The Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 take Shoot The Frame’s portrait program and focus it into one annual event that is all about people and stories. Entries run from November 14 to December 31, 2025, with winners announced on February 1, 2026, and the aim is simple, to bring strong portrait work in front of an independent jury and a global audience.
Run by Shoot The Frame across two portrait categories, One Frame and Photo Essay, the Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 offer $4,000 in cash alongside camera gear, professional monitors, exhibitions at major international photo festivals, portfolio tools, and print vouchers. Entry is paid per submission bundle, starting at $17 for a single portrait in One Frame and $49 for a complete Photo Essay of up to 15 images. On Deartline, where photographers explore photography contests and challenges from around the world, this award sits among the more focused portrait competitions that are built to push work beyond social feeds and into print and exhibition spaces.
Contents
Prizes
The Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 distribute a total of $4,000 in cash, supported by partners who contribute gear, professional displays, festival exhibitions, online portfolio tools, and print credit. Prizes are awarded separately in the One Frame and Photo Essay categories, with one winner and two finalists in each.
One Frame winner
The One Frame category highlights the strength of a single portrait. The winner receives:
- $2,000 in cash
- A ViewSonic ColorPro VP3481a 34-inch curved WQHD professional monitor (100% sRGB, Delta E < 2, USB-C connectivity)
- Exhibition at the 2026 Indian Photo Festival
- Exhibition at Rotterdam Photo 2026
- A lifetime Format portfolio website subscription for building and maintaining a professional online presence
- A $200 MOO voucher for printed materials
- Feature in the Shoot The Frame Winners Gallery
One Frame finalists (two)
Each of the two One Frame finalists receives:
- Exhibition at the 2026 Indian Photo Festival
- A 12-month Format website subscription
- A $50 MOO voucher
- Feature in the Shoot The Frame Finalist Gallery
Photo Essay winner
The Photo Essay category rewards a cohesive series of up to 15 portraits. The winner receives:
- $2,000 in cash
- A Fujifilm X-T50 camera with XF16-50mm f/2.8-4.8 R LM WR lens
- A ViewSonic ColorPro VP2788-5K 27-inch 5K professional monitor (99% Adobe RGB, Delta E < 2)
- Exhibition at the 2026 Indian Photo Festival
- Exhibition at Rotterdam Photo 2026
- A lifetime Format website subscription
- A $200 MOO voucher
- Feature in the Shoot The Frame Winners Gallery
Photo Essay finalists (two)
Each Photo Essay finalist receives:
- Exhibition at the 2026 Indian Photo Festival
- A 12-month Format website subscription
- A $50 MOO voucher
- Feature in the Shoot The Frame Finalist Gallery
Related Photo Contests
Categories or Themes
The Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 are dedicated entirely to portraiture and are divided into two categories that reflect different ways of working with people and stories.
One Frame. This category centers on a single photographic portrait. Each image is entered and judged on its own, and photographers can submit as many portraits as they want.
Photo Essay. In this category, photographers submit a curated series of up to 15 portraits that form a coherent body of work. The series is judged as a single entry and allows for narrative development or a deeper character study.
Dates and Entry Fees
The Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 follow a clear end-of-year calendar.
| Submissions open | November 14, 2025 |
| Submission deadline | December 31, 2025 |
| Winners announced | February 1, 2026 |
Entry fees depend on the category and the number of images included in each entry.
One Frame fees:
- 1 photo: $17
- 3 photos: $27
- 7 photos: $37
Photo Essay fee
- Up to 15 photos in a single series: $49
Multiple entries are allowed in both categories.
How to Enter
Entries for the Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 are submitted online through the official Shoot The Frame website using the contest submission form. Photographers choose their category, One Frame or Photo Essay, then upload their portrait images as JPG or JPEG files that meet the technical requirements, with files between 2 MB and 10 MB, a shortest edge of at least 2000 pixels, and the sRGB color space for consistent judging. After the upload and required information are complete, entrants confirm and pay the relevant fee for each bundle or series.
About the Jury
The Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 are judged anonymously by a small panel assembled by Shoot The Frame, with each juror connected to photography through festivals, publishing, or community platforms.
