Exhibition in New York|Solo Online Exhibition|International Press Exposure

This Call is closed. See all the Winners and Finalists here.

Seeking new talent in
black and white photography
There’s just something about black and white photography. It’s timeless. Contemporary. Classic. Somehow B&W is always in style.
That’s why we’re out here looking for the best and the brightest in black and white photography today. Our Black & White Photography Awards are back! Whether you’re working with silver gelatin or totally digital, eliciting nostalgia or leaning into abstraction, your monochrome creations deserve to be seen. We can make that happen!
You know us. For over 17 years, we’ve been wholeheartedly dedicated to providing international recognition and exposure to outstanding emerging and established photographers all over the world. This year is no different, bringing the opportunity to exhibit your work in the heart of NYC during Paris Photo New York, the largest international art fair in the US dedicated to photography. We get your photos in front of the pros. There are benefits for everyone who enters. Always.
Photos in video © Jens Juul, Romulo Tijero Lozano, Michel Groleau, Sutapa Roy, Bredun Edwards, Mun Khean Wong, Isabel Pinto, Rebecca Moskowitz, Наталья Мишина, Sublimate Katherine, Sophie Gabrielle, Giuseppe Mario Famiani, Peter Franck, Gaetan Bernede, Diana Nicholette Jeon, Dara Scully
Closed for new entries.
Exhibition in the heart of New York City during Paris Photo New York 2022
All winning entries will be exhibited at a Chelsea gallery during Paris Photo New York, which brings together hundreds of galleries, publishers and collectors, for one high-spirited celebration of the photographic medium. Make connections and get your work seen by attending museum curators, art dealers, journalists, book publishers, and photo editors at our opening reception in the heart of the activities.
Esther Woerdehoff
Founder/Director
Galerie Esther Woerdehoff
Paris, France / Geneva, Switzerland

Esther Woerdehoff founded her gallery in Paris in 1996, and opened a second gallery in Geneva in June 2021.

All of the artistic programs of Galerie Esther Woerdehoff focus on established and mid-career photographers and those whose work ‘explodes’ the dimensions of the medium of photography, with the integration of video, drawings and other fine art mediums. The Geneva space also looks to present the new generation of talent that deserves to be recognized. With six exhibitions a year in Geneva, six exhibitions in Paris, and a regular presence at international fairs, the two galleries are turning points in the world of photographic creation.

Be seen by our international jury
Ihiro Hayami
Founder/Director
Tokyo International Photography Festival
Tokyo, Japan

Ihiro Hayami is the founder and director of the T3 Photo Festival (Tokyo International Photography Festival), which is celebrating its latest edition in October 2021. He is the former chief editor of the Japanese photography magazine PHaT PHOTO, and was the gallery director of RINGCUBE in Ginza. Ihiro’s curatorial exhibitions include Alejandro Chaskielberg’s Otsuchi Future Memories, Alex Prager’s WEEK-END, and more. Over the past few years he has served as juror, lecturer, and reviewer at various international photo festivals and photography universities.

Rose Shoshana
Owner, Director
ROSEGALLERY
Santa Monica, United States

Rose Shoshana founded ROSEGALLERY in 1992, establishing a renowned space focused on works which enrich the canon of modern and contemporary photography. ROSEGALLERY has centered its programming both on pictures which instill the history of photography (such as Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Dorothea Lange) and works that ever expand the potential of photo-based art (such as John Chiara and Lebohang Kganye).

Rose Shoshana’s work with ROSEGALLERY extends beyond exhibiting photographs: often collaborating and collecting support for artists to create projects that perhaps the artists could not have realized on their own. Shoshana has worked intimately with renowned artists and institutions, including William Eggleston, Bruce Davidson, Graciela Iturbide, Evelyn Hofer and Mark Cohen. Several of these projects became a part of the Tate Modern’s rotating program, Artist Rooms.

She is one of the founding members of the Getty Museum’s Photographs Council and has worked with The J. Paul Getty Museum on several of their major exhibitions. She has published and edited several books, and she worked with Jo Ann Callis on realizing her first monograph Early Color, published by Aperture.

Jacob Aue Sobol
Photographer
Magnum Photos
Copenhagen, Denmark

Jacob Aue Sobol is an award-winning photographer and member of Magnum Photos. He has published several monographs of his unique, expressive style of black-and-white photography and exhibited his work widely. His images focus on the universality of human emotion and the search for love within oftentimes harsh surroundings.

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1976, he has lived in Canada, Greenland and Tokyo, before returning to Denmark in 2008. He has traveled extensively in the years since, photographing in Siberia, Thailand, Mongolia, America, and China while staying based in Copenhagen.

His book "I, Tokyo” was awarded the Leica European Publishers Award in 2008. In 2012 he began photographing along the Trans-Siberian Railroad and spent the next five winters photographing in the remote Russian province of Yakutia for his project "Road of Bones." He has ongoing projects in Denmark ("Home") and the United States ("America").

