LensCulture Portrait Awards 2025

LensCulture Portrait Awards 2025 is now open for entries!

LensCulture Portrait Awards 2025 : LensCulture Portrait Awards 2025, an international photo competition recently opened for entries every year seeking the best portrait photography, open to all points of view, all levels of expertise and all ideas of portraiture.

➜ Short description

LensCulture Portrait Awards 2025 has been recently opened for entries in its 12th edition, seeking the best portrait photography from all the corners of the world, open to everything, all points of view, all levels of expertise and all ideas of portraiture.

LensCulture is on a mission to discover the most imaginative, talented, creative photographers out there, regardless of location, age, background or experience level. This year, organiser aim to discover and reward 35 photographers who are making exceptional photographic portraits today.

There are two categories: Photo Series and Single Image.

These awards are open to photographers at all levels of experience, and all genres of portraiture are welcome — from fine art to spontaneous selfies, from hyper-perfect photoshopped portraits to seductive (and often fictitious) social media profile pics, to mobile phone snaps altered with digital nostalgia filters. Some are candid, some are staged, some are outrageous and silly, others are just plain beautiful.

The awards are open to all types of artistic approaches, too, including staged, fiction, fashion, metaphoric, self-portrait and conceptual work.

All entrants must be able to supply high-resolution images suitable for printing in media, and for public exhibition.

The winners of this year’s awards will be featured at the LensCulture exhibition in London.

➜ Submission requirements:

➜ For best results, upload the highest-quality JPEGs, sized a minimum of 1200 pixels on the longest side but up to 2000 pixels is even better. Maximum size is 10MB. The file name should be under 50 characters.

➜ Who may enter?

This competition is open to everyone, from professionals, semi-professionals, amateurs and passionate beginners.

➜ Prize:

The winners of this year’s awards will be featured at the LensCulture Discoveries exhibition in New York City. Winners also receive extensive global media coverage, projection at several international photography festivals, cash prizes, and more.

The total prize cash fund for 2025 is $10,000, divided between six award winners. Each juror will select an individual Juror’s Pick to receive special distinction. 25 Finalists will be selected.

➜ Entry fees:

Your first single-image entry is free.

➜ 5 single-image entries, judged individually (not as a series) cost $35.
➜ 10 photographs, judged as a series, can be submitted for $45.