature, and the user atmosphere is more lively. While participating in the annual competition, featured video broadcasters can play with Follow Stream and fully experience the charm of real social interaction.
This annual competition is hosted by Sohu Lifestyle Center, with the theme of “Truth Has Its Own Light”, and is open to solicitations from broadcasters in multiple featured photography circles, so that excellent featured image works can be disseminated and the creators’ path to perseverance can be illuminated.
Adhere to long-termism and let featured image creators be seen
From 2015 to now, Sohu has held eleven consecutive China Drone Imaging Annual Competitions and multiple featured quarterly events for the past 12 years, attracting more than 12,000 leading creators to participate, and more than 200,000 high-level featured image works gathered on Sohu. The competition also helped more than 200 industry leading KOLs achieve in-depth co-creation of content and business, accompanying and witnessing the growth of creators.
From the initial focus on drone aerial photography, to gradually gathering diverse creative groups such as nature photographers, documentary directors, travel creators, extreme sports photographers, wildlife photographers, and starry sky photographers, the competition has developed together with technological progress and content innovation in the featured imaging industry, becoming one of the most influential platforms in the field. Sohu Drone has also become a leading vertical account in the industry.
In 2026, new regulations on drone management across the country will be implemented and continuously adjusted, and the aerial photography industry will enter a new stage of development. At the same time, fields such as nature photography, astronomy and meteorological photography, as well as first-view sports images, which are rapidly growing with the continuous iteration of head-mounted and handheld devices, have become an unbounded blue ocean for innovation in featured image content.
Twelve years of accumulation is also a new starting point. Sohu Drone is also riding the wave of this wave, and has been fully upgraded to Sohu’s featured image SMAGE. Together with special photographers from all circles, it has pushed the creativity and innovation of featured content and attention in the imaging consumer market to new heights.
Truth has its own light, make the characteristic image benchmarking event bigger and stronger
Smart imaging devices are emerging one after another, and AI images are quickly occupying users’ screens. On the one hand, the threshold for photography creation continues to decrease, resulting in a proliferation of image content. On the other hand, truly meaningful, thoughtful and valuable expressions are becoming increasingly rare.
Therefore, the SMAGE·2026 Sohu Featured Image Annual Competition takes “Reality Has Its Own Light” as its theme, encouraging creators to insist on on-site shooting, true records, and sincere expression, so that their works have a soul and the power to transcend time.
This annual competition has a total of 4 competition units with a total of 45 awards: the 12th China Drone Image Competition Unit, the Hidden World Unit, the Sensory Immersion Unit, and the Harmony of Time and Space·Ancient Architecture Unit.
The 12th China Drone Image Competition unit is a classic track, with awards for Best Aerial Short Video/Picture, Best Travel Photography, and Best Documentary.
The annual competition has a new “Hidden World” unit, which includes awards such as Best Wildlife Image, Best Astronomy and Meteorology Image, and Best Macro Image. It focuses on categories such as wildlife photography, habitat ecology, astronomy and weather photography, deep space, macro, microscopy, and infrared photography. We look forward to creators using unique images to show us hidden landscapes that are not noticed by ordinary people.
The “Sensory Immersion” unit will also make a new appearance, focusing on FPV first-person perspectives, extreme sports images, black water, underwater, high-speed photography and other unique image perspectives that lead viewers to “immerse themselves” in the magical world.
In addition, the organizing committee has also jointly established the “Harmony of Time and Space·Ancient Architecture Unit” with the official chief partner Blue and White Fenjiu to have a view of the fragrance and frame the creation. We look forward to the creators using exquisite image language to show the cultural charm of ancient buildings that travel through time and space.
This annual competition will also select2026 SMAGE Awards, to commend the most representative and distinctive image works of this competition year.
The 2026 SMAGE Grand Prize has a bonus of 15,000 yuan, the best award in other units has a bonus of 10,000/5,000 yuan, the outstanding award has a bonus of 1,000 yuan + 1 bottle of blue and white Fenjiu, and the shortlisted award has a bonus of 1,000 yuan. For more details about the annual competition settings, please check the “Featured Images” circle of the following stream or the official website smage.sohu.com.
The annual competition adheres to a fair and open selection mechanism. The final judging panel will be led by Yin Hong, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Film Association and Professor of Tsinghua University, Professor He Suliu, Director of the China Documentary Research Center of Communication University of China, Mr. Yu Le, Chief Director of “Aerial China”, Ms. Ren Yue, Director of the Chinese Photographers Association and Deputy Director of the Audiovisual Communication Department of Renmin University of China, and other experts and scholars. They will professionally evaluate the entries from multiple professional dimensions such as audiovisual language, artistic expression, documentary value, communication value and innovation. At the same time, Dr. Sun Quanhui, a scientist from World Animal Protection Association, will also serve as a consultant to review the relevant tracks of the annual competition.
This annual competition has received strong support from professional organizations such as the China Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, World Association for the Protection of Animals, Tsinghua University Film and Television Communication Research Center, Communication University of China China Documentary Research Center and other professional organizations.
For this annual competition, the collection of works will last until November 22, and the annual competition ceremony will be held in mid-to-early December to announce major honors.
Reposting is king, follow the stream’s featured images to shine
In addition to participating in the annual competition and competing for generous prizes, featured photographers from all walks of life can also follow the official event platform Sohu Video to record their daily lives, share their love with pictures, texts and videos, and find like-minded peers.
In Follow Stream, we encourage everyone to spin and play together. The most important thing is to spin and repost. The world changes when you forward it. Therefore, active participating podcasters in this annual competition will have more opportunities to recommend their works and a higher priority for advancement.
During the competition period, the organizing committee will also invite a number of featured video influencers to participate in depth, sharing experiences and ideas with more young creators in the attention stream, and stimulating creative vitality. As a major event, the organizing committee will also promote and display selected entries on Sohu.com, Sohu News Client, Huyou and other Sohu platform matrix products, as well as Sohu featured images across the entire network.
It is expected that every creator will respond to the world with real shots and distinctive expressions, find his own stage in the attention stream, and shine with his unique light.
Special thanks to official chief partner Blue and White Fenjiu and special industry partner Proya for their strong support.
Official event platform
Sohu video follow stream
參賽指南
1. Register and log in to Sohu Video APP
2. To upload short videos or pictures, you must select the “Featured Images” circle
3. Add topics such as #SMAGE #True Own Light #Time and Space Harmony #Let’s Go Now, @Sohu Featured Image and other broadcaster accounts to participate.
4. Sohu Video web version can also be operated
Reposting is the king, commenting is the little king, and when retweeting, commenting is the king of kings. Active broadcasters who follow the stream will receive higher promotion priority in this event.
Official account: Sohu Featured Image
