A Guide to January 2024 Photo Awards & Opportunities

Aperture Portfolio Prize, Fotografia Europea, Prix Elysée, Dummy Award, Artists FUTURES 2024, Passage Artist-in-Residence, V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography and Realisation Grants are among the opportunities we selected this month.

2024 Aperture Portfolio Prize

Deadline 5 January / No entry fee for subscribers

With no thematic limits, Aperture is seeking proposals for projects by photographers worldwide. The only entry requirement is to be an Aperture magazine print current subscriber through Spring 2024, issue #254. This year, the jury includes Lesley A. Martin, Michael Famighetti, Denise Wolff, Brendan Embser, Annette Booth, Noa Lin, Cassidy Paul and Iesha Coppin-Forde. The first-prize winner will be published in Aperture magazine and will receive a $3,000 cash prize, a $1,000 gift card to shop for gear at mpb.com, and an exhibition in New York. The winner and four shortlisted artists will each have their own feature on aperture.org and will be presented across Aperture’s social media channels. In addition, they may also have the opportunity to participate in the Aperture limited-edition print program. Plus, all twenty-five finalists (comprised of the winner, four runners-up, and twenty finalists) will receive a virtual portfolio review session with an Aperture editor.

You can apply by January 5th, with no entry fee. Find out more on their website. 

Fotografia Europea 2024

Deadline 8 January / Entry fee €25

The call is now open to get the chance to take part in the 19th edition of the Festival which will take place in Reggio Emilia, Italy from 26th April to 9th June 2024. Any photographer, curator or European (or Europe-based) collective is welcome to apply with a project that explores this year’s theme Nature loves to hide from a creative and unusual perspective. The artistic committee formed by Tim Clark (Editor & Curator 1000 Words), Walter Guadagnini (Director of Camera, Turin) and Luce Lebart (Photography Historian, Exhibition Curator and Researcher) will select works to be exhibited as part of the festival's program, with winners receiving a €3,000 fee for the concept and production of their show.

The deadline for applying to the call is on January 8th with an entry fee of € 25. More information on their website. 

Prix Elysée 2025

Deadline 28 January / No entry fee

Prix Elysée is financially supporting unpublished, not previously exhibited, and free from previous rights' agreements photographic work. The winner will receive a grant worth CHF 80,000, divided in CHF 40,000 for the completion and production of their photographic project, and CHF 40,000 publish it and/or exhibit it, plus support and guidance by one of the Photo Elysée curators to complete the work within one year. In addition, 8 nominated artists will get a CHF 5,000 contribution, exposure and presentation. Candidates must be referenced by a reputed professional in the fields of photography or art (museum, gallery, publishing, journalism, etc.) with a letter of recommendation, addressed to Photo Elysée.

Applications are open until the 28th of January, with no entry fee. Find out more on their website. 

Dummy Award 2024

Deadline 31 January / Entry fee €36

The collaboration between the PhotoBookMuseum in Cologne, Germany, and their printing and publishing partner MAS Matbaa in Istanbul, Turkey, comes to the new edition of the Dummy Award. All photographers worldwide with an unpublished photobook project (published digitally, or self-published with print-runs up to 100 copies) are welcome to apply, with no topic restrictions. Around 50 books will be selected for a shortlist to be exhibited at 18 international photography events in 15 countries. From the shortlist, one winner book will receive the PBM/MAS Prize and will be produced and published by the leading Turkish photobook printing and binding house MAS Matbaa in cooperation with the PhotoBookMuseum, with fully covered costs. In addition, other 4 winning books will receive a production grant of 25% for printing their books at MAS Matbaa.

You can apply by January 31th, with an entry fee of € 36. Find out more on their website. 

Prince Claus Seed Awards 2024

Deadline 16 January / No entry fee

Each year, Dutch NGO Prince Claus Fund supports 100 artists from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe with €5,000 grants. The grant's aim is to develop artistic and cultural practice on the winning artists' own terms: each recipient can decide how to invest the grant in support of their development, be it through fostering new perspectives and connections, acquiring materials, or taking time to experiment and focus. To apply, artists must come from eligible countries, engage in work that addresses social and political issues relevant within their local context, be in the early stage (1-5 years) of their career, and have received little to no institutional recognition for their practice yet.

Prince Claus Fund's Open Call will run until 16 January, with no entry fee. Find out more on their website.

Open Call 5 Artists FUTURES 2024

Deadline 25 January / No entry Fee

The Bienal Fotografia do Porto is looking for 5 emerging photographic artists living in Portugal to join the European community Futures in 2024. Composed of Virgílio Ferreira, Ana Cidade Guimarães and Krzysztof Candrowicz, the jury will select authors to become part of an international network of institutions, curators, artists and audiences. By joining Futures, artists will receive a €500 fee, tutoring and support opportunities, plus travel and accommodation to several workshops and events, among which the annual event in Zagreb in October 2024, and a series of masterclasses guided by Magnum. The selected work will be part of Futures' annual catalog and will be considered for a traveling exhibition.

The deadline for applying to the call is on January 25th with no entry fee. More information on their website. 

