Tokyo International Foto Awards 2026 with Prizes of up to EUR 3,000

The Tokyo International Foto Awards – TIFA 2026 is now accepting entries for its international photography competition, which aims to discover and recognize talented photographers from around the world and connect their work with Tokyo’s creative and artistic community in Japan.

The competition welcomes professional photographers, non-professional photographers, and students, offering them the opportunity to present their work to a specialized jury and compete for cash prizes, international recognition, and wider exposure.

The competition covers a broad range of photography categories, including advertising, architecture, analog and film photography, editorial and photojournalism, fine art, nature, portrait, people, portfolio, smartphone photography, drone photography, as well as a special category for images generated using artificial intelligence.

Winners receive cash prizes and opportunities for international exposure, including:

• EUR 3,000 for the TIFA Photographer of the Year, along with the TIFA Trophy.
• EUR 2,000 for the New Talent of the Year, along with the TIFA Trophy.
• EUR 200 for the first-place winner in each main category across both the professional and non-professional divisions.
• Exhibition of first-place winning works in Tokyo and other locations.
• Featured placement of selected works on the competition’s homepage.
• Publication of winning works in the online gallery.
• Promotion of winners through press releases and the TIFA newsletter, which reaches more than 90,000 people within the TIFA community.
• A printable electronic Certificate of Achievement.
• A Winner’s Logo for use on websites and printed materials.
• Invitations for selected winners to attend the TIFA exhibition and related networking events.
• Full retention of intellectual property rights over submitted works.

Applicants may apply if they:

• Are 18 years old or older.
• Are from any country around the world.
• Are professional photographers, non-professional photographers, or students.
• Are able to submit their work electronically according to the required technical specifications.

All entries must be submitted online and should:

• Be uploaded in JPG format.
• Use the sRGB color profile.
• Not exceed 4 MB per file.
• Meet the image dimensions specified on the competition platform.
• Be arranged in order of importance when submitting a photo series.
• The same work may be entered into more than one category for an additional fee.
• All intellectual property and copyright rights remain with the photographer.

For the Portfolio category, applicants may submit up to 20 images representing their best work, with no restrictions on the year in which the images were created.

Application Fees

Fees vary according to the applicant category:

Professionals

• Single image: EUR 30.
• Series of 2 to 9 images: EUR 40.

Non-Professionals

• Single image: EUR 20.
• Series of 2 to 9 images: EUR 25.

Students

• Single image: EUR 15.
• Series of 2 to 9 images: EUR 20.

Portfolio

• Entry fee: EUR 50.

A 30% discount applies when entering the same work into additional categories, and there are no additional fees later for winner-related services.

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