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Best landscape photography competitions
In this article I have compiled a list of big competitions that include categories related to landscape and nature photography. If the dates for deadline are known, there will also be a button to add event to your favorite calendar. Feel free to put some reminders.
If some of the information about the competition is outdated or incorrect, please send me a message. I will also gladly add more competitions, send me worthy candidates.
Competitions
There are lots of competitions online and many websites that let you search for new competitions. Many of them might work for landscape photography, but there can be a few caveats, which is why I would rather recommend to apply to well known awards.
Lower-grade competitions often have some clauses in rules that effectively can steal rights to your work. You would still retain authorship, but competition organizers will be able to use your image for prints, cards, ads and so on. Better known awards usually also ask for some rights, but they are more specific and say right from the start that images can only be used to advertise the competition itself and not used on any kind of postcards or prints for sale.
Still, be sure to always read the rules.
Sony World Photography Awards
Sony runs Professional, Open, Student and Youth competitions. For Professional you need to send series of images and it seems to be more for stories rather than landscapes. Open accepts single images.
- Professional - Recognizing outstanding bodies of work
- Open - Rewarding exceptional standalone images
Past years landscape and nature winners:
- Website: https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards
- Entry Fee: Free for first 3 images
- Prizes: A total prize fund of $60,000 (USD) plus the latest Sony digital imaging equipment is shared between the winning photographers.
- Submission open: 01 April, 2020 (Already open)
- Deadline: January 7, 2021 13:00 GMT
Siena international photo awards
This competition have been growing a lot over the last years, many great photographers apply yearly, in 2020 they got 48000 submissions from all over the world. 10 different categories, including The beauty of nature and Animals in their environment
Past years winners:
- Website: https://sipacontest.com/
- Entry Fee: 1 image free, 10$ per image after (8$ before 1 December, 2020)
- Prizes: $1.500 worth of photography equipment, statuettes and ticket to Siena with paid stay
- Submission open: 25 October, 2020 (Already open)
- Deadline: 10 January, 2021
Drone photo awards
This is a competition dedicated to aerial photography. With so many people shooting great images on drones, this is the competition to enter your great aerials. Competition is also run by Siena photo awards, but dates and theme is different.
Past years winners:
- Website: https://droneawards.photo/
- Entry Fee: 1 image free, 10$ per image after (8$ before 20 May, 2020)
- Prizes: $500 worth of photography equipment, statuettes and showcase in exhibition
- Submission open: 01 March, 2020 (Already open)
- Deadline: 15 June, 2020 (Already closed)
Moscow photo awards
A somewhat unique chance to be introduced to the creative community in Russia. Categories are basically endless, so almost any images can be applied. You can apply as Professional, Emerging/Non-professional and as Student.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://www.moscowfotoawards.com/
- Entry Fee: 20$/image for Professional and 15$ for Emerging
- Prizes: Photographer of the year $3000, New Talent $2000, Category winner $100
- Submission open: 01 September, 2020 (Already open)
- Deadline: 15 May, 2021
Close-up photo awards
This is a fresh competition that started just 2 years ago in 2019. They run one big yearly competition and several smaller competitions in between. The main theme is close-up photography, but if you are not into macro, you can still apply for Intimate Landscape category.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://www.cupoty.com/
- Entry Fee: 1 image £10, 3 images £15
- Prizes: Photographer of the year £2,500
- Submission open: 01 January, 2021
- Deadline: 01 May, 2021
Nature photographer of the year
The major focus of the competition is nature, so no zoos or pet images are allowed. Keeping that in mind, there are lots of various categories to choose from to send your images to.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://naturephotographeroftheyear.com/
- Entry Fee: 1 image €27,50
- Prizes: Category winner: €500, Overall winner: €2500
- Submission open: 01 December, 2020
- Deadline: 01 November, 2021
ND awards
There are two main categories to enter - Professional and Non-Professional. Both include Landscape/Nature sub-category. From the winning images, it looks like images with long exposure and use of ND-filters are more in favour. There are also lots of black and white entires and series of images.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://ndawards.net/
- Entry Fee: $25/image Professional, $20/image Non-professional, 10$ per additional category applied
- Prizes: Professional category winner $500, overall winner $2500 / Non-professional category winner $300, overall winner $1300
- Submission open: unknown
- Deadline: 20 September, 2020 (Already closed)
Landscape photographer of the year
The name basically says it all. There is one catch, it's a British landscape photographer of the year, so all images should be taken in UK in the past 5 years. You can apply worldwide though.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://www.lpoty.co.uk/
- Entry Fee: £9.99/image, £24.99/8 images
- Prizes: LPOTY £10,000, category winner £1,000, 2nd category place £500
- Submission open: 13 January, 2021
- Deadline: 14 April, 2021
Big Picture competition
Open to all photographers worldwide, this competition is presented by California Academy of Science. You can apply 10 images per account and have to pay for 10 images. Grand prize is $5000.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://bigpicturecompetition.org/
- Entry Fee: $25/10 images, $15 story
- Prizes: Best overall image $5000, category winner $1000
- Submission open: 01 December, 2019 (Already open)
- Deadline: 01 March, 2020 (Already closed)
MonoVision awards
As the name implies, only black and white images are allowed in this competition. Other then that, categories are very diverse. You can apply either into single images competition or into series, where series is up to 8 images.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://monovisionsawards.com/
- Entry Fee: $25 series / $20 single images, fee is higher after 01 January
- Prizes: $3000 series winner, $2500 singe image winner
- Submission open: unknown
- Deadline: 16 May, 2021
Monochrome awards
This competition also focuses on black and white images with many categories available to enter. You can apply as Professional or as Amateur.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://monoawards.com/
- Entry Fee: $25/image Professional, $20/image Amateur
- Prizes: $2000 overall professional winner, $1000 overall amateur winner
- Submission open: unknown
- Deadline: 15 November, 2020 (Already closed)
British photography awards
This competition is only open to Brits. You can live anywhere, but you have to be British to apply. There are some strict ethical and editing requirements, and there are no prizes – money from entries and resulting event tickets are spread among many British charities.
Past years winners and mentions:
- Website: https://britishphotographyawards.org/
- Entry Fee: 1 image £5
- Prizes: None, but 90% of the money from entries and event tickets go to charities
- Submission open: 03 August, 2020 (Already open)
- Deadline: 03 November, 2020 (Already closed)