Encontros da Imagem Photobook Award 2026

As part of its 36th edition, Encontros da Imagem - International Photography and Visual Arts Festival, is promoting the Open Call - Photobook Award EI 2026 with a cash prize of €1,000.

Overview

Encontros da Imagem returns between 18 September and 1 November, with the theme Territory and Identity. With exhibitions in different cities in the north of Portugal, the festival aims to foster visual literacy and contribute to the democratisation of photography, both in terms of its appreciation and its creation.

For the 36th edition of the Encontros da Imagem festival, the organisation intends to present different proposals for contemporary photography, highlighting the diversity and richness of the different approaches, from documentary projects to those that want to explore the limits of photographic construction.

Practical Info

The jury will evaluate all the books and select one winning project for each award: Best Published Book Award and Best Dummy Award. Both will be awarded with a cash prize of €1,000, and if it deems it appropriate, honorable mentions.

For the application to be considered, there must be a registration and submission of the project through Picter's platform. Each project submitted will be considered a single application and each candidate can submit a maximum of 3 photobooks, that will be considered as 3 separate applications. The deadline for the open call is 25 May 2026 and the books submitted in the application must be sent by 15 July 2026. If the artist or publisher has other information they consider important for the jury, such as videos (youtube, vimeo, etc.), they can include the links in the synopsis.

The jury is composed of Franek Ammer (Artist and a curator), José Farinha, and Sara Giuliattini (Co-director of Polycopies Paris and curator of La Chambre, Strasbourg).

About Encontros da Imagem

Encontros da Imagem, with more than thirty years of existence, is a non-profit cultural association that promotes annually an International Photography and Visual Arts Festival in the city of Braga, Portugal. The festival celebrates classic and contemporary photography and visual arts in general by showcasing emerging and established artists. The festival has developed an eclectic programme. Numerous artists, national and international, will be shown in several public and private spaces (historical and monumental buildings, museums, galleries and others). Encontros da Imagem is a cultural photographic reference in Portugal, and has reached a prominent position in the international panorama, being one of the oldest photography festivals in Europe.