Aperture Portfolio Prize 2025

$5,000 cash prize

Submit

The Aperture Portfolio Prize is an international competition that aims to identify trends in contemporary photography and highlight artists whose work deserves greater recognition. When choosing the first-prize winner and shortlist, our judges will look for innovative bodies of work that have not been widely seen in major publications or exhibition venues.

As an expression of our wide-ranging community, Aperture will be welcoming a jury to award the prize this year. Submit to have your work seen by leaders in the field:
Noelle Flores Théard, senior digital photo-editor, New Yorker
Lucy Gallun, curator, the Robert B. Menschel Department of Photography, MoMA
Zack Hatfield, associate managing editor, Aperture magazine
Mark Armijo McKnight, artist and 2019 Aperture Portfolio Prize winner

Prizes:

First Prize: The first-prize winner will be published in Aperture magazine and will receive a $5,000 cash prize, a $1,000 gift card to shop for gear at Mpb.com, and a presentation organized by Aperture in New York City.

Shortlist: The four artists chosen for the shortlist will each receive a $1,000 cash prize and an editorial feature on Aperture.org.

All Finalists: All five finalists will receive exposure across Aperture’s email campaigns and social media channels, which reach a global audience of prominent curators, critics, artists, and members of the photography community.

Eligibility:

all

Copyrights & Usage Rights:

While copyright of all work submitted for the Portfolio Prize remains with the respective entrants, the entrant
grants to Aperture a worldwide, irrevocable, and perpetual license to reproduce representative examples of the
submitted entries in any of their publications, websites, and/or promotional material, strictly in connection with the
Portfolio Prize, and with reference to the photographer as relevant in each case.

Theme:

Open Theme