Deadline: 11 January 2024
The World Press Photo Foundation is excited to welcome a multiplicity of stories and a diverse range of photographers from all over the world to enter the contest!
The annual World Press Photo Contest recognizes and celebrates the best photojournalism and documentary photography produced over the last year, selected by an international independent jury.
Categories
- Each region has four format-based categories: Singles, Stories, Long-Term Projects and Open Format.
- These categories welcome entries that witness or document news moments, events and/or aftermaths, as well as social, political and environmental issues or solutions.
Prize Information
- Regional winners
- Every regional winner of the contest receives:
- A monetary prize of €1,000
- Inclusion in the annual World Press Photo year-long worldwide exhibition
- Inclusion in the annual collectible yearbook, available in multiple languages with a worldwide distribution of more than 30,000 copies
- Publication in the online collection and a personal profile on World Press Photo’s website
- Promotion on World Press Photo’s platforms
- Invitation to a winners’ event
- A physical award
- Every regional winner of the contest receives:
- Global winners
- A global jury selects the four global winners: the World Press Photo of the Year, the World Press Photo Story of the Year, the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award, and the World Press Photo Open Format Award. The global winners will be chosen from the regional winners in their respective categories.
- In addition to their regional prizes, global winners will also receive:
- An additional monetary prize of €5,000
- A FUJIFILM GFX100 II camera, with two lenses of choice, two Li-ion batteries and dual battery charger
- An additional physical award
- Honorable Mentions
- In addition to the regional and global winners, the jury may choose to draw attention to an entry that deserves special recognition by awarding it an Honorable Mention. Honorable Mentions are reserved for entries that witness or report on significant news moments, events and/or their aftermaths from the contest year (2023). The jury may award a maximum of one Honorable Mention per region, and they can only be selected from the Singles or Stories categories.
- Honorable Mention awardees receive:
- Inclusion in the annual World Press Photo year-long worldwide exhibition
- Inclusion in the annual collectible yearbook, available in multiple languages with a worldwide distribution of more than 30,000 copies
- Publication in the online collection and a personal profile on World Press Photo’s website
- Promotion on World Press Photo’s platforms
Eligibility Criteria
- Singles
- Single frame photographs.
- All singles must have been shot in 2023.
- All singles will be eligible for the World Press Photo of the Year.
- Stories
- Stories can contain between 4 and 10 single frame photographs.
- All photographs entered into the stories category must have been shot in 2022 or 2023. At least four photographs in a story must have been shot in 2023.
- All stories will be eligible for the World Press Story of the Year.
- Long-Term Projects
- Projects on a single theme containing between 24-30 single frame photographs.
- An entry must contain photographs from at least three different years, and a minimum of six photographs must have been shot in 2023.
- All projects will be eligible for the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award.
- Open Format
- The Open Format category welcomes visual journalism that incorporates lens-based still photography as the central part of the work. They encourage entries that feature innovative techniques, non-traditional modes of presentation, and new approaches to storytelling. Projects in this category can utilize other media (including but not limited to web-based platforms, animation, video, or sound) and/or employ techniques such as multiple exposure, montage, collage or alternative processes in ways that transform (news and documentary) still imagery. Any entries that involve video with a running time beyond 15 minutes cannot be considered.
- The main visual content of the project must be lens-based still photography.
- Entries in this category must have been produced or first published in 2023.
- Entrants must indicate the type of project and include a description of what processes and methods were used in the production of the project, as well as providing information about the intention behind the project and chosen approach.
- All projects that include text elements must have English-language text available. In the case of video, entries must have English-language audio or include English subtitles.
- Entries of web-based projects must include the URL to the project itself as well as a screener of 1 minute.
- All photographs entered into the Open Format category must be made with a camera. No synthetic or artificially-generated images are allowed, and no use of artificially generative fill is allowed. Any use of generative AI will automatically disqualify the entry from the contest.
- Entries in this category must be available via the contest platform Picter. Video files, including screeners, must be uploaded directly into Picter. The jury will only consider the content of entries as presented to them via Picter.
- The Open Format category welcomes visual journalism that incorporates lens-based still photography as the central part of the work. They encourage entries that feature innovative techniques, non-traditional modes of presentation, and new approaches to storytelling. Projects in this category can utilize other media (including but not limited to web-based platforms, animation, video, or sound) and/or employ techniques such as multiple exposure, montage, collage or alternative processes in ways that transform (news and documentary) still imagery. Any entries that involve video with a running time beyond 15 minutes cannot be considered.
For more information, visit World Press Photo Foundation.