Tristan Hewat is the founder of Shoot The Frame and has overseen its portrait, landscape, and wildlife contests since 2012. His work includes judging, curating, and showcasing photography, along with broader projects in product design, innovation, and education.
Tomasz Trzebiatowski is a photographer, classical pianist, and editor based in Switzerland. He founded FRAMES magazine, a quarterly publication dedicated to photography, and created FujiLove, a widely followed platform for Fujifilm photographers, with a focus on thoughtful, story driven image making.
Julia Martin is an interdisciplinary artist and writer from Montreal associated with FORMAT Magazine. She holds an MFA in Visual Arts and a BFA in Photography, has exhibited internationally, taught at the University of Ottawa, served on art juries, and worked for many years as a freelance photographer.
Marcel Kollen is a Rotterdam-based photographer and the Managing Director of Rotterdam Photo Festival. He has played leading roles in organizing photography events connected to World Press Photo, National Geographic, and major Dutch institutions, and continues to build activities that support photographers and visual culture.
Why Enter Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025?
Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 is designed for photographers who care deeply about portraiture and want their work to be seen in the right context. With only two categories, One Frame and Photo Essay, the focus stays on people, character, and the way they are portrayed. Whether someone works in a studio, on editorial assignments, or in a more documentary style, there is room for both a single defining image and a longer portrait series. Compared with many other popular photo challenges online, this contest keeps the brief straightforward so that attention stays on the photographs rather than on complicated formats.
The prize package mixes practical rewards with genuine visibility. Cash awards and high end gear are combined with exhibitions at the Indian Photo Festival and Rotterdam Photo, plus professional portfolio websites and print credit that help photographers share their work after the results are announced. For photographers already interested in portrait photo competitions and international photography contests, the Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 offer a simple way to place work in front of festival directors, editors, and platform founders with one submission and to use the outcome as a clear reference point for where their portrait practice stands today.
Rules and Copyright
This section about the rules and image rights of the Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 has been generated automatically. If you are interested in participating in this contest we suggest you review the complete rules provided by the contest.
Rules
The Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025 are open worldwide to photographers aged 18 or older. Entries must be original photographic works, and entrants are responsible for holding all necessary rights and permissions for the people and locations shown in their images.
Submissions fall into two categories, One Frame and Photo Essay. There is no upper limit to how many entries a photographer can make. Each One Frame image is judged on its own, while each Photo Essay is assessed as a cohesive series of up to 15 images. Files must be submitted as JPG or JPEG, between 2 MB and 10 MB in size, with the shortest edge at least 2000 pixels, and using the sRGB color space so that color remains consistent during judging.
Standard editing and post-processing are allowed. AI-generated portraits, heavy composites, and other forms of image creation that move beyond a genuine photographic capture are not accepted. AI-assisted tools used for tasks such as noise reduction or color correction are considered acceptable when the underlying image remains a true photograph.
Judging is anonymous, and entries are evaluated on criteria such as beauty, power, originality, technical skill, creativity, and emotional impact. The panel’s decision is final. Prize allocation follows the published prize schedule, with one winner and two finalists in each category and no additional mentions. Entrants must have obtained model or property releases where required, especially for portraits of identifiable individuals and minors.
Copyright and Image Usage
Photographers keep full copyright to their images when entering the Global Portrait Photography Awards 2025. By submitting, entrants grant the organizer a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use their images in connection with administering the awards, announcing and showcasing winners and finalists, maintaining an archive of past editions, and promoting the competition in future years.
Images may be published by Shoot The Frame and, when relevant, by prize partners involved in exhibitions, publications, or special features. This usage is limited to acknowledging results and delivering prizes, and the organizer states that images will not be sold or relicensed to unrelated third parties. Credit is given wherever reasonably possible, and winners or finalists may be asked to provide captions, a brief statement, a headshot, or a short bio to accompany their work.
Practical aspects of prize fulfillment, such as shipping physical items or handling taxes and duties, are managed by the organizer or partners, with winners expected to confirm details when needed. Personal data collected during entry, including contact and billing information, is used to process submissions, communicate results, and deliver prizes, in line with the organizer’s privacy policy and data protection commitments.
For more information and to participate in the contest, visit: the official website.
