Photos of the Week: Sept. 11, 2026

The second winner of our weekly photo contest is an image we’ve seen in a thousand different forms and we’ll never get tired of it. Young Scott Woods was a lucky boy to get his introduction to flying by his dad Woody in a way that harkens back to flying’s Golden Age. We are amazed at the volume and quality of entries coming in and invite everyone to submit their best shots.

Chris Woods: Woody Woods and his young son Scott Woods head out to their 1932 Great Lakes 2T-1A for Scott’s first ride.

Runners-up

Conner Spies: This Harvard was the best way to end an eventful day of airside spotting.

Submit your photo for next week’s competition:

Photo Contest

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Accepted file types: jpg, png, jpeg, Max. file size: 10 MB.

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Official Rules & Terms

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Eligibility and Entry Windows

Who Can Enter: Open to global participants aged 18 or older, excluding employees of AvBrief Media Ltd., participating Prize Sponsors, and their immediate family members. Void in jurisdictions where prohibited by local law.
Weekly Schedule: Each weekly contest opens Saturday at 9am EST and closes on the following Thursday at 8:00 pm EST
Winner Announcements: Weekly Winners winners will be announced every Friday. The monthly winner will be announced on the Monday following the fourth week.
Administrator: AvBrief Media Ltd., 4758 Gulch Road, Armstrong BC V0E1B4, Canada
Prize Sponsors: Aviation products manufacturers and retailers. Prize Sponsors are strictly providing the awards and are not legally responsible for the administration, execution, or judging of this competition.

Photo, Caption, and Technical Specs

Technical Specs: Images must be in JPEG or PNG format and cannot exceed a file size of 10 MB.
Captions: Entrants must submit an original caption for their photo, strictly limited to a maximum of 300 characters.
Originality: The photo must be the original work of the entrant and must not violate any third-party copyrights or privacy rights.

Use of AI and Photo Editing Rules

No AI Allowed: AI-generated, AI-synthesized, or heavily AI-altered images are strictly forbidden. Submissions must be genuine photographs captured using a digital camera or smartphone.
Permitted Editing: Basic technical adjustments are permitted. These include standard cropping, color correction, exposure adjustment, sharpening, and contrast tuning.
Forbidden Editing: Composite images, adding or removing structural elements (e.g., adding an aircraft to a sky, changing a registration number), sky replacements, or using generative AI fill tools will result in disqualification.

Judging and Prize Structure

Judging Criteria: All eligible entries will be evaluated by the AvBrief editorial team based on the following objective criteria: 40% Technical Quality & Execution, 30% Adherence to the General Aviation Theme, and 30% Originality & Aesthetic Appeal.
Weekly Selection: The top five highest-scoring photos each week will be published on our online media platform. The single highest-scoring photo will be deemed the Weekly Winner.
Monthly Evaluation: The weekly winners from a given month will automatically advance to the Monthly Evaluation, where they will be evaluated by the judging panel using the same criteria to determine the Monthly Winner, who will receive a prize provided by one of our Prize Sponsors.
The Grand Annual Prize: All 52 weekly winners across the year will automatically enter the final annual evaluation to win the grand prize provided by our annual Prize Sponsor.
Tie-Breaker: In the event of a tied score at any stage of the competition, the entry with the highest score in the “Technical Quality & Execution” category will be deemed the winner.
Prizes & Taxes: The specific prizes prior to each applicable evaluation period. The ARV for monthly prizes will vary depending on the Prize Sponsor. Actual or appraised value may differ at the time of the prize award. Any applicable local, provincial, or federal taxes on prizes are the sole responsibility of the winner.

Copyright and Usage Rights

Ownership: Entrants retain full copyright ownership of their submitted photographs.
Publication License: By entering, the weekly finalists, weekly, monthly, and annual winners grant AvBrief Media Ltd. a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to publish their photos and captions in our daily online editorial and future digital or print publications.