Im mostly a sports photographer and I’ve been shooting for about a year now and have reached a point where I feel that some of my photos are pretty good and I want to put them out somewhere but don’t really feel like going to the sponsored posts on instagram is there a widely known place for competitions.
see if there's any local competitions in your city/country?
i stumbled across the sony world photography competition recently, can check that out: https://www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards
Hasselblad just opened their competition (doesnt need to be shot with hasselblad), Sony World Photography is ending soon. CEWE is making their Cewe photo award, soonest should start in may 2026 i think.
I also like thing like PulsePX, community competition which is more for fun than anything else
Competitions for sports are highly challenging because you're taking on the world. Do you have a website link to share?
currently working on a website I can share my Instagram for now @ Manny.2.capturar to be honest I feel like my photos have only gotten better as of late my earlier work kinda sucks to be blunt
Read the fine print. By submitting a photo to any competition, that usually grants ownership of the photo to the competition company. Do you really want to do that with one of your masterpieces? Read this:
https://www.copyright.gov/engage/photographers/
What kinds of pictures usually win at the contest that you are considering?
Is it usually heavily processed and manipulated pictures that win?
I participated in a portrait competition in which I submitted a perfectly exposed and composed picture of a baby. Other participants submitted perfectly exposed and composed family pictures with nice backgrounds. None of us won. The winner and the runner up pictures of the competition were high-contrast, blurry, grainy pictures of homeless people. I guess the judges already had that in mind when they opened the picture competition.
Thank you so much for this input 100% going to be looking into that copyright and trying to play into judge liking
You're welcome.
Most comps are rights-grabs that allow the entity to use your imagery for free. YMMV
Look into your state level PPA organization, most use Printcompetition.com and have multiple competitions per year. All photos will get judged and scored and depending on the organization there will be awards as well. You can also pay an extra fee for feedback.