If you’re asking which photography competitions are actually open right now, here is the current list — eighteen major contests, from the ones closing in the next two weeks to the big 2027 names that opened on 1 June. For each one: the deadline, whether it’s free or paid, and the AI rule — the single thing that disqualifies more good photographs than weak composition ever does.
Every contest below links to its full brief — fees, categories, jury, rights, and a read of what actually wins. This page is kept current; when a deadline passes, the contest moves to the archive.
Free to enter — start here
Seven of the eighteen are completely free, including four of the biggest names in photography:
- Sony World Photography Awards 2027 — closes 5 Jan 2027 (Single Image) / 12 Jan (Series). The largest contest on earth; new for 2027, you can enter both competitions. Edits OK, generative disclosed.
- Nikon Comedy Wildlife 2026 — closes 30 Jun 2026. No AI rendering — the moment must be real.
- Maghreb Photography Awards 2026 — closes 1 Jul 2026. No AI rendering.
Closing soon (June–August 2026)
- LensCulture Critics’ Choice 2026 — 15 Jun · paid · edits OK. The most conceptually open of the live contests.
- Nikon Comedy Wildlife 2026 — 30 Jun · free · no AI rendering.
- Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 — 30 Jun · low fee · no AI.
- World Nature Photography Awards 2026 — 30 Jun · paid · no AI rendering.
- International Photography Awards 2026 — 30 Jun · paid · edits OK.
- Maghreb Photography Awards 2026 — 1 Jul · free · no AI rendering.
- Photolucida Critical Mass 2026 — 7 Jul · paid · no AI. Portfolio review at scale.
- PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris 2026 — 22 Jul · paid · AI allowed.
- Tokyo International Foto Awards 2026 — 1 Aug · paid · AI allowed.
Later in 2026 and the big 2027 names
- Travel Photographer of the Year 2026 — 12 Oct · low fee · no AI.
- Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2027 — 3 Dec · paid · no AI. The Natural History Museum’s flagship.
- Sony World Photography Awards 2027 — 5 Jan 2027 · free · edits OK, disclosed.
The AI rule is the one most people miss
Notice how the AI column swings: no AI (World Press Photo, Wildlife POTY, Ocean POTY), no AI rendering but real-capture edits fine (Comedy Wildlife, World Nature), edits OK (Sony, LensCulture, IPA), and AI welcome (PX3, Tokyo). The same edited file that’s fine for PX3 will get you disqualified from World Press Photo — and most entrants never find out why. The full map of where each contest draws the line is in how the major competitions handle AI — and the everyday edits that quietly disqualify you, like cloning out a distraction the strict contests forbid, are in what editing gets you disqualified.
Don’t enter on a guess
WinPhoto reads your photographs against the actual rules of every contest above — category fit, jury character, and the specific AI line each one draws — and returns a verdict in four tiers, Strong submit / Submit / Maybe / Weak match, with the reasoning. It’s the difference between paying entry fees on a hunch and entering only where your work has a real shot.
- Drop your photos at /analyze → — free, no signup, read against every open contest at once.
- Building a Sony entry? The free Sony 2027 Playbook walks the whole cycle.
— The Critic
Deadlines, fees, and AI policies are read from each organiser’s published terms and current as of 4 June 2026; they can change — confirm on each contest’s brief before submitting. This list is updated as deadlines pass.
Correction, 12 October 2026: an earlier version of this list included World Press Photo 2027, the Aperture Portfolio Prize 2027, the All About Photo Awards 2026, the BJP 1854 Award 2026, Hasselblad Masters 2027 and a National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year 2026. Neither World Press Photo nor Aperture has published its 2027 dates yet, so the deadlines we gave for them were our estimates; All About Photo announced its 2026 winners on 22 April, which contradicts the 15 July deadline we listed; we could not confirm that a BJP award by that name exists; the Hasselblad deadline we gave, 28 February, was the one that passed in February 2026, and Hasselblad has not announced another edition; and National Geographic has not run its travel photo contest since 2019. We have removed all six, so the list now has twelve contests. Four deadlines were also wrong: the International Photography Awards closed on 30 June, not 31 August; Photolucida Critical Mass on 7 July, not 1 July; the Sony Single Image competition closes on 5 January 2027, not 13 January; and Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2027 closes on 3 December, not 4 December, and opens for entries on 19 October.