Fotografia Calabria Festival Award 2026 - Open Call

• Fotografia Calabria Festival

• Deadline: November 15th, 2027

• Theme: Open

• Prize: €2,000 + €1,000 + Publication + Exhibition

• Entry Fees: Yes

• REGISTRATION: CLICK HERE

For the first time, the competition leaves the choice of subject entirely open. Without a predetermined theme, photographers are invited to follow their own interests, questions and creative instincts, bringing forward projects that reflect their individual ways of seeing the world. This openness is an invitation to explore photography on your own terms and to present a body of work that feels genuinely connected to your artistic practice.

We are looking for projects that demonstrate a strong sense of conceptual coherence and a clear artistic direction. The work should feel intentional: a collection of images that belongs together, communicates something meaningful and reflects a considered approach to both subject and photographic language. We are interested in the ideas, choices and perspectives that shape a project as much as we are in the images themselves.

We are not, however, asking photographers to discover a subject that has never been photographed before. Nor do we believe that originality necessarily comes from constantly searching for something new, unusual or unexpected. Photography has always returned to familiar subjects, stories and questions, and there can be great creative value in revisiting them through a different lens.

Originality may be found in the way a photographer looks. It can emerge from the way reality is observed, interpreted and transformed through photography; from the visual language of the images; from the relationships established between them; from the way a narrative unfolds; or simply from the personal perspective brought to a subject that may already be well known.

A project can therefore be original without being unprecedented. What matters is the photographer’s ability to make the subject their own — to approach it with intention, sensitivity and a distinct point of view. We want to see bodies of work in which a clear artistic vision gives the project its structure, character and identity, allowing the photographer’s individual voice to come through.