international group show|cash awards|solo exhibitions online|global media coverage

This Call is closed. See all the Winners and Finalists here.

Calling All Street Photographers!
Throughout history, street photographers have created many of the world’s most iconic and memorable photographs — but who is defining this genre today? Is it you? For the 2022 LensCulture Street Photography Awards, we are searching the globe to find out.
If you are creatively capturing the weird and wonderful moments of life as they unfold around you, we want to see your work! You might be shooting with an analog camera in a city that never sleeps or using your smartphone to document daily life in your hometown or as you travel the world seeking adventures. No matter your tools or your location, we want to see your unique perspective from the street, however you frame it.
Read on for information about our expert jury and all the award benefits — including an international exhibition, exposure to our audience of over 3 million, cash prizes, extensive media coverage, projections at international photography festivals, and more.
Note that there is a free entry option for anyone to enter a single image! We truly want to discover the most talented image-makers and believe that every photographer deserves the opportunity for exposure and recognition without restriction.
Show us your streets today!
Closed for new entries.
Photos in video above © Lorenzo Catena, Jason Chambers, Dougie Wallace, Ash Shinya Kawaoto, Lorenzo Bailo, Elizabeth Brooks, Tomasz Kowalski, Dante Sisofo, Meysam Hamrang, Guido Argenta, and Giedo van der Zwan
Exhibition in London
during Photo London 2023!
Winning photographers will be exhibited at a gallery in London during Photo London, the premiere international photo fair that brings together hundreds of galleries, publishers and collectors, as well as an ambitious program of exhibitions, conversations, artist book signings and curated fair events.
An opening reception will be held for LensCulture artists, invited media, photo editors and industry insiders for a night of art appreciation and networking during the world’s largest international art fair dedicated to photography.
Buy a good pair of comfortable shoes, have a camera around your neck at all times, keep your elbows in, be patient, optimistic and don’t forget to smile.
Matt Stuart
Photographer and 2022 Juror
Our International Jury
Fiona Shields
Head of Photography
The Guardian
United Kingdom

Fiona Shields has over twenty years’ picture-editing experience across a range of newspaper titles and has served as picture editor of The Guardian for the last nine. She recently took up the role of Head of Photography for the Guardian News and Media Group. Throughout her career, she has been involved in the coverage of some of the most historic news stories of our time: 9/11, conflicts around the world, the Arab Spring and much more. Besides her work at the newspaper, she’s delivered talks at photo festivals and to students of photojournalism. She has judged the Sony World Photography Awards, the UK Picture Editors Guild Awards, and the Renaissance Photography Prize among others. Most recently she served as a nominator for the Prix Pictet and joined the jury of the highly regarded Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize.

Matt Stuart
Photographer
The Netherlands

Matt Stuart is a British street photographer, and a member of the UP street photography collective. As well as making his personal work, he works as a commercial photographer and leads street photography workshops.

Stuart's book of street photography, “All That Life Can Afford” (2016/20) includes photographs made in London from 2002 to 2015. His second book, “Into the Fire” (2020) explores living off-the-grid in Slab City, California.

Matt’s work has been published in a number of survey publications on street photography including the 2010 book and traveling show “Street Photography Now” and the seminal street photography bible “Bystander” by Joel Meyerowitz and Colin Westerbeck. Matt has recently published his own best selling book, “Think Like a Street Photographer” which explains his thoughts, ideas and process on the subject. Matt’s work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions in Europe and the US, as well as included in group exhibitions in France (Arles), Britain (including at the Museum of London, which acquired his work for its permanent collection, and which travelled to the Museum of the City of New York), France, Bangkok and Stockholm.

Eslah Attar
Photo Editor
New York Times
United States

Eslah Attar is a visual storyteller from the suburbs of Ohio where she studied photojournalism and documented immigration in her community. Prior to joining The New York Times as a photo editing fellow, she worked at National Geographic as an associate photo editor. Before then, she worked at National Public Radio as a photo editor and photographer.

