Free Photo Contests List
International Free to Enter Photography Competitions in 2024
Our list of International Free to Enter Photography Competitions in 2022 for student, amateur and professional photographers:
International Photography Grant 2022
International Photography Grant Grant awards $1000 annually to the applicant with the most inspirational photographic idea to support his visual project. Our grant is open for submissions without any fees (First entry is Free to Submit) to support all photographers from every corner of the world.
HIPA International Photography Award
The Grand Prize (USD $120,000) will be chosen from any category available in the current edition, and not only from the main theme.
Carmignac Photojournalism Award
In 2009, Fondation Carmignac established the Carmignac Photojournalism Award with the aim of funding and promoting an investigative photo report on human rights violations each year. The winner receives a €50,000 grant to produce an in-depth, in-the-field photo essay.
Xposure International Photography Competition
Xposure offers opportunities to participate in FREE to enter competitions and scholarship programs. They anticipate working with selected partners in order to award grants for emerging talent and additionally developing enhanced training courses.
Nikon Small World Competition
First began in 1975 as a means to recognize and applaud the efforts of those involved with photography through the light microscope. Since then, Small World has become a leading showcase for photomicrographers from the widest array of scientific disciplines. 1st Prize: $3,000 and a trip to Nikon’s Headquarters in Japan.
Smithsonian Annual Photo Contest
The Smithsonian will select 10 finalists per category, a winner for each category ($500) and a Grand Prize winner ($2,500) from the 60 finalists.
www.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest
Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award
A grant of £1,250 to complete a photography project, support from industry professionals, plus a further £1,150-worth of premier printing at Metro Imaging.
Sony World Photography Awards
Cash prizes of $25.000 will be presented to the Photographer of the Year and $5.000 to the Open Photographer of the Year.
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards
W. Eugene Smith Grant
For 2017, the amount of the grant will be $35,000. An additional $5,000 in fellowship money will be dispersed, at the discretion of the jury, to one or more finalists deemed worthy of special recognition.
smithfund.org/eugene-smith-grant
Leica Oskar Barnack Award
The winner of the main category “Leica Oskar Barnack Award” receives a cash prize of 25,000 Euros and in addition a Leica M camera and a lens worth 10,000 Euros. The winner in the category “Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer” receives a cash prize of 10,000 Euros and a Leica M camera and lens worth 10,000 Euros. In addition to these two categories, ten finalists will be awarded each with a cash prize of 2,500 Euro for their series.
www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com
Nikon Photo Contest
The Nikon Photo Contest nurtures an aspirational community that supports photographers and filmmakers who wish to share important stories and influence the way people think through images. Prizes: 500,000 yen in cash and Nikon photo equipment.
Istanbul Photo Awards
The contest aims to contribute to the sphere of news photography and offers a perspective shaped by the region’s unique position at the center of diverse cultures. The awards reward endeavors of courageous and talented photojournalists from around the world on merit. Although it is only the fourth edition of the contest, Istanbul Photo Awards has become one of the most widely known news photography contests in the world.
RHS Photographic Competition
The aim of the competition is to promote high quality and beautiful photography; and the RHS wants to inspire everyone to grow by encouraging people to share their two passions of gardening and photography. The RHS Photographic Competition is free to enter.
www.rhs.org.uk/Promotions/rhs-photo-competition
World Press Photo
The World Press Photo of the Year award honors the photographer whose visual creativity and skills made a picture that captures or represents an event or issue of great journalistic importance in that year. The winners of these four headline awards will receive €10,000 each. This means all contest winners will share in prizes totaling more than €130,000 in value.
Pictures of the Year
POY is the oldest and the most prestigious photojournalism program and competition in the world. Each year, POY recognizes excellence in photojournalism, multimedia, and visual editing. POY is committed to engaging citizens worldwide with great documentary photography by sponsoring educational public exhibitions.
ZEISS Photography Award
The winner will attend the opening of the exhibition. ZEISS will also invite the winner to visit company headquarters in Germany. There they will get a peek behind the scenes at ZEISS and have ample opportunity to test out ZEISS lenses for themselves. The winner will also have the chance to collaborate directly with ZEISS and the World Photography Organisation.
BP Portrait Award
After 30 years of sponsorship the BP Portrait Award still remains the most prestigious portrait painting competition in the world and represents the very best in contemporary practice. With a first prize of £35,000, and a total prize fund of £74,000, the Award is aimed at encouraging artists to focus upon and develop portraiture in their work. The competition is open to everyone aged 18 and over.