Passage Artist-in-Residence 2024

Deadline 30 January / No entry fee

For the new edition, the Kemberg Culture and Art Association and Polygona Art Association are looking for photography & film-based applications from international artists to join the residency programme. Under the theme Status Landscape, residencies are intended to examine the current environmental condition of the Dübener Heide's, a Natural Park in the East of Germany. There are two, 4-weeks long residency places available for June 2024, with one residency awarded to a female artist who is also a mother. The residents will also engage in implementing a 2-day workshop for children/youngsters. Funding comprises costs for accommodation, travel and transportation up to €650 (plus a maximum of €600 for the artist-parent), and a one-time grant of €1,000.

You can apply by January 15th, with no entry fee. Find out more on their website. 

Realisation Grants 2024 - Centre for British Photography

Deadline 15 January / No entry fee

Founded by James Hyman in 2020, the Centre for British Photography opened its programme of grants and mentorship to help artists based in Britain to complete a project, finish a book dummy, or realise an exhibition. A maximum of fifteen applications will be shortlisted, and the Centre will be awarding a total of £10,000 with a grant up to £2,500 per recipient (determined by proposal budget) which will be used by the applicant to complete the project within a year. Selected artists will also have a total of three sessions of expert mentorship.

You can apply by January 15th, with no entry fee. Find out more on their website. 

The V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography 2024

Deadline 4 January / No entry fee

Open to all women internationally and conceived as part of the V&A's Parasol Foundation Women in Photography curatorial program, the prize is looking for works created in the last three years or since 2020. Applicants need to share a 20-image portfolio, artist statement, biography and a proposed installation layout under the theme Histories, exploring the relationship between history and photography. Four winning artists will be selected by a jury formed by Bruno Ceschel (Founder and Director of Self Publish, Be Happy), Zoé Whitley (Director of Chisenhale Gallery, London) and Deborah Willis (University Professor). Winners will have their work included in a group exhibition at Peckham 24, south London's three-day photography festival, alongside accompanying events and public programming. The prize comes with bursaries of £2,000, plus international travel and accommodation to attend the festival.

The deadline for applying to the call is on January 4th with no entry fee. More information on their website. 

Follow Up 2024

Deadline 31 January / No entry fee

The call is open to graduates of photography study programs in Germany, who have graduated no later than the winter semester of 2021/22. Five authors will get the opportunity to produce their projects with a €2,500 financial start-up support and enjoy numerous publicity and networking activities, supported by the partners FUTURES and Photonews. The jury includes Jörg Brüggemann (Co-Director of the Ostkreuz School of Photography), Hauses der Photographie e.V., Anna Gripp (Managing editor of PhotoNews), Nadine Isabelle Henrich (Curator of the Haus der Photographie), Franziska Kunze (Pinakothek der Moderne) and Malin Schulz (Artistic Director Die Zeit).

Applicants can submit their work until the 31st of January, with no entry fee. Find out more on their website. 

Fotofestival Lenzburg 2024

Deadline 21 January / Entry fee €15

Photographers and artists working in photography are welcome to submit single images they’d like to exhibit at Fotofestival Lenzburg, Switzerland, in a collective open-air exhibition in the window-shops of the city’s center which will be held from the 25th of May until the 23rd of June 2024. A jury of curators will choose 60 single images that demonstrate a deep understanding of the thematic Synthesis, as a process in which something is improved by combining several elements. In addition, selected artists will get the chance to win the Public's Award for best Single Image, with a reward of 1,000 CHF, for the most voted image.

Applications are open until the 21th of January, with an entry fee of € 15. Find out more on their website. 

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Other Deadlines

PEP Open Call - Other Spaces / Deadline 5 January / Entry fee €5-15

PEP - Photographic Exploration Project is currently accepting submissions for their upcoming exhibition in Berlin. Inspired by Michel Foucault, the theme Other Spaces aims to explore "the different modes by which, in our culture, human beings are made subjects". For this exhibition, they are looking for works which reveals the singularity of a space. Selected artists will take part in the next PEP group show at B-Part Exhibition in May/June 2024.

Sony World Photography Awards 2024 / Deadline 12 January / No entry fee

The 17th edition of the Sony World Photography Awards welcomes photographers to submit their work to the Awards’ Professional, Open, Student and Youth competitions. Prizes include Photographer of the Year, with $25,000, a solo show at Somerset House to coincide with the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition the following year, plus a range of Sony digital kit; Open Photographer of the Year with a $5,000 award and range of Sony digital kit; Student Photographer of the Year and their university/ institution is awarded a combined total of €30,000 of Sony digital imaging kit; Youth Photographer of the Year gets Sony digital imaging kit and is also included in the annual exhibition and book.

2024 FotoEvidence Book Award / Deadline 30 January / No entry fee

Open to all photographers documenting the impact of war in Ukraine, with a focus on children and families, this year the FotoEvidence Book Award will again be a collaborative work. Selected photographers will be published in Ukraine: A War Crime Volume Two, will be invited to participate in book presentations and signings, and will receive a number of free copies of the book.

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Visit our awards page or download our iOS awards app to get a complete view of the best photography opportunities that are currently open for entry.