Best Photography Contests to Enter in 2017

Photography Contests, especially the top leading ones, are a great opportunity to get recognition and some spotlight within the photography community, as well as showcase your extraordinary work to a larger public. Moreover, if you’re lucky and good enough, you may also end up with an exciting prize, be that new gear, a trip to your favorite conference or a quite nice sum of money.

And while there are tons of contests and options available out there, with various entry fees, rules and awards, not all of them are worth your time and money. That’s why we’ve prepared a list of the Best Photography Contests to enter in 2017. If we’ve missed your favorite one, let us know and we’ll happily add it to the list.

PHM GRANT 2017

Deadline: 13 February
Entry fee: £20 (early bird fee) – £30
Prizes: £12,000 in cash (total of 4 prizes)
Website

The Alexia Grants 2017

Deadline: for the Student Grants -14 February, Professional Grants – January 31
Entry Fee: Free
Website

Australia’s Top Emerging Photographers Awards 2017

Deadline: 13-20th February (early birds get a lower entry fee)
Entry Fee: 20-30$
Prizes: The total prize pool for the competition is valued at more than 21,000$, including a cash prize of 3,000$ to the overall winner. The overall winner, Australis’s Top Emerging Photographer will also receive a Fujifilm X-Pro2 & XF 35mm f/2 lens valued at 3,298$. Category winners will share in a prize pool of over 7,000$, including a cash prize of 450$ per category winner.
Website

The Imagely Fund

Deadline: 1st June
Entry fee: free
Prizes: 5000$ towards a humanitarian project

Fine Art Photography Awards 2017

Deadline: 19 February
Entry fee: 15$ Amateur / 20$ Professional
Prizes: 2000$ Amateur / 3000$ Professional
Website

35Awards – 100 Best Photos Of The Year

Deadline: 25 February
Entry fee: Free
Prize: 2200$
Website

Nikon Photo Contest

Deadline: 27 February
Entry fee: Free
Prize: 4400$ + various Nikon equipment
Website

Rangefinder Wedding Contest

Deadline: 28 February
Prizes: Grand Prize (1 winner) – 2,000$ cash prize and 500$ B&H Gift Card
First Place (5 winners) – 100$ B&H Gift Card
Grand Prize and First Place – A Full Conference Pass to WPPI 2018 + One-year PHOTO+ Membership
All winning images will be featured on rangefinderweddingcontest.com and in the May 2017 issue of Rangefinder magazine which will be seen by over 110,000 readers.
Entry Fee: 35$
Website

I Shot It: The Best Photo Competition 2017

Deadline: February – March
Entry Fee: up to 20$
Prizes: depend on the entry number per category.
Website

Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2017

Deadline: March 1 – April 10
Entry Fee: Free
Prizes: The winner of the main category “Leica Oskar Barnack Award” receives a cash prize of €25,000 and in addition a Leica M camera and a lens worth €10,000. The winner in the category “Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer” receives a cash prize of €10,000 and a Leica M camera and lens worth €10,000. In addition to these two categories, ten finalists will be awarded each with a cash prize of €2,500 for their series.
Website

Belfast Photo Festival 2017

Deadline: 6 March
Entry fee: £19
Prizes: The winners will be eligible for a number of awards, including a cash prize of £1,000
Website

LensCulture Portrait Awards

Deadline: 7 March
Entry Fee: 20-60$
Prizes: up to 5000$
Website

Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition

Deadline: 15 March
Entre Fee: 15-25$
Prize: 5000$
Website

Monovisions Photography Awards 2017

Deadline: 17 March
Entry fee: 15$ – 20$
Prize: 5000$
Website

10th Annual IPhone Photography Awards 2017

Deadline: 31 March
Entry fee: 3.50$ – 57.50$
Prizes: Two selected winners will receive a trip to the thirteenth annual Aspen Ideas Festival at the Aspen Institute’s campus in Aspen, Colorado from June 22-July 1, 2017. Three nights of lodging in Aspen and a festival pass will also be included. The 2017 winning entries for all categories will be exhibited during the festival.
Website

Nikon Small World Competition 2017

Deadline: 30 April 2017
Entry fee: Free
Prizes: 1st Place – 3000$ and a trip to Nikon’s Headquarters in Japan
Website

ND AWARDS 2017

Deadline: 14 May
Entry fee: 15$ Amateur / 20$ Professional
Prizes: Grand Prize 2500$
Website

British Photography Awards 2017

British Photography Awards is a charity-oriented photo competition.
Deadline: 30 June
Entry fee: £15
Prizes: 10 Grand Prizes (Currently set at £1000 and due to rise all year)
Website

Monochrome Awards 2017

Deadline: 9 July (early bird)
Entry fee: 15$ – 20$
Prizes: Up to 2000$
Website

Proify Annual International Photography Awards 2017

Deadline: 31 October
Entre Fee: 25$
Prizes: Over 5300$ in prizes
Website

Also keep an eye on:

Junebug Weddings Choice Awards

Deadlines not announced yet, but usually start around October. So keep in mind and take a look a the winners from 2016

With Love,
Flothemes.