2026 World Press Photo Contest
-
Opens1 Dec 2025
-
Deadline17 Jan 2026
-
Link
-
Entry feeFREE
-
Author
- Topics Awards
The 2026 World Press Photo Contest honors the year’s most powerful photojournalism, offering global recognition and cash prizes, including €1,000 for all regional prize recipients and an additional €10,000 for the top award.
Overview
The 2026 World Press Photo Contest is an international competition dedicated to recognizing the most impactful photojournalism and documentary photography produced during 2025. Open to professional photographers from around the world, the contest highlights visual storytelling that reflects global events, social issues, and human experience. All submissions are evaluated by an independent jury that considers visual quality, journalistic integrity, and the significance of the story. Prize recipients gain worldwide exposure through a traveling exhibition, publication in the annual yearbook, and online visibility.
Practical Info
The contest is open exclusively to professional photojournalists and documentary photographers, and each entrant must provide proof of professional status, such as a press card, a certificate from a photographic association, or a publication credit from 2024 or 2025. To participate, photographers must create an account on Picter, register for the contest, submit verification documents, and upload their images with complete captions and metadata. All entries must follow the organization’s Code of Ethics, which emphasizes accuracy, minimal manipulation, and truthful representation.
Photographers may submit work in three categories: Singles, which includes individual photographs taken in 2025; Stories, consisting of a series of four to ten images; and Long-Term Projects, which document subjects over an extended period. Entries are judged within six global regions, and each region recognizes three prize recipients in Singles, three in Stories, and one in Long-Term Projects, resulting in a total of forty-two regional prize recipients.
Every prize recipient receives a monetary prize of €1,000, inclusion in the World Press Photo exhibition, publication in the annual yearbook printed in more than 30,000 copies, and promotion across World Press Photo's digital platforms. Prize recipients are also invited to the Winners’ Program in Amsterdam and receive a physical award. The top global honors, including World Press Photo of the Year, come with an additional €10,000 prize and FUJIFILM GFX camera equipment, along with a special award.
About World Press Photo Foundation
World Press Photo is an independent non-profit organization that champions the power of photojournalism and documentary photography to deepen understanding of the world's complexities, promote dialogue, and inspire action. Founded in the Netherlands in 1955, our annual contest and thematic exhibitions reach millions of people in over 80 locations worldwide each year, and our online work reaches millions more.
They showcase compelling stories to create space for reflection in times of urgency. Amid a fast-changing media landscape influenced by censorship, misinformation, and threats to press freedom, they promote standards of accuracy, authenticity, visual excellence, and ensure diverse perspectives are represented. Their education programs support photographers in reaching these standards, and help the public explore the profound societal impact of photography. We appreciate the support of our strategic partners; the Dutch Postcode Lottery and FUJIFILM.
