ForPhotographersOnly is a platform created to help photographers discover the best opportunities worldwide — without wasting hours searching online.

At its core, The Photo Contest Club is a curated and constantly updated directory of international photo contests, grants, open calls, fellowships, and awards. Every week, new opportunities are carefully selected and added, saving you time and helping you focus on what really matters: choosing the right contests for your project.

We do not organize contests ourselves, except for a small internal competition called Photographer of the Month. The directory is composed of the best international festivals, museums, galleries, and photography magazines, ensuring that every opportunity listed is reputable, valuable, and relevant for photographers.

Instead of spending hours browsing unreliable or outdated lists, you get everything in one place — filtered, relevant, and built specifically for photographers.

Joining The Photo Contest Club gives you immediate access to a powerful, time-saving resource designed specifically for photographers.

Here’s what you get:

• A curated directory of 330+ active international photo contests and opportunities

• Around 50 new contests added every week

• Access to 130+ free (no entry fee) contests at any given time

• A weekly newsletter highlighting the best opportunities

• Carefully selected contests only — no scams or low-quality listings

• Opportunities across all photography genres (street, wedding, wildlife, fine art, and more)

The real benefit?

You stop wasting hours searching online and start focusing on what actually matters — shooting, creating, and submitting your work.

My name is Dario Cestaro, and I’m a photographer turned founder.

After being a street photographer, then working as a cruise ship photographer, I said enough.

When I was a photographer, I often found myself searching for photography contests. The problem? There was no reliable, updated, and complete resource. Most platforms were either outdated, incomplete, or simply not useful.

So I decided to build the tool I wish I had: a place where photographers can easily find real opportunities, without wasting time. The project was born in 2019 in Miami, and today our office is in Pescara, Italy, showing that behind this project there is a dedicated team supporting photographers worldwide.

All of this work is done manually, with careful research and curation. We do our best to keep everything accurate and up-to-date, but please forgive us if we occasionally make a mistake — it’s all part of the human touch behind the Club.

The Photo Contest Club directory is updated every week.

We typically add around 50 new contests each week, carefully selected and curated to ensure quality and relevance. Updates usually happen on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

Yes — and many of them.

Inside the directory, you’ll find 100+ free photo contests at any given time. These are opportunities that don’t require any entry fee, making them perfect if you’re just starting out or want to submit your work without additional costs.

And free doesn’t mean small prizes — in fact, many of the no-fee contests are organized by major brands, galleries, or magazines that don’t need to charge an entry fee to run a high-quality competition. These contests often offer significant cash prizes, exhibitions, or publications, proving that you can enter for free and still compete for major rewards.

We make sure to clearly include both free and paid contests, so you can choose what fits your budget and goals, while still accessing prestigious and valuable opportunities.

We also maintain a blacklist to avoid scams, low-quality contests, or anything that doesn’t provide real value.

Absolutely.

The Photo Contest Club includes opportunities for photographers at every level — from beginners to seasoned professionals.

There are contests that welcome amateurs with just a smartphone, as well as competitions for photographers using sophisticated cameras, lighting, and full studio setups. Whatever your equipment or skill level, there’s something for you.

Every photography genre is represented: street, documentary, wedding, wildlife, travel, fine art, and more. You’ll also find open calls, as well as contests requesting full portfolios or complete projects — perfect if you want to showcase a series of work.

Whether you’re just starting out or already established, you’ll find opportunities that match your level, style, and creative vision.

It’s true — many contests are technically available online. But here’s the thing: the information is often scattered, incomplete, or hard to find. Deadlines, entry fees, requirements — sometimes they’re buried in a long PDF, hidden on a website, or even outdated.

How many times have you discovered that a contest you were excited about expired in 2017, or realized at the very end that it’s only open to the inhabitants of planet Jupiter?

In many countries, 6 euros is the price of just two coffees. But how much is 10 or 15 hours of your time worth? Our team spends hours and hours every week curating over 300 contests, often discarding dozens that don’t meet our quality standards.

In other words, it’s not about exclusivity — it’s about saving you time, reducing uncertainty, and giving you a reliable resource you can trust, so you can focus on shooting and submitting your work, not endless searching.

We offer secure and flexible payment options.

You can subscribe using:

• Stripe

• PayPal

Both methods are safe and widely trusted, allowing you to manage your subscription with confidence.

The subscription costs are €6 per month or €40 per year (best value). If you choose the monthly plan, you also get a 30-day free trial, so you can explore the full directory and newsletter before committing.

Please note that we never have access to your card information, and we cannot renew or extend your plan on your behalf — Stripe and PayPal do not allow us to handle payment details. All subscription management is fully handled through your chosen payment provider.

Yes, you can cancel your subscription at any time.

There are no long-term commitments or hidden fees. You stay in control and can manage or cancel your subscription whenever you want — directly in your dashboard on the site.

If you’re not sure how to do it, just log in, click the drop-down menu next to your name, and select My Subscription. From there, you can choose to suspend or cancel your plan. You’ll have the option to cancel immediately or to continue using your paid month or year. If you choose the latter, your plan will appear as “Pending Cancellation” — don’t worry, it means your subscription will remain active until the end of the billing cycle, and no further charges will be made.

If you click My Subscription and don’t see any active plans, it usually means you are logged in with a different email than the one you originally subscribed with. Simply log out and log in again using the correct email — it happens all the time.

For any issues, just email us at hello@forphotographersonly.com with all the emails you may have used, and we’ll resolve it.