LensCulture Critic's Choice

Close on June 24, 2021

Territory: Worldwide

Theme: Home

Eligibility: Open to all

Entry Fees: Free single, $35/5 images

Prize: Cash Prize

Critics' Choice 2021 is designed to maximize exposure and opportunities for talented photographers who are ready for the global stage and international markets. We have carefully assembled our largest Jury ever - photography experts and influencers from world-renowned museums, magazines and news media, online publications, book publishers, international festivals, and art galleries. This jury is really amazing...Take a look.

Every critic will select three photographers with outstanding talent and creative vision. We're seeking all kinds of new photography that is thoughtful, poetic, smart, raw, refined, nuanced, powerful or otherwise remarkable. Awards include an Online Solo Exhibition, feature in Critics' Choice 2021 Photobook, cash prizes for the top ten photographers, global media coverage, and more. Free entry for single image entries. Open to all types of photography.

This past year has severely limited our ability to get out and meet each other in person at portfolio reviews, workshops, gallery openings or festivals - so this is a great way to get your work in front of 21 experts - it only takes one great connection to change your career!

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Stay up-to-date with call for entries, deadlines and other news about exhibitions, galleries, publications, & special events.

Call for Entries

All About Photo Awards 2026

$5,000 Cash Prizes! Juror: Steve McCurry

Contests Closing Soon

Deadline: December 31, 2025

Humans 2025

8.1 billion people on Earth and counting. Each of us is a unique combination of genetics and experience, and yet our similarities are greater than our differences. Across vast geographies and wide cultural boundaries our humanity unites us. From individuals to crowds. Formal portraits or snapshots of strangers. Social, national, personal and sexual identity. Faces and bodies, hearts and minds. This month, show us the humans of the world. Portraiture, studio, candid, conceptual, travel

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

True Blue

Blue Koi Gallery invites artists and photographers to submit to True Blue, an open-themed art competition dedicated to exploring blue in all its emotional, symbolic, and visual depth. We’re seeking work that expresses what “blue” means to you. Whether your vision is literal or abstract, cool-toned or emotionally charged, True Blue is your opportunity to showcase artwork that resonates with this timeless color and concept. All mediums, styles, and interpretations are we

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

Water

Ten Moir Gallery invites artists and photographers to explore the many meanings and forms of water: physical, emotional, spiritual, or symbolic. Submissions to our online art contest is open to artist from around the world. Best in show wins a cash prize, free entry in to the Blu Sky Artist Award, will have their artwork used as the poster of the exhibition and more. All winning artists will receive a digital award certificate. Awards & Recognition Best in Show: Ten

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

2026 Global Chinese New Year Photography Competition

The 2026 Global Chinese New Year Photography Competition (GCPC) invites photographers, visual storytellers, and creatives from around the world to capture the spirit, beauty, and cultural richness of China and Chinese heritage.The competition welcomes compelling images that explore contemporary life, the splendor of China’s natural landscapes, and the global presence of Chinese culture, whether through modern cities, traditional customs, or cross-cultural scenes abroad.Open to particip

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

PHmuseum Online Portfolio Reviews

One of the best innovations offered by this ever more connected world we live in is to connect with colleagues, share experiences and collaborate together. This is the main goal of our education program: allow you to work with internationally recognised photography experts. In this live private session, you can get your projects reviewed, prepare a submission for an open call, consider what is the best way to publish your work or simply get feedback and move forward. Forget about theo

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

NYC Fotoworks Online Portfolio Reviews

An exclusively professional portfolio review featuring premier photographers and contemporary art buyers, art producers, creative directors, photo editors and reps. MEET 1-ON-1 W/ CREATIVES FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY 25 minutes meetings via Zoom MEETINGS ARE SCHEDULED ACCORDING TO REVIEWER AVAILABILITY. NEW MEETINGS BECOME AVAILABLE WEEKLY

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

Pride Photo Award 2026

We strive to expand our horizons, and those of our audiences, through a rich, multi-faceted and diverse collection of stories from, and representational of, the global LGBTQIA+ community. The Pride Photo 2026 Contest is open to photographers of all ages, backgrounds and calibers, from professional to amateur. We invite you all to apply, and hope to see this openness reflected in the submissions for the 2026 Pride Photo Contest. Whether through documentary photography that hi

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

NYC LGBT Community Center

The NYC LGBT Community Center invites LGBTQIA+ artists to submit their work for consideration in our year-round art exhibitions. We proudly showcase diverse artistic voices, providing a platform that amplifies the experiences, stories, and expressions of queer artists from all backgrounds and disciplines. Submit your art here to be considered for one of our future exhibitions. Please note: Due to an overwhelming amount of submissions, we will not be able to individually respond to al

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

Foundwork Artist Prize

The Foundwork Artist Prize is our annual juried award started in 2019 to recognize outstanding emerging and mid-career artists working in any media. Honorees receive unrestricted $10,000 grants and studio visits with our jurors who include acclaimed curators, gallerists, and artists. In addition to the honoree, three artists per year are also named to our short list. The Prize is open to artists worldwide with limited exceptions and our selection process takes place each fall. This ye

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

Short Stories

The RPS Women in Photography group invites you to take part in an exciting new project: “Short Video Project” – a platform for you to share your photography in a fresh, dynamic way. We’re inviting members to create a short video or slideshow that either: • Showcases your photography: A visual portfolio-style presentation of your work, giving insight into your creative style, themes, or evolution as a photographer. Or, �

