This Call is closed. See all the Winners and Finalists here.
Unexpected and everyday, candid and carefully composed, Street Photography is a genre chock full of contradictions, where chance encounters, unlikely juxtapositions, and a shutter’s milliseconds reveal the fleeting wonders of daily life. What catches your eye as you walk about the world today?
The past year has upended our ideas about public space, as a global pandemic has prompted lockdowns and reopenings worldwide. Our changed social dynamics pervade the streets and subways, parks and promenades, everywhere differently. If you are creatively capturing the weird, wonderful, and sometimes worrying moments of life as they unfold around you, we want to see your work!
For the seventh edition of the LensCulture Street Photography Awards, we are scouring the globe for new takes and fresh perspectives. You might be shooting the hustle and bustle of city life or its empty byways, in remote locales or around the block, on film or in pixels. No matter your tools or your location, we invite you to show us your streets.
Enter early for the opportunity to be spotlighted on our website and social media, reaching a global online audience of over three million. Awards include an exhibition in New York, extensive media coverage, projection at international photography festivals, cash prizes, and more. Single-image entries are always free!
Photos in video © Cherish Ocfemia, Jeong Vin Yoon, Bob Cooley, Birgit Buchart, Álvaro Trincado Fernández, Chetan Dodwad, Yoko Ishii, Changchun Liu, Roberto Cristaudo, Manuel Sieber, Cameron Scott, Michel Kharoubi, Md Yasin, Brian Hodges, Murtaza Daud, Rafet Ertuğrul, Annada Mallick, Elizabeth Bush, Krzysztof Bednarski, Andy Scaysbrook, Eduardo García, B. Jane Levine, Patrick Wendt, Pepijn Thijsse, Edcel Cabalan, Benoit Chailleux, Matteo Daidone, Ignasi Raventós.
All winning entries will be exhibited this spring in New York City! An opening reception will be held for photographers, invited media, photo editors and industry insiders for a night of art appreciation and networking.
Giuseppe Oliverio
Founder and Director
PHmuseum + PHmuseum Lab
Bologna, Italy
Giuseppe Oliverio is an Italian entrepreneur and curator. In 2012, he launched PHmuseum, a platform for contemporary photography widely known for its grants program. Past grant recipients include artists Laura El-Tantawy, Max Pinckers, Diana Markosian, Jacob Aue Sobol, Sanne De Wilde, and Alejandro Cartagena. PHmuseum is based in Bologna, Italy, where Oliverio founded the PHmuseum Lab, a multifunctional space for workshops, talks, and exhibitions, and PHmuseum Days, the platform’s first international photography festival.
Oliverio has served on the juries for the Lucie Photo Book Prize, Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward, UPI’s The Fence, and Happiness OnTheMove, and regularly works as a portfolio reviewer at festivals such as Unseen, Photo Vogue Festival, and Visa Pour L’Image. He has also written for TIME magazine and L’Uomo Vogue. Oliverio holds a degree in economics from Bocconi University (Milan) and a Master’s in Quantitative Finance from Cass Business School (London).
Hideko Kataoka
Director of Photography
Newsweek Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Hideko Kataoka has been Director of Photography at Newsweek Japan since 2001. She joined the magazine as a photographer in 1991, covering national news, social issues, and world business and cultural leaders, and currently oversees and directs photography for the print and digital editions of the magazine, as well as its special issues. In 2004, she created the “Picture Power” section in the magazine, a weekly photo essay on underreported topics from around the world. The book Ten Years of Picture Power, with selected photo stories from the section, was published in 2014. Kataoka is a lecturer at Tokyo Polytechnic University and serves as a member of the external review committee at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. She has also served as a juror at international photography festivals and competitions, such as World Press Photo, FotoFest, and many others.
Gulnara Lyabib Samoilova
Founder & Curator
Women Street Photographers
New York, United States
Gulnara Lyabib Samoilova is a photographer, author, and founder of Women Street Photographers. With 40 years’ combined experience as a documentary and street photographer, artist, darkroom printer, photojournalist, and photo editor, Samoilova transformed the successful Instagram account @WomenStreetPhotographers into a global platform. She has launched a website, traveling exhibitions, artist residency, inspirational film series, and photography book, Women Street Photographers (Prestel, 2021). A former Associated Press photojournalist, Samoilova received national and international awards for her iconic photographs of September 11, including first prize in the World Press Photo competition. She holds a certificate in creative practices from the International Center of Photography in New York City and a diploma in photography from Moscow Polytech College. Samoilova lives and works in New York City.
