Headon Photo Awards
Entries open soon
About Head On Photo Awards
The Head On Photo Awards represent a global selection of the best work from emerging and established photographers across three categories:
Ready to share your vision?
Under 25s…………. $15 AUD
Festival friends…… $25 AUD*
Standard entry…….. $30 AUD
Ready To Share
Your Vision
EnterAwards summary
Entries for Head On Photo Awards 2026 will open in the middle of this year. Follow us on social media or sign up for our e-newsletter to be informed when entries are open.
- Judged without artists’ names to ensure equal opportunity
- $80,000 prize pool – cash and product
- One overall winner and two runners-up per category
- 100 finalists
- 200 semi-finalists shown in a digital exhibition
- Featured exhibition of all finalists’ works in Head On Photo Festival 2026 in print and online
- Inclusion in the Head On Photo Awards 2026 hard-cover catalogue
The Head On Photo Awards puts your photos on the world stage!
What People Say
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Award categories
Exposure Awards
The Head On Exposure Awards reveal new perspectives. Photographers are invited to unleash their creativity and submit their most important work, of any genre, style, technique, or medium, beyond the portrait and landscape categories
Entries may be of any subject and may fit into any field of photography such as fine art, fashion, wildlife, street, food, sports, still life, pet, travel, architecture, advertising and more. Portraits and landscapes should be entered in their respective categories.
- 40 finalist
- 1 winner
- 1 Australian runner-up
- 1 international runner-up
The overall winner will receive AUD$10,000 cash.
The winner and runners-up receive:
- 12-month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud (valued at $960)
- a $300 book pack from Photobook Australia
- Annual subscriptions to Australian Geographic, Better Photography, and PhotoReview magazines
Past Award winners photos
Headon Photo Awards 2026 Supporters
Major price givers
Price givers
Exhibition partners
Benefits and prizes
Cash and Products
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Finalists' exhibitions and semi-finalists' slideshow
The Head On Photo Awards finalists’ exhibitions and semi-finalists’ slideshow will be open to the public during Head On Photo Festival at key Festival venues (subject to public health orders). These venues are at the heart of the Festival where talks, tours and school excursions take place.
The Head On team curates, designs and produces the exhibitions and slideshow, and Head On Foundation covers all associated costs (once you enter your image, we do the rest!).
Awards exhibitions receive significant visitation, recording tens of thousands of visitors across stunning Festival venues and have toured globally. The Awards also have dedicated exhibition web pages with high traffic.
Judging process
Work is judged anonymously; no identifying details of the photographer will be visible to the judges to ensure that the work is selected on creative merit alone.
The judging panel is comprised of leaders in the Australian and international photography communities. It represents all aspects of the photography world, including curators, picture editors, photographers, educators and other industry professionals.
2026 Head On Photo Awards judges
Tips for entering photo contests
Brush up on your skills and gain exposure with our on-demand video
Tips for entering photo contests
The 70 min session covers:
- Why enter competitions?
- Choosing the right competition for you
- When is the best time to enter
- How to choose the right photographs to enter
- How to deal with rejection
- Reasons why photos are not selected as winners
Enter your name and email address below to get access to over 70 minutes of expert advice from a head judge with over 20 years of experience.
Frequently asked Questions
Submitting work
Can I submit entries to multiple categories?
Absolutely. You can enter as many categories as you like and submit multiple images per category. It is possible to be named a finalist in more than one section!