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

PxP Contemporary Call for Artists 2025

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE AN OPEN CALL FOR EMERGING ARTISTS LOOKING TO SELL WORK WITH PXP CONTEMPORARY, AN ONLINE GALLERY AND CURATORIAL PLATFORM. PxP Contemporary is pleased to announce a new call for artists for potential representation, special collection releases, online exclusives on Artsy, and in-person or online exhibition invitations in 2025 and beyond! The gallery has primarily shown painting, sculpture, mixed media, collage, and limited edition prints in the past b

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Deadline: December 31, 2025

Black and White

Light and Shadow, Tone and Texture Stripped of color, images are distilled to their purest elements—light and shadow, line and form, tone and texture. Black and white photography asks us to see differently, to find emotion and meaning in the subtleties of contrast and composition. Whether stark and dramatic or soft and poetic, these works remind us that simplicity can hold immense depth. We welcome all approaches: traditional darkroom prints, digital black and white photography, t

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Call for Entries

All About Photo Awards 2026

$5,000 Cash Prizes! Juror: Steve McCurry

Contest

All About Photo Awards 2026 Launch: Juror Steve McCurry and $5,000 Cash Prizes

The launch of the All About Photo Awards 2026 – The Mind’s Eye marks the 11th edition of one of the most respected international photography competitions. Since its creation in 2016, the awards have played a key role in discovering and promoting photographers worldwide, offering meaningful exposure, publication opportunities, and over $100,000 in prizes awarded to date. With $5,000 in cash prizes and legendary photographer Steve McCurry serving as juror, the 2026 edition continues to set a high standard for artistic excellence, global visibility, and professional recognition within the contemporary photography landscape.

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Contest

Event

Jerwood/Photoworks Award Winners

Photoworks is pleased to announce the recipients of the fifth edition of the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards as Roman Manfredi and Sayuri Ichida and to share more about the projects planned and tours across the UK.

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Contest

The Royal Photographic Society Awards 2025

The recipients of The Royal Photographic Society Awards for 2025, the world’s longest running photography prize, have been announced. The RPS’s most prestigious honour - The RPS Centenary Medal - has been awarded to Susan Derges in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the art of photography. Derges is based in Devon, UK, and creates photographic artwork exploring nature, often without a camera, using the landscape itself to create her imagery. Her work has been widely exhibited and is held in photography collections across the world.

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Contest

Winners: AAP Magazine 52 Street Photography

From vibrant urban centers to quiet sidewalks around the world, the 25 winning photographers of AAP Magazine 52: Street demonstrate the remarkable diversity and creative power of contemporary street photography. Selected from an international call for entries, these award-winning street images highlight how photographers capture everyday life with authenticity, precision, and artistic vision.

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Contest

Ampersand/Photoworks Fellowship: 2025 recipient announced

Photoworks is pleased to announce Nicholas J.R. White as the recipient of the 2025 Ampersand/Photoworks Fellowship. Now in its third edition, the Ampersand/Photoworks Fellowship is a biennial opportunity for mid-career artists to create and exhibit a new body of work. It offers a combination of support that includes a £15,000 award, mentoring, curatorial support, a dedicated public program, digital content, a production budget, and a touring exhibition in the UK.

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Contest

Arrayah Loynd Winner 2025 Rhonda Wilson Award

This body of work is a personal story; a visual telling of the mental and physical impacts of living with chronic pelvic pain while dealing with medical misogyny, misinformation, and incompetence. There is only a thin membrane between what the world sees and the lived reality of my life. I may seem fine as I mask the pain, but if you excavate, even just a little, you will find it is all completely raw. I am lost in the ebb and flow of pain, of heartbreak and despair. I am angry. I am difficult. I am defeated

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Contest

AAP Magazine 54: Nature - International Photography Competition Now Open for Entries

Calling all photographers worldwide! AAP Magazine is accepting submissions for its 54th issue, dedicated to Nature Photography. Showcase your landscapes, wildlife, and flora and fauna in a global photography contest, gain international exposure, and have your work published in the printed magazine and online Winners Gallery. Don’t miss this opportunity to share your vision of the natural world.

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Contest

Dörte Eisseldt Wins the Viviane Esders Prize

Convened by Viviane Esders, the jury has awarded the 2025 Viviane Esders Prize to German photographer Dörte Eißfeldt. The laureate will be officially announced on November 3 during a ceremony at the INHA (Institut National de l’Histoire de l’Art) in Paris and in her presence. She will receive an endowment of €50,000, while the two other finalists, Oleksandr Suprun and Bohdan Holomíček, will each receive €5,000 and will also attend the event. The jury chose to honor an artistic practice sustained over more than forty years, distinguished by its coherence, poetry, and deep reflection on the photographic medium—qualities that particularly captivated the jury’s attention in Dörte Eißfeldt’s work.

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Contest

Thero Makepe Receives The PhMuseum 2025 Photobook Award

His work We Didn't Choose To Be Born Here examines Botswana and South Africa’s socio-political fabric through a personal lens. Dragan Saric claims MBP's Special Mention with Tomorrow Hotel. Read the judges' motivations and learn more on their projects.

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LensCulture Critic's Choice

Contests Closing Soon

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