Scott Hall
Photo Editor
Travel & Leisure
New York, United States
Scott Hall is the Photo Director at Travel + Leisure magazine. Previously, he was the Director of Photography at Departures and Newsweek, and a Photo Editor at T: The New York Times Style Magazine. His work has been recognized by The Society of Publications Designers, American Photography and PDN. Hall holds a BFA in Cinema Studies from New York University and an MA in Media Studies from The New School.
Liu Heung Shing
Founder
Shanghai Center of Photography
Shanghai, China
In the course of multiple assignments across Asia and the US across the shifting geopolitical landscape that marked the last decades of the 20 th century, Liu Heung Shing photographed two of its seminal historic events. First, the rise of China through the upheaval of its economic reforms; second, the collapse of the Soviet Union under the stewardship of Mikhail Gorbachev. For these achievement, Liu was recognised by the Associated Press as Best Photographer in 1989 and 1991. His coverage of these events has also been awarded Photo of the Year by the University of Missouri, for his coverage of the Tiananmen Turmoil in 1989. In 1992, he shared with his colleagues in Moscow, a Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for documenting the collapse of the Soviet Union. For this, he further received the Overseas Press Club award in 1992. Liu’s photographs of China are widely recognised by the Chinese public as capturing an era of change that is unique in preserving native Chinese sensibilities and an independent point of view.
Pierre Terdjman
Co-founder & CEO
Dysturb
Paris, France
Pierre Terdjman has worked as a conflict photojournalist for over 15 years for publications such as the New York Times, Paris-Match, GQ and Haaretz.
Stunned by the speed of information cycles and the growing public mistrust of the media, Terdjman began to wheat-paste giant posters of his own documentary images in the streets of Paris in 2014 with his colleague Benjamin Girette, to reach and inform the public directly, bypassing traditional media outlets.
In 2019, nonprofit Catchlight (California) awarded him a fellowship in visual leadership. Terdjman was on the jury for the Bayeux-Calvados Prize for war correspondents in 2015, the Getty Instagram Photo Contest in 2018 and the Lucas Dolega Prize in 2016.
Danielle Scruggs
Photo Editor
Getty Images
Seattle, United States
Danielle A. Scruggs is a Picture Desk Editor at Getty Images and a freelance photographer and writer living in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Howard University with a degree in journalism and from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a Master’s in Digital Art. Her photography clients include the New York Times, AARP, Buzzfeed News, ESPN, Financial Times, and the New Republic. She has written about art, culture, and film for RogerEbert.com, Ebony, Essence, Teen Vogue, Artsy Magazine, and other publications. Scruggs is also the founder and editor of Black Women Directors, a digital library highlighting the work of Black women and non-binary filmmakers throughout the Diaspora.
Jim Casper
Editor-in-Chief
LensCulture
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jim Casper is the editor-in-chief of LensCulture, one of the leading online destinations to discover contemporary photography from around the world. As an active member in the contemporary photography world, Casper organizes annual international photography events, travels around the world to meet with photographers and review their portfolios, curates art exhibitions, writes about photography and culture, lectures, conducts workshops, serves as an international juror and nominator for key awards, and is an advisor to arts and education organizations.
“You fill up the frame with feelings, energy, discovery, and risk, and leave room enough for someone else to get in there.”
Joel Meyerowitz
Photographer
First, second and third place winners in the Series category will have their work permanently exhibited on the LensCulture website via our new solo feature pages. Benefitting from LensCulture’s high search rankings and traffic to the site, our online exhibitions offer significant ongoing exposure for your work.
Visibility With Industry Insiders &
Creative Professionals
All it takes is one set of eyes to change the course of your career. If our jury ranks your submission highly, you will be included in LensCulture Discoveries, our directory of top-rated photographers. We provide this directory to key decision-makers including editors, book publishers, gallery owners, festival directors, creative directors, curators, and online media publishers.
Permanent Exhibition
in LensCulture Online Gallery
LensCulture has become a key resource for discovering new photography work all over the world. All winners, finalists and jurors’ picks for this award will be prominently featured in the permanent online gallery on our site.