Dewi Lewis
Co-Founder
Dewi Lewis Publishing
United Kingdom

Dewi Lewis Publishing is a partnership owned and run by Caroline Warhurst and Dewi Lewis. Founded in 1994, its photography list has an international reputation and has included books by leading British and international photographers such as Laia Abril, William Klein, Martin Parr, Simon Norfolk, Fay Godwin, Tom Wood, Sergio Larrain, Frank Horvat, John Blakemore, Paolo Pelegrin, Simon Roberts and Bruce Gilden. Dewi Lewis was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 2004 and in November 2009 he was awarded the inaugural Royal Photographic Society Award for Outstanding Services to Photography. He was awarded the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Publishing at the World Photography Awards in April 2012.

Sam Barzilay
Co-founder
Photoville
United States

Currently serving as the Creative Director of United Photo Industries, Sam Barzilay is also the co-founder of Photoville, a photographic gathering that has rapidly become one of the largest and best-attended photography events in North America. Sam is also one of the founding producers of the T3 Photo Festival in Tokyo, Japan.

Sam holds a Master in Photojournalism from the University of Westminster (UK), where his studies focused on curatorial and photo-editing practices. Over the past decade, he has worked alongside some of the best and brightest minds in the global photographic community in pursuit of developing new audiences for photography. He is interested in devising methods of presentation that further amplify the power of photographic storytelling to help increase public awareness and bring about social change.

Samantha Clark
Photo Editor
National Geographic
United States

Samantha Clark is a photo editor at National Geographic, where she commissions and produces photography for the print and digital editions of the magazine. Prior, she worked at NPR, KQED, and Pier 24 Photography. She also features and writes about photography for NPR’s The Picture Show. She holds a masters in journalism from UC Berkeley.

Jim Casper
Editor-in-Chief
LensCulture
The Netherlands

Jim Casper is the editor-in-chief of LensCulture, one of the leading online destinations to discover new contemporary photography from around the world. As an active member in the contemporary photography world, Casper loves to meet with photographers and talk about photography. He curates art exhibitions, publishes books, conducts workshops, serves as an international juror, nominates photographers for key awards, and is an advisor to arts and education organizations.

Melissa O’Shaughnessy
Photographer
United States

Melissa O’Shaughnessy is a photographer based in New York City. Her work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions and publications, and is also included in the book “Bystander: A History of Street Photography” and the recently published “Women Street Photographers”.

She is a member of UP Photographers, a collective of 25 international street photographers.

Her first monograph, “Perfect Strangers: New York City Street Photographs”, was published by Aperture in October, 2020.

© Tufan Cevahirci
More Awards & Benefits
Featured at International Photo Festivals
Select works will be screened at photo festivals and events worldwide. In the past, our winners, finalists, and jurors’ picks were screened at festivals in the US, the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Japan, The Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Hungary, Serbia, and more.
Online Solo Exhibitions
First, second and third place winners in the Series category will have their work permanently exhibited on the LensCulture website via our new solo feature pages. Benefitting from LensCulture’s high search rankings and traffic to the site, our online exhibitions offer significant ongoing exposure for your work.
Visibility With Industry Insiders & Creative Professionals
All it takes is one set of eyes to change the course of your career. If our jury ranks your submission highly, you will be included in LensCulture Discoveries, our directory of top-rated photographers. We provide this directory to key decision-makers including editors, book publishers, gallery owners, festival directors, creative directors, curators, and online media publishers.
Permanent Exhibition in LensCulture Online Gallery
LensCulture has become a key resource for discovering new photography work all over the world. All winners, finalists and jurors’ picks for this award will be prominently featured in the permanent online gallery on our site.
International Press Exposure
Award winners receive press coverage from publications and media outlets around the world — the kind of exposure that can lead to viral, global recognition of your work. Winners, finalists and selected entrants have been featured in major publications including BBC, The Washington Post, Internazionale, VICE, The Times of London, Huffington Post, Spiegel Online, The British Journal of Photography, and The Telegraph.
Be sure to check out the latest feature by The Guardian, a beautiful image gallery sharing the work of the 2022 Art Photography Award winners with the world.