Sandra Stevenson
Associate Director of Photography
CNN
New York City, United States

Sandra M. Stevenson recently joined CNN as Associate Director of Photography, after working for 15 years as an award-winning Writer/Visual Editor/Curator at The New York Times. Formerly, she was the program coordinator for the Black Filmmaker Foundation. Sandra was a contributing writer for the book "Unseen: Unpublished Black History from The New York Times Photo Archives."

Bruno Ceschel
Founder/Director
Self Publish, Be Happy
London, United Kingdom

Bruno Ceschel is the founder and director of Self Publish, Be Happy — an organization dedicated to shaping contemporary photography and visual culture through publishing, online and offline events, and education programs since 2010.

Through SPBH Editions, his organization challenges the traditional boundaries of bookmaking to realize exceptional artist projects in the form of limited edition publications, multiples, artefacts, prints and posters.

His book “Self Publish, Be Happy: A DIY Photobook Manual and Manifesto” was published by Aperture in 2015.

Grace Deveney
Associate Curator of Photography and Media
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, United States

Grace Deveney is associate curator of photography and media at the Art Institute of Chicago. Located in downtown Chicago, the Art Institute is one of the world’s great art museums, housing a collection that spans centuries and the globe. Deveney is also the associate curator of the Prospect.5 triennial in New Orleans, where she is creating photography exhibitions in public spaces throughout the city. She is the former assistant curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where she curated several exhibitions. She has also served as a curatorial researcher at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

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.

© Marcel Rebro
More Awards
& Benefits
Introducing 1:1 Reviews
This year, we’re delighted to offer Series winners a one-to-one virtual project review with select jurors. Each winner will have the opportunity to speak directly with one juror about their work for 30 minutes online.
Online Solo Exhibitions
First, second and third place Series winners will have their work permanently exhibited on LensCulture. Benefiting from LensCulture’s high search rankings and traffic to the site, our online exhibitions offer significant ongoing exposure for your work to our global audience of over three million.
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. Even if you do not take home the grand prize, we often return to highly-ranked submissions when planning features and interviews. So do our jury members.
Featured at International Photo Festivals
Select works will be screened at photo festivals and events worldwide. In the past, our winners, finalists, and jurors’ picks were screened at festivals in the US, the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Japan, The Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Hungary, Serbia, and more.
Permanent Group Exhibition in LensCulture Online Gallery
LensCulture has become a key resource for discovering new photography 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, reaching our global online audience of over three million.
In-depth Written Project Review
As a special part of the launch of our 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 in publications and media outlets around the world — the kind of exposure that can lead to viral, global recognition of your work. Winners, finalists and select entrants have been featured in major publications, including the BBC, The Washington Post, The Guardian, 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 at The Guardian, a beautiful image gallery sharing the work of the 2021 Home International Photography Prize 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.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
Elliott Erwitt
Photographer
© Bebe Blanco Agterberg
© Alessandro Iasevoli
© Steven Jensen
© Isabel Pinto
Competition Gallery
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 637 early entries were selected and featured during our 2021 Street Photography Awards, and 249 of those were promoted via LensCulture’s Instagram and Facebook platforms, viewed over 6.4 million times garnering more than 574 000 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.
Click on each photo to learn more about the photographer. If you like someone’s work, share their submission on Facebook or favorite their image! Your support increases the exposure for every participating 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!
BenefitsWinnersJurors’ picks25 FinalistsEditors’ Picks(1)Every Entrant
$10,000 in Cash Awards
Exhibition in New York
1:1 Portfolio Review with a Juror
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 3.5 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 Black & White Photography Awards winning photographers are automatically included in LensCulture Discoveries online directory.
© Ash Shinya Kawaoto
Entry
& Reviews
Submission Reviews
Enter a Series or 5+ single images 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.
Show us your work
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 three million members worldwide. LensCulture is dedicated to offering you the best opportunities for exposure, engagement, recognition, and critical feedback. Don't miss this opportunity―start your entry today! There are no limitations on age, level, genre or location. For further information, please see our FAQ.
Closed for new entries.
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.
© Rebecca Moskowitz
Be Persistent
“It can be discouraging to not take home the grand prize, but from the other side, as a jury member, I often encounter work that I’ve kept in the back of my head and think about if I’m putting together a set of images or curating a show.”
—Lesley A. Martin
Creative Director at Aperture
© Irene Becker
Success
Stories
For 17 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.
  • Rahima Gambo
    Nigeria
  • Sheng Wen Lo
    Taiwan
  • Juul Kraijer
    Netherlands
  • Ana Vallejo
    Colombia
  • Heloisa Lodder
    Brazil
  • Aaron Elkaim
    Canada
  • Diego Moreno
    Mexico
  • Alex Vasyliev
    Russian Federation
  • Marinka Masséus
    Netherlands
  • Nadir Bucan
    Turkey
  • Tadas Kazakevičius
    Lithuania
  • Antonio Pulgarin
    United States
  • Walter Plotnik
    United States
  • Vikesh Kapoor
    United States
  • Mathieu Willcocks
    United Kingdom
We respect artists’ rights
All photographers retain full copyrights for their own work. Period. Winners, Jurors’ Picks and Finalists 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.
© Dara Scully