In-depth Written
Project Review
As a special part of the launch of our new Review service, all Series winners and jurors’ picks will receive a free
Project Review. Building on the success of our Submission Reviews, the Project Reviews offer more comprehensive and in-depth written feedback on your images, project statement and artist bio that is professional, personal, and actionable.
Learn More »International
Press Exposure
Award winners receive press coverage from publications and media outlets around the world — the kind of exposure that can lead to viral, global recognition of your work. Winners, finalists and selected entrants have been featured in major publications including BBC, The Washington Post, Internazionale, VICE, The Times of London, Huffington Post, Spiegel Online, The British Journal of Photography, and The Telegraph.
Be sure to check out our latest feature on
The Guardian, a beautiful image gallery sharing the work of the 2021 Portrait Award winners with the world.
Cash Awards
& Recognition
Series Prize Winners
1st Place: $3,500
2nd Place: $2,000
3rd Place: $1,000
Single Image Prize Winners
1st Place: $2,000
2nd Place: $1,000
3rd Place: $500
Jurors’ Picks
Each juror will select an individual Juror’s Pick to receive special distinction.
Finalists
25 Finalists will be selected.
Competition Gallery —
Editors’ Picks
When you enter this award, your work will be immediately reviewed by our editors. Selected submissions will be featured in our Competition Gallery and published across all of our online channels, reaching an international audience of three million+ photography lovers and experts. (For example, more than 600 early entries were selected and featured during our 2021 Portrait Awards, and more than 200 of those were promoted via LensCulture’s Instagram and Facebook platforms, garnering more than 430,000 likes and comments.) Enter your work early to take advantage of this incredible opportunity for global exposure!
Note: While our editors review entries for inclusion on a daily basis, not every submission can be shown here.
“Photograph the world as it is. Nothing’s more interesting than reality.”
Mary Ellen Mark
Photographer
Benefits for
All Who Enter
When you share your work with us, you participate in our global community of over three million. The opportunities for connection, inspiration, and participation are endless — don’t miss your chance to get involved!
Benefits | Winners | Jurors’ picks | 25 Finalists | Editors’ Picks(1) | Every Entrant | |
---|
$10,000 in Cash Awards | ⬤ | | | | | |
SP21 Exhibtion in New York | ⬤ | | | | |
SP21 Solo Online Exhibition | ⬤ | | | | | |
Free Project Review(2) | ⬤ | | | | |
Visibility with LensCulture Insiders | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | | | |
Featured in International Photo Festival Projections | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | | | |
International Press Exposure | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | | | |
Massive Exposure to our Global Audience of 3 Million | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | | |
LensCulture Portfolio Account(3) | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | |
Opportunity to be in LensCulture Discoveries online directory of top-rated photographers(4) | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | |
Share your Work with the Global Photography Community | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | |
Opportunities for Immediate Exposure | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | ⬤ | |
(1)Editors’ Picks: During the competition, LensCulture’s editors will curate hundreds of entries for immediate exposure to our global audience through the competition gallery and our Instagram and Facebook pages, all updated daily. (2)Winners will receive a coupon for a project review. (3)LensCulture Portfolio Account: Available for all Series entries and 5+ Single entries. (4)All Street Photography Awards winning photographers are automatically included in LensCulture Discoveries online directory.
Show us your Streets
Become a part of our passionate community of photographers from around the world! When you share your work, you participate in a community with more than 3 million members worldwide. LensCulture is dedicated to offering you the best opportunities for exposure, engagement, recognition, and critical feedback. For further information, please see our
FAQ.
Are you currently an enrolled student?
Get a 30% discount on your entry fee. Start your submission and select the option to register as a student. Your discount will then be automatically applied to your entry.
© Brett Florence
Be persistent.
Many successful photographers enter the same work in several competitions before they finally win. This is an effective strategy to have your work seen by many different jurors and build your career.
Persistence is the key to getting your work seen by influential experts worldwide - it only takes one person to make a positive impact on your creative journey!
© Fernando Jorge Gonçalves
© Olesia Kim
© Eli Parkes
Enter 5+ single images or a series into this competition and you can add a professional written review of your submission for an additional $25. This is a unique opportunity to receive valuable and specific feedback on your work from one of our experienced industry professionals.
For 16 years, LensCulture has been committed to helping photographers of all levels move forward creatively and professionally. In that time, we have heard from hundreds of photographers who were able to achieve breakthroughs in their careers through participation in the LensCulture community.