© Dougie Wallace
Cash Awards & Recognition
4 categories will be recognized:
Series Prize Winners
1ST PLACE – $3,500
2ND PLACE – $2,000
3RD PLACE – $1,000
Single Image Prize Winners
1ST PLACE – $2,000
2ND PLACE – $1,000
3RD PLACE – $500
Jurors’ Picks
Each juror will select an individual Juror's Pick to receive special distinction, including quotes from the experts praising each of the selected series or single images.
25 Finalists
25 Finalists and their work will be highlighted and featured on the winners’ page, and in the worldwide promotions, along with the Winners and Jurors’ Picks.
Photograph the world as it is. Nothing’s more interesting than reality.
Mary Ellen Mark
Photographer
© Sam Ferris
Competition Gallery
Editors’ Picks
When you enter this award, your work will be immediately reviewed by our editors. Selected submissions will be featured in our Competition Gallery and published across all of our online channels, reaching an international audience of three million+ photography lovers and experts. (For example, more than 600 early entries were selected and featured during our 2021 Portrait Awards, and more than 200 of those were promoted via LensCulture’s Instagram and Facebook platforms, garnering more than 430,000 likes and comments.) Enter your work early to take advantage of this incredible opportunity for global exposure!
Note: While our editors review entries for inclusion on a daily basis, not every submission can be shown here.
Click on each photo to learn more about the photographer. If you like someone’s work, share their submission on Facebook or favorite their image! Your support increases the exposure for every participating photographer.
Benefits for All Who Enter
When you share your work with us, you participate in our global community of over three million. The opportunities for connection, inspiration, and participation are endless — don’t miss your chance to get involved!
BenefitsWinnersJurors’ picks25 FinalistsEditors’ Picks(1)Every Entrant
$10,000 in Cash Awards
International Group Exhibition
Solo Exhibition Online
Visibility with LensCulture Insiders
Featured in International Photo Festival Projections
International Press Exposure
Massive Exposure to our Global Audience of 3 Million
LensCulture Portfolio Account(2)
Opportunity to be in LensCulture Discoveries(3)
Share your Work with the Global Photography Community
Opportunities for Immediate Exposure
(1)Editors’ Picks: During the competition, LensCulture’s editors will curate hundreds of entries for immediate exposure to our global audience through the competition gallery and our Instagram and Facebook pages, all updated daily. (2)LensCulture Portfolio Account: Available for all Series entries and 5+ Single entries. (3)All Street Photography Awards winning photographers are automatically included in LensCulture Discoveries online directory.
© Giedo van der Zwan
Submission Reviews
Enter a series or 5+ single images, and you can add a professional written review of your submission for an additional $25. This is a unique opportunity to receive valuable and specific feedback on your work from one of our experienced industry professionals.
Show Us Your Streets
Become a part of our passionate community of photographers from around the world! When you share your work, you participate in a community with more than 3 million members worldwide. LensCulture is dedicated to offering you the best opportunities for exposure, engagement, recognition, and critical feedback. For further information, please see our FAQ.
© Hugo de Melo
Be Persistent
Many successful photographers enter the same work in several competitions before they finally win. This is an effective strategy to have your work seen by many different jurors and build your career. Persistence is the key to getting your work seen by influential experts worldwide - it only takes one person to make a positive impact on your creative journey!
© Andy Hall
Success Stories
For 18 years, LensCulture has been committed to helping photographers of all levels move forward creatively and professionally. In that time, we have heard from hundreds of photographers who were able to achieve breakthroughs in their careers through participation in the LensCulture community.
  • Rahima Gambo
    Nigeria
  • Sheng Wen Lo
    Taiwan
  • Juul Kraijer
    Netherlands
  • Ana Vallejo
    Colombia
  • Heloisa Lodder
    Brazil
  • Aaron Elkaim
    Canada
  • Diego Moreno
    Mexico
  • Alex Vasyliev
    Russian Federation
  • Marinka Masséus
    Netherlands
  • Nadir Bucan
    Turkey
  • Tadas Kazakevičius
    Lithuania
  • Antonio Pulgarin
    United States
  • Walter Plotnik
    United States
  • Vikesh Kapoor
    United States
  • Mathieu Willcocks
    United Kingdom
We respect artists’ rights
All photographers retain full copyrights for their own work. Period. Winners, Jurors' Picks and Finalists grant LensCulture limited, restricted use of winning photos only to promote the photographers themselves and in connection with marketing the Awards competition itself. Details can be found in the Competition Rules.
© Dante Sisofo