The Academy Photo Awards 2026 is open for entries — an annual international competition across twelve categories, from portrait and street to architecture and nature. One overall winner takes home $1,000 and the title Academy Photographer of the Year 2026.
This is an award that gives you something back beyond the result. Every winner and honourable mention is published in the official Awards Book and featured in the Winners Gallery, category winners receive published interviews, and the copyright in your photographs stays with you. Winning work from the awards’ earlier category editions has already been picked up by Bored Panda and 121Clicks — real reach for the photographers behind it.
The rules keep the field honest: AI-generated images are not eligible in any of the twelve categories, documentary work must remain faithful to the photographed facts, and street entries must be candid and unposed. Entries are judged on creativity, technical quality, visual impact and storytelling, and photographs from any year are welcome.
Best of all, trying costs nothing: your first single-image entry in one category is free. Additional single images run $18 at the early-bird rate ($25 standard), a series of two to seven images is $28 early bird ($35 standard), and extra categories are $5 each. Early bird ends November 30, 2026, and entries close January 20, 2027. Enter at academyphotoawards.com.