Marinka Masséus
Netherlands
Marinka Masséus
Chosen [Not] To Be
Winner,
Portrait Awards 2019
“Winning has boosted my career and increased visibility. Articles have been published in international publications like The Guardian, HANT Magazine, FemmesPHOTOgraphes Magazine, Het Parool, DIE ZEIT etc. I have been approached by several galleries for solo exhibitions and by Hermitage State Museum in St. Petersburg.”
Tadas Kazakevičius
Lithuania
Tadas Kazakevičius
Soon to Be Gone
Juror’s Pick,
LensCulture Exposure Awards 2017
“After the Exposure Awards, my series picked up good speed. During this year I was a finalist in the International Photography Awards and included in its exhibition in London at the Royal Photographic Society. I was also shortlisted in the portrait category in the Sony World Photography Awards and received the National Award. I was also featured in a few important publications worldwide and in Lithuania. Of course, the main thing is that I got encouragement that the project was good. The feedback from the reviewer helped me to continue the project, as it is an ongoing series. I got some really great contacts and had the opportunity to meet them. I am working on my new series and I’m finding it much easier after the self-assurance I got from LensCulture.”
Juul Kraijer
MUSE
Winner,
Black & White Photography Awards 2018
“Since winning this award, I was invited to present a solo exhibition of my work at the 8th edition of FotoArtFestival in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, but entering is totally worth while even if you don’t win. Compiling your submission, choosing the images, determining the order, putting your project in words is already a good exercise in itself, especially if you imagine the impressive panel of jurors as your audience.”
Sheng Wen Lo
White Bear
Winner,
Emerging Talent Awards 2016
“I have had wide success since last year’s Emerging Talent. In terms of publication, the work was shown in National Geographic, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Der Spiegel, Wired, de Volkskrant and beyond. It was also exhibited at a range of festivals—Organ Vida (Croatia), FORMAT (UK), Fotofestival Naarden (Netherlands), Belfast Photo Festival (UK) and LianZhou Foto Festival (China). In addition, it was named the winner of the Portfolio Review at FORMAT.”
Nadir Bucan
Under the Shadow of the Sun
Finalist,
Exposure Awards 2017
“After the Exposure Awards, my work was published in the following publications: İgnant, My Modern Met, Kwerfeldein, Art Upon, Fotoblogia, Lonely Planet, Fubiz and P3. I also exhibited my work at the following festivals: La Quatrieme Image International Photo Festival in Paris, France, and Shongzhuang Internatioanal Photo Biennale in Beijing, China. Finally, I was also selected as the 1st Prize Winner for The Independent Photographer Documentary Award 2017 as well as a Finalist in The Independent Photographer Emerging Talent Award 2017 and the Documentary Category in the 10th Pollux Awards. Culture Trip also included me in a list of the 10 best Turkish photographers.”
Aaron Elkaim
Where the River Runs Through
Juror's Pick,
Emerging Talent Awards 2018
“This award has helped further the reach of a project that is dear to my heart and also highlights an issue that is critical to the future of our planet. Since the award, the project has been featured in National Geographic Traveler in China and I have been invited to exhibit at the F2 Foto Festival in Dortmund, Germany. I have also showed my work at the London Business School Photography Awards exhibition. The goal of my career is to do important work and have it find an audience - the LensCulture Award has helped me in this and that is the greatest impact I could ask for.”
Ana Vallejo
Entre Nubes
Emerging Talent,
Emerging Talent Awards 2018
“I also did a solo exhibition in a gallery in Bogotá of the award-winning wok and selected to be the recipient of the Mary Ellen Mark memorial scholarship at ICP. I will be moving to NYC in August to study in the New Media Narratives program. After seeing the article that was published on LensCulture, I was contacted by a high school in Colombia and invited to review studio projects.”
Rahima Gambo
Education is Forbidden
Winner,
Emerging Talent Awards 2016
“Since being a winner in the Emerging Talents award, I won the Fourthwall Books African Photobook Award that will enable me to publish a first edition photobook of the “Education is Forbidden” project in an edition of 500. I was also selected to be among the 12 participants for the prestigious World Press Photo Joop Swart masterclass in 2017. The recognition from LensCulture helped me gain pivotal exposure for my work and gave me a validation that I was on the right path. Many thanks again for the opportunity!”
