Final Call: Only One Day Left to Enter CIAC 2026

If your contest photograph is ready, do not leave the submission until the final hours. CIAC has not published a precise closing time or time zone, and last-minute traffic or upload problems could prevent an otherwise eligible entry from being completed.

Submit your entry through the official CIAC website

CIAC 2026 Competition Schedule

The official schedule for this season is:

• Registration deadline: September 15, 2026

• Judges’ scoring deadline: September 25, 2026

• Results announcement: October 10, 2026

• International Masters Aquascaping Show: November 12, 2026

• CIAC 2026 Award Ceremony: November 13, 2026

• Guangdong aquaculture business tour: November 16–17, 2026

The award ceremony will include the presentation of prizes, comments from the judges and interactions with the winning aquascapers.

CIAC 2026 Aquascape Group Awards

CIAC continues to offer one of the most substantial prize structures among international aquascaping competitions.

Champion — 1 winner

• RMB 50,000

• Trophy and certificate

• Round-trip airfare to Guangzhou

• Three nights of hotel accommodation

• Guangdong aquaculture business tour

• Participation in the On-site Aquascaping Invitational Tournament

Runner-up — 1 winner

• RMB 15,000

• Trophy and certificate

• Round-trip airfare to Guangzhou

• Three nights of hotel accommodation

• Guangdong aquaculture business tour

• Participation in the On-site Aquascaping Invitational Tournament

Second Runner-up — 1 winner

• RMB 10,000

• Trophy and certificate

• Round-trip airfare to Guangzhou

• Three nights of hotel accommodation

• Guangdong aquaculture business tour

• Participation in the On-site Aquascaping Invitational Tournament

Fourth to Thirteenth Place

Each selected aquascaper will receive:

• RMB 2,000

• Certificate

• Three nights of hotel accommodation in Guangzhou

• Guangdong aquaculture business tour

• Participation in the On-site Aquascaping Invitational Tournament

Fourteenth to Thirtieth Place

Each selected aquascaper will receive:

• Certificate

• Guangdong aquaculture business tour

• Participation in the On-site Aquascaping Invitational Tournament

All monetary prizes are listed before tax. According to the organizer, applicable individual income tax will be withheld before payment.

How Does CIAC Judging Work?

In previous CIAC seasons, the online aquascaping competition used two stages: preliminary selection followed by final scoring.

Entries first passed through an initial selection process. The qualified works were then evaluated by the judges through CIAC’s independently developed submission and scoring system. Judges submitted their scores inside the system, which calculated the totals and generated the final rankings.

The official CIAC 2026 page does not currently publish an itemized scoring table for the main online Aquascape Group. Entrants should therefore avoid confusing it with the scoring systems published for the other CIAC activities.

For the On-site Aquascaping Invitational Tournament, the official scoring proportions are:

• Aesthetics: 40%

• Ecology: 30%

• Technique: 20%

• Creativity: 10%

This balance suggests that a successful live creation must combine visual impact with ecological awareness, technical execution and an original artistic idea.

Best Beautiful Aquatic Plant Award

CIAC 2026 also includes a separate award for a single aquatic plant or a group of plants. A photograph of the entire aquarium is not required for this category.

Examples may include an individual Cryptocoryne specimen or a carefully maintained cluster of Rotala.

The scoring criteria for this category are:

• Aquatic Plant Condition — 60 points: growth, color, vitality and overall visual effect

• Maintenance Skills — 30 points: lighting, CO₂, temperature, nutrients, water quality and algae control

• Photography — 10 points: close-up composition and overall aesthetics

Contestants must be able to provide evidence that the submitted plants or organisms were raised and maintained by themselves.

Important Submission Requirements

Before completing your entry, check the following requirements carefully:

• The competition is open to aquascapers worldwide.

• The submitted aquascape must have been completed during 2025 or 2026.

• The main photograph must show a high-resolution, straight-on front view of the completed aquascape.

• Angled photographs and images showing only part of the aquarium are not accepted.

• Digital image editing or modification is prohibited.

• Images must be submitted in JPEG format at a minimum of 300 DPI.

• Each image should be between 3 MB and 5 MB.

• For each category, entrants must provide one photograph of the aquascape and one photograph showing the author together with the aquascape.

• Entrants should retain the original high-resolution files because the organizer may request them for printing and exhibition.

The rules also state that the copyright of Top 100 works belongs to CIPS and CFAA, while the author retains attribution. Entrants should read the official copyright conditions carefully before submitting.

Your Aquascape Deserves Its Place on the International Stage

Every competition entry represents months—or sometimes years—of planning, planting, maintenance and patient refinement. Even beyond the rankings, participating in CIAC is an opportunity to document that journey and present your work to the international aquascaping community.

If your aquarium is ready and your final photograph has already been prepared, now is the time to complete the process.

CIAC 2026 registration closes on September 15. Only one day remains.

Do not let the deadline pass with your aquascape still sitting on your camera or computer.

Enter CIAC 2026 now

Explore previous CIAC results and winning works in the AquaLibs CIAC archive.