The Unpublished Photo 2025 competition, the annual fine art photographic contest for young photographers aged between 18 and 30 years old, opens for entries on January 20, 2025.
The competition aims to uncover the next generation of fine art photographers, and applicants need to submit an unpublished photographic project of 10 images along with captions, a project description, and a short biography about themselves. There is no set theme for the contest, but the collection of images must have a thematic and stylistic unity.
The Unpublished Photo contest is promoted by the Fondazione culture e musei of Lugano (FCM) with MUSEC-Lugano; organized in collaboration with the 29 Arts in Progress Gallery in Milan and the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Venice, and is in partnership with the Fondazione Ada Ceschin e Rosanna Pilone in Zurich.
Four finalists' portfolios will be selected by a technical jury of cultural and photography experts, and have their images exhibited at the MUSEC venue in Villa Malpensata, Lugano. In addition to appearing in the exhibition, there's a first prize of 3,500 Swiss Francs ($3,845 / £3,130 / AU$6,165) and three runners-up prizes of 500 Swiss Francs ($550 / £445 / AU$880) each. To be considered, the images must be of a suitable resolution for creating fine art prints, which will be produced by FCM and will become part of the MUSEC photographic collection.
Participation in the international competition is free of charge and open to young photographers born between 1995 and 2007. The deadline for entries is March 3, 2025.
The 2024 competition attracted entrants from 35 countries, and the finalists' work is currently on display in an exhibition at MUSEC until March 9, 2025.
While you're waiting for the 2025 competition to open on January 20, you can visit MUSEC's social channels on Instagram (@museclugano) and Facebook (MusecLugano) for updates.
For more brilliant competition-winning images with an international flavor, see the Budapest International Foto Awards, Landscape Photographer of the Year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Close-up Photographer of the Year results.