Heloisa Lodder
Studies on the Dignity of the Human Person
Finalist,
Street Photography Awards 2018
“Since my LensCulture award in 2018, many things have been happening. An architecture studio and independent collectors have approached me, stating that they have long been interested in my artwork. My work ‘Studies on the Dignity of the Human Person’ was exhibited in Berlin during European Month of Photography. This year, a New York curator contacted me about a feature he was writing about new directions in street photography, he wants to write about my work. The LensCulture Award has definitely ‘unlocked the doors’ for me! I’ve started to be recognized in my professional career, and it seems everything has started flowing.”
Diego Moreno
In My Mind There Is Never Silence
Juror’s Pick,
Emerging Talent Awards 2018
“Being part of one of the LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards was a big part of my career as a photographer. I have been published in several digital and print magazines such as Photo World Magazine China, Blink Magazine Korea, This Colossal Magazine, among others. I was also selected for several international awards such as Voies Off Arles and Prix Levallois, both in 2019.”
Antonio Pulgarin
United States
Antonio Pulgarin
Fragments of the Masculine
Winner,
Art Photography Awards 2018
“Most recently I started the ‘Artist in the Marketplace’ fellowship program at the Bronx Museum for the Arts. I think it was this work and the recognition of LensCulture that propelled me into this opportunity. I am launching my first solo exhibition this year at Kingswell Art Museum and [this week] an 8-page spread of my work was published in the SVA Visual Arts Journal, New York. It’s just been a whirlwind! I think the biggest thing that came out of it was that actress Zoe Saldana discovered my work via the exposure. She decided to showcase my work at her event and flew me out to LA. It’s all because of LensCulture is willing to recognize photographers and lens-based artists who are really pushing the narrative and addressing the stories being told by people of color. This award has me more confidence to take chances knowing that there are platforms like LensCulture that are not afraid to recognize and acknowledge my work.”
Walter Plotnik
United States
Walter Plotnik
Surprise Inside
Juror’s Pick,
Art Photography Awards 2019
“Often artists stick work in a drawer and no one sees it. So many things that I’ve shot or that I’ve worked on, don’t see the light of day! So when my work gets national or international exposure is a real thrill. I’ve had an exhibition in Poland at the Museum of photography, had an exhibition in Belgium, so I’ve had some kind of international exposure but winning a LensCulture award is definitely a real highlight. My piece ’Surprise Inside, No More Crutches’ received a Gold Award in the, 2019 San Francisco Bay International Photography Exhibition on display at the ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, California.”
Alex Vasyliev
Russian Federation
Alex Vasyliev
My Dear Yakutia
Emerging Talent,
Emerging Talent Awards 2018
“After participating in the competition I was contacted by a number of respected publications with a proposal to publish my series including The Guardian, The Observer, Wired and a number of other websites for the arts.”
Mathieu Willcocks
United Kingdom
Mathieu Willcocks
Mediterranean Migration
Winner,
Emerging Talent Awards 2016
“It’s been an interesting year since winning the Emerging Talent award. The biggest news would be also winning a World Press Photo Award for the same project. The photographs were also published quite widely: The New Republic ran an 8-page spread and it was the cover story for Panorama, a major weekly magazine in Italy. The work was also selected for several festivals and exhibitions: at the India Photo Festival, Brazil Photo Fest and the Photolux Biennale in Lucca, Italy. That’s not to mention the 100+ cities where the World Press Photo exhibition will be shown.”
Vikesh Kapoor
United States
Vikesh Kapoor
See You at Home
Juror’s Pick,
Art Photography Awards 2018
“Being recognised as a juror’s pick was really good for giving visibility to the project. Since the award, I have been able to connect with Corey Kellar at SFMOMA and show her more work, and National Geographic reached out to me about applying for a storytelling grant. Otherwise, the award has just given me some more visibility and encouragement to keep going, and knowledge that this story can be universal or speak to people other than just me and my family. I make art not just for myself but to be able to communicate something to other people, so to get the affirmation that LensCulture was really affirming.”
We respect artists’ rights
All photographers retain full copyrights for their own work. Period. Winners and Jurors’ Picks grant LensCulture limited, restricted use of winning photos only to promote the photographers themselves and in connection with marketing the Awards competition itself. Details can be found in the
Competition rules.