10 Photo Contests and Opportunities for September/October

It’s been a bit quiet on the blog recently so this week we bring you a bumper edition of photo competitions and opportunities for September and October. Now that summer is coming to a close the travel-focused competitions are definitely still around but calming down slightly and making way for more subjects and thematic subjects. There should be something for everyone in this list - from street food photography to all things monochrome or perhaps you are the next Garden Photographer of the Year…

As usual we try to promote the prizes that are either free or relatively cheap to enter.

Amateur Photographer of the Year 2016

Amateur Photographer Magazine have several photo contexts running each year which are open to photographerswho make 10% or less per year from their photographic work or less than £5,000. There are multiple categories to enter and a couple still over such as ‘Big Brother – Street Photography’ (25 September) and ‘Blackout-Black and White’ (1 October). Photographers can submit one image per round. Prizes are generally kit such as Sigma lenses, cameras and accessories and there is no fee for entry.

Deadline:  Street Photography (25 September)/Black and White (1 October)

Neils Yard Remedies – Cancun Competition

This competition, offered by beauty/wellbeing company Neil’s Yard Remedies, offers a four night stay in Cancun, Mexico along with spa and yoga sessions, fancy dinners and of course all the flights and transfers etc. Just upload an image that sums up the idea of ‘My Best Year Yet’ and hashtag it with #MyBestYearYet linking to Twitter @NYR_Official so they can see your entry or through Facebook or through the website.

Deadline: Ongoing, by midnight on the last day of every month until 2017

Cost: FREE

Aerial view of Cancun. By dronepicr [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

Telegraph: The Big Picture (Weekly)

Every week The Telegraph runs a travel photography competition with a £500 camera up for grabs. Not so shabby for a free competition! All you have to do is send an image at least 1Mb in size with a brief description and your contact details.

Deadline: Ongoing

Cost: FREE

Outdoor Photographer of the Year

The prize for this one is pretty epic – the chance to participate and document an Arctic expedition in April 2017! You have to register with the website to enter the competition and for £8 you can submit up to eight images in an individual category. Categories include ‘Light on the Land’, ‘Wildlife Insight’, ‘Small World’ and ‘At the Water’s Edge’. Entry is free for under 18’s in the Young Outdoor category. If you win the top prize in your category you receive a £200 cash prize. View a selection of the 2015 winners here to get some idea of what they’re after

Deadline:  2 November 2016

Cost: £8/8 images in an individual category

Small child outside Small World ride, Walt Disney. By Piotr Mamnaimie [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

The PictureCompete – The Perfect Pet IV

A kind of quirky one, this photo contest invites entries from photographers worldwide who have captured that special relationship between human and pet. Top prize is $250 with second $100 and third $75, there will also be a winners exhibition and promotion on the Picture Compete website. This site runs regular photo contexts on a variety of different themes with recent ones including ‘The Colour of Blue’ and ‘A World of Windows’ so check back regularly to see what’s on offer. There is a small fee but it seems quite reasonable at $15 for up to four images and the categories or thematics are much less broad than some of the other prizes so your chances of winning, if you have that perfect photo, much greater.

Deadline: 23 September 2016

eneloop European photo challenge

This one is fairly straight forward. Sponsored by Panasonic, all you have to do is register on the website and upload your best shot on the theme of ‘Summer’. The way it works is that visitors to the site vote for their favourite shots, Facebook style, and the winner will receive a Panasonic video camera work over £500.  One nice extra with this prize is that when you upload your image you can vote for your favourite environmental charity and the winner’s chosen organisation will receive a donation of €5,000.

Deadline: Entries can be submitted up until 30 September (but obviously the earlier you submit the more votes you can potentially receive)

Costs: FREE

Street Food Photography Competition

This context comes from COINAPHOTO which publishes a whole range of different free to enter contexts every year on themes such as ‘Holidays’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Memories’ and ‘Mobile’ (and many more!). You have to register with the website and create an account to enter the competitions but there are no costs for registration or for entering. This particular upcoming deadline is for submissions on the subject of streetfood. The winner will receive $100 in Amazon vouchers that can be used for photographic equipment and you will also be featured online and in the organisations social media campaigns.

Deadline: 25 September 2016

Cost: FREE

Colourful meringes. By Dustin Gaffke [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

{TML} International Photography Competition

The Monochromatic Lens International Photography competition champions and invests in black and white photography. The prize is split into categories; portrait, fine art, documentary, nature, light and film. A winner will be named in each category and then there is an overall TML Photographer of the Year and will receive a $250 cash prize and print feature in Long Way Home Magazine.

Deadline: 3 October 2016. Midnight

Costs: 1 Image costs $15/3 images for $25

International Garden Photographer of the Year

This prize aims to celebrate the world’s green spaces and has high profile partners such as the National Trust and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew where the annual physical exhibition also takes place. You can chose to deal with plants, flowers and botanicals as your subject matter and previous winners or highly commended entries have submitted images of UK coastal paths, America’s Yosemite Falls or a basket of edible nettles about to be made into a soup in Italy. There are individual categories based on photographic subject, with each having an overall winner and two runners up,  and also categories for photographic projects or portfolios. Submissions are invited from both amateur and professional photographers and £10 allows you to submit up to four images or £25 for a portfolio of images. 100 finalists will be selected and each will be printed to exhibition standard for exhibitions and events over the following year. The single overall image winner will receive £7,500 and the winning portfolio will be awarded The Royal Photographic Society Gold Medal and a cash prize of £2,000.

One nice extra thing about this competition is that all applicants can apply for feedback on their images, check the website for specific deadlines for this.

Deadline: 31 October

Cost: £10 (4 single images)/£25 portfolio (up to 6 images)

Garden. By hardwarehank [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

Gomma Photography Grant 2016

The Gomma Photography Grant is now in its third year and invites submissions from photographers anywhere in the world who have a body of work rather than individual images. The jury includes one of the editors of The British Journal of Photography and various others from photography museums, photography publications and faculty staff. You are asked to submit from 12 to 50 images from an unfinished, ongoing or completed project and this can be in any medium from classic colour or black and white to Polaroid or Instagram and any subject or genre is considered. Prizes are $1000 for first prize including magazine/gallery publication which lowers to $500 for second and then $200 for third. You have to submit your images along with a short text describing how you would spend the Gomma grant.

Deadline: 31 October

Costs: $20/body of images 12 – 50