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TRAVEL: Around the World 2026 by Grid Photo Gallery looks beyond the postcard version of travel photography. Its international brief is built around place, movement and the experience of discovering the world through images, whether the setting is a distant landscape, a dense city, a familiar street, an isolated road or an interior shaped by local life. Submissions close on October 15, 2026, with the online exhibition and winners scheduled to be announced on December 1.
Photographers worldwide aged 18 or over can submit an unlimited number of individual images at €7 each. Selected photographs enter a curated global online exhibition and receive a permanent presence on the Grid Photo Gallery platform after an initial main-page presentation of at least one month. For photographers comparing all photo competitions listed on Deartline, this call is particularly centered on digital exhibition, photographer profiles and continuing online visibility.
The first-place photographer is named Photographer of the Month and receives a profile interview, prominent exhibition placement, promotional visibility and one free entry to the next Grid Photo Gallery open call. Second and third places receive highlighted exhibition placement, while all three become eligible for the gallery’s Photography of the Year title. Selected works may also appear in a future printed catalogue.
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Copyright retained · Perpetual non-exclusive license · Jury criteria published
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Contest Prizes
TRAVEL: Around the World uses exhibition placement and continuing gallery visibility as its principal forms of recognition. There is no stated cash prize.
- 1st Place — Photographer of the Month: Receives prominent placement in the virtual exhibition, a profile interview published by Grid Photo Gallery, priority placement on promotional banners and posters, and one free entry to the next open call.
- 2nd and 3rd Places: Both photographs receive highlighted placement within the virtual exhibition.
- Top three photographs: All three become eligible for Grid Photo Gallery’s Photography of the Year title.
- All selected photographers: Their work appears in the main-page exhibition for at least one month and remains online permanently afterward. Participants also receive social media promotion, a digital certificate and a personal photographer profile containing a link to their website.
- Possible catalogue publication: Selected work may be included in a printed catalogue available for purchase. Publication is not guaranteed for this individual exhibition, and the gallery states that catalogues may combine several exhibitions or follow a different publication schedule.
The principal outcome is therefore a permanent online exhibition opportunity, with the possibility of an additional publication opportunity through the gallery’s printed catalogue program.
Related Photo Contests
Categories
There are no separate categories. Every photograph responds to the broad TRAVEL: Around the World theme, which is concerned less with documenting a journey itself than with communicating a strong sense of place.
TRAVEL: Around the World 2026 by Grid Photo Gallery naturally overlaps with travel photography contests, but its interpretation is deliberately wide. Images may explore landscape, cities, street scenes, cultural spaces, remote environments, routes, borders, interiors and everyday encounters.
Grid Photo Gallery is looking for photographs with visual clarity, composition, atmosphere and intention. The brief also asks photographers to approach places with sensitivity, favoring images that encourage curiosity and discovery without reducing their subjects to familiar stereotypes or visual clichés.
Dates and Entry Fees
TRAVEL: Around the World 2026 by Grid Photo Gallery runs for approximately six weeks, followed by the publication of results and the opening of the online exhibition in December.
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Entries open | September 1, 2026 |
| Submission deadline | October 15, 2026 |
| Winners announced | December 1, 2026 |
| Online exhibition | Begins December 1, 2026 |
The entry fee is €7 per photograph, and there is no limit to the number of images a photographer may submit.
How to Enter
Photographers must register or log in through the external submission platform linked from the competition page, upload their photographs and pay the corresponding entry fee. Additional photographs can be added while the submission period remains open, but entries cannot be changed after the deadline.
Files must be JPEGs in sRGB or Adobe RGB 1998, with a minimum dimension of 2,500 pixels on the longest side and a maximum file size of 100MB. Watermarks, borders, logos and copyright notices must not appear on submitted images.
Grid Photo Gallery may request an original unedited RAW file or JPEG with intact metadata to verify ownership or assist the jury review.
About the Jury
Entries are assessed by a panel of Grid Photo Gallery members. The gallery states that external experts may also participate in individual competitions, in which case their names and affiliations are published on the relevant contest page. No external jurors are currently named for TRAVEL: Around the World 2026.
The published assessment criteria include relevance to the theme, creativity, technical quality and originality.
Why Enter TRAVEL: Around the World 2026 by Grid Photo Gallery?
The most distinctive part of this TRAVEL: Around the World 2026 is the way Grid Photo Gallery treats selection as an ongoing online presence. Selected work is featured prominently for at least a month and then remains accessible permanently, while each selected photographer also receives an individual profile page with an external website link.
For photographers considering the best photography competitions to enter for travel-oriented work, the €7 per-image structure also makes the cost directly proportional to the size of the submission. There is no bundle requirement or maximum number of photographs, so each photographer can decide how broadly to approach the theme.
The brief itself avoids restricting travel photography to spectacular destinations. A familiar neighborhood or quiet interior can be as relevant as a mountain range or remote territory if the photograph conveys the atmosphere and character of the place. That gives documentary observation and everyday experience a meaningful place alongside more conventional destination imagery.
Rules and Copyright
We reviewed the official rules of the TRAVEL: Around the World 2026 by Grid Photo Gallery to summarize the key participation requirements, copyright terms and image usage conditions. Before entering, we recommend checking the complete rules published by the organizer.
Entrants retain full copyright in their photographs. By submitting, they grant Grid Photo Gallery a perpetual, non-exclusive license to display and promote the work through its online exhibitions and promotional materials and to print and distribute gallery catalogues. Those catalogues may be offered for sale or distributed through other channels.
The license does not prevent photographers from continuing to sell or license their images elsewhere. The published rules do not state that Grid Photo Gallery receives exclusive rights or specify separate sublicensing rights.
Entrants must ensure that submitted photographs do not infringe copyright, trademarks, privacy or other third-party rights. Grid Photo Gallery may also remove material containing illegal, defamatory, discriminatory, sexually explicit or graphically violent content where it falls outside the artistic or documentary scope of the competition.
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For more information and to participate in the contest, visit: the official website.
