Summary
- Entries for the 2027 World Press Photo Contest open on 1 December 2026 and close on 13 January 2027.
- Entry is free for professional photojournalists and documentary photographers.
- The contest has three main categories and six additional Nature and Sports awards.
- The total cash prize for World Press Photo of the Year reaches €11,000.
Event Details
The 2027 World Press Photo Contest opens for free entries on 1 December, giving professional photojournalists and documentary photographers until 13 January 2027 to submit their work.
This year’s contest is about more than producing a striking frame: it seeks photographs and visual stories with journalistic depth, reliable documentation and a clear connection to the events they record. Award-winning work will tour with World Press Photo exhibitions and appear in its annual yearbook.
Entry dates, deadline and eligibility
Submissions open on Tuesday 1 December 2026 at 13:00 CET and close on Wednesday 13 January 2027 at the same time. In Greece, the deadline is 14:00 on 13 January. Entry is free and submissions must be made through Picter, the official platform linked from the contest website.
The contest is open to professionals working in photojournalism or documentary photography worldwide. A press card is not essential: acceptable evidence of professional status includes a credited publication from 2025 or 2026, membership in a recognized professional photography association, or a reference letter from a relevant organization.
The three categories and eligible photographs
World Press Photo accepts entries in Singles, Stories and Long-Term Projects, each with its own requirements for image counts and shooting dates:
- Singles: one photograph taken in 2026.
- Stories: 4–10 photographs taken in 2025 or 2026, with at least four taken in 2026.
- Long-Term Projects: 24–30 photographs made across at least three different years, including at least six taken in 2026.
There is no limit to the number of different projects a photographer can enter, but an individual photograph can be entered only once across the contest. Entries require accurate English captions and contextual information; photographs need not have been published.
Six additional Nature and Sports awards
The 2027 contest introduces three Nature Awards and three Sports Awards, expanding the recognition of nature and sports photography. These are not new submission categories: judges will select six recipients from eligible Singles and Stories entries across the contest regions.
The Nature Award explores relationships among people, animals and ecosystems. The Sports Award encompasses both decisive sporting moments and the social and cultural role of sport. Broad environmental-crisis reporting, including climate change and severe pollution, remains eligible in the main categories rather than the dedicated Nature Award.
AI, manipulation and file requirements
The rules prohibit synthetic images and generative fill, as well as manipulation that adds, removes or moves people or objects within a scene. Smartphone photographs are eligible only when captured in the standard camera mode: HDR, portrait mode, panoramas and similar effects are excluded. Generative AI upscaling is also prohibited.
Entries must be uploaded as JPEGs at their original pixel dimensions, with an embedded ICC profile and no artificial resolution increase. The organizers may request original camera files for images reaching later stages so that authenticity can be checked. Preparing the originals and captions well before the deadline is a practical advantage.
Prizes and jury
Each contest winner receives €1,000, inclusion in the traveling World Press Photo exhibition, a place in the annual yearbook and an invitation to the winners program in Amsterdam. The World Press Photo of the Year winner receives an additional €10,000, bringing the total monetary award to €11,000. Winners also receive Fujifilm X Half cameras, while the top winner and two finalists receive FUJIFILM GFX cameras and lenses.
The 2027 global jury chair is Maye-E Wong, Senior Editor for Wider Image and Special Projects at Reuters. She has emphasized the importance of verifiable visual testimony at a time when AI makes it harder to tell what is real. The full jury is due to be announced on 1 December.
Regional winners are scheduled to be announced in March or April 2027, followed by the World Press Photo of the Year in April, when the flagship exhibition opens in Amsterdam.
What we think
Anyone who has spent months on a documentary photo story knows the hard part is not simply selecting ten powerful frames. It is showing accurately what happened, why it matters and how the images relate to one another. This contest places real weight on that kind of reporting, as it should.
Before entering, we would focus on two practical things: check that the shooting dates fit the chosen category, then revisit every caption and organize the original files. A strong story with weak context or gaps in its documentation can lose its chance before the judges get to assess its merits.
Recognizing nature and sports again without creating two additional entry forms is a sensible move. For photographers who document the relationship between people and wildlife over time, it offers another way for their work to be seen within the same journalistic competition.
Frequently asked questions
Can I enter without a press card?
Yes, provided you can demonstrate professional status through one of the accepted documents, such as a credited publication from 2025 or 2026.
Can I enter smartphone photographs?
Yes, but only photographs taken in the standard camera mode, without HDR, portrait mode, panoramas or prohibited generative editing.
Do I need a separate entry for the Nature or Sports Award?
No. Judges will select these six awards from eligible Singles and Stories submissions.
