Fotografia Calabria Festival Award 2026 5th EDITION.
For the first time, the competition does not set a theme, leaving room for the photographers’ own creative vision. We invite photographers to submit works characterised by a strong conceptual coherence and a clear artistic vision. We are not necessarily looking for the unprecedented, nor for originality at all costs. Originality may lie in the personal way in which a photographer observes, interprets and renders the reality they depict through the language of photography, the construction of the narrative and the ability to approach familiar subjects or themes from an individual perspective. A body of work can therefore be original even when the subject matter is not: what matters is the presence of a conscious artistic vision, capable of revealing the project’s underlying structure and identity.
DEADLINE
Entries may be submitted from August 7, 2026, until 11:59 PM (Italian time) on November 15, 2026.
The Jury
Rome, 1982) Rosy Santella studied foreign languages and literature and journalism in Rome. After a brief stint as a journalist with the Associated Press news agency, she began working with Internazionale in 2010. She works on the weekly magazine’s website, writing about exhibitions, festivals and books. She also oversees assignments given to photographers to cover current affairs in Italy. Since 2016, she has been editing the magazine’s Portfolio section, selecting Italian and international works that document current affairs from around the world, as well as long-term and sometimes personal projects. She collaborates with various schools and associations in Italy, where she teaches editing and project management. She regularly takes part in portfolio reviews and serves as a judge for Italian and international competitions.
(Photo credits: F. Leonardi)
Indipendent Curator and exhibition manager
Laura Tota is an independent art and photography curator, exhibition manager, and Artistic Director of Liquida Photofestival, a festival dedicated to emerging Italian and international photography. Born in Puglia and based in Turin, her curatorial research focuses on practices that place photography in dialogue with the installation dimension. Alongside this, she works as an exhibition manager with some of the leading Italian events devoted to contemporary visual culture, including EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival, PhEST – See Beyond the Sea, and Photolux Festival, overseeing exhibition production. As Senior Curator at Paratissima, she develops exhibition and educational programs dedicated to young artists and the experimentation of visual languages.
Indipendent photo editor and journalist
Laura Davì is a freelance photo editor and professional journalist; her work involves mentoring, editing, portfolio reviews, curating books and exhibitions, and writing critical essays. As the co-founder, alongside Chiara Vitellozzi, of the workshop ‘The Quiet Eye’, she teaches and runs workshops at various public and private educational institutions, and is regularly invited to take part in meetings, conferences, awards ceremonies and festivals.
Born in 1962 in Paris, France, Jean-Marie Donat is an artist, an "iconophage" of photography, and a publisher. His collection, amassed over more than 30 years, comprises nearly 40,000 photographs, Ektachromes, and negatives from around the world, spanning more than a century of photographic history (1880-1990). It consists primarily of vernacular images, photographs taken by amateurs and anonymous individuals, chosen for the cultural and social significance they convey, as well as for the profound humanity they evoke. From this process of long-term accumulation and introspection, Jean-Marie Donat has been building this photographic corpus since the 1980s, aiming to offer a unique perspective on the 20th century. The photographic series from his collection have been featured in several books and international exhibitions, notably at the Rencontres d’Arles (2015, 2023), the Hamburg Triennial (2018), the Lianzhou Museum of Photography (China, 2019), Image Vevey (Switzerland, 2020), the Centquatre-Paris (2022), and C.O. Berlin. Alongside his artistic practice, Jean-Marie Donat has worked in publishing for 40 years. He currently heads the editorial creative agency AllRight. In 2015, he also founded Éditions Innocences, a publishing house dedicated to images in all their forms. In 2023, Jean-Marie Donat co-founded the Vernacular Social Club, an international association bringing together amateurs, collectors, and professionals around vernacular photography.
(Photo credits: ED ALCOCKM PER LE MONDE)
Direttore Artistico Deloitte Photo Grant
Denis Curti, born in Milan in 1960, is a leading figure in the Italian photography scene.
He is Artistic Director of Le Stanze della Fotografia in Venice and of the Capri Photography Festival.
He is the founder and director of STILL, a photography gallery based in Milan, and the photography consultant for Marsilio Editore.
He is the Artistic Director of the Deloitte PhotoGrant.
He has held leading positions at major institutions such as Contrasto Milano and the Italian Foundation for Photography.
He has also served as Artistic Director of the International Photography Biennale of Turin and as editor of Il Fotografo magazine.
He has curated numerous exhibitions featuring renowned Italian and international photographers.
He is also a journalist, photography critic, and expert in the photography collecting market. He curated Sotheby’s first photography auctions in Milan and has authored several books on photography. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with numerous companies and institutions on artistic and corporate projects.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF FOTOGRAFIA CALABRIA FESTIVAL – INDEPENDENT CURATOR
Founder and President of the cultural association Pensiero Paesaggio, dedicated to the promotion and development of photographic culture. She is Artistic and Production Director of the Fotografia Calabria Festival, where she develops exhibition programmes and initiatives dedicated to contemporary photography, overseeing the research and selection of artists and fostering dialogue between photography, the local area and society.
She has gained extensive experience in curating and managing cultural projects, collaborating on the realisation of initiatives and programmes supported by national and regional public funding schemes. With Pensiero Paesaggio, she was the winner, for two consecutive years, of the ‘Strategia Fotografia’ public call for proposals issued by the the Italian Ministry of Culture (MiC).
Prize for the winner
2,000 euros in cash prizes.
Paid publication (1,000 euros) of a project in Internazionale magazine.
Exhibition/screening at one of the Festival’s forthcoming editions or at related events.
Visibility through the communication activities of the Fotografia Calabria Festival.
Publication in a permanent section of the Fotografia Calabria Festival website.
How to partecipate
35 euros per project
Payment via PayPal.
If you decide to withdraw from the competition, the entry fee is non-refundable. Participation in the photography contest takes place by registering and uploading your
project to the HPCM platform, owned by HiHo S.r.l. - Via G. Donizetti, 52 50018 Scandicci (FI). To help you manage your participation as smoothly as possible, below you will find some useful guidelines and the materials you will be asked to provide during the upload process:
1. After completing the registration form, you will automatically be logged into the project upload area.
2. Payment of the entry fee must be made in the project upload section. A participant may also pay on behalf of another registered entrant.
Mandatory Required Materials (we recommend organizing these in advance):
3. Additional details:
A PDF file containing a brief professional bio (not a CV or portfolio), along with links to your social media profiles and website, if available (max 1 page).
A portrait photo of yourself: minimum 1,000 px, maximum 2,500 px on the long side.
4. A PDF file containing the project statement and, if applicable, the image captions. Captions must follow the same naming convention and sequential order as the
uploaded images: “project title_1”, “project title_2”, “project title_3”, etc. (max 3 pages).
5. “Portfolio Title”: Enter the title of the project you are submitting to the Fotografia Calabria Festival Award.
6. Enter the title for Photo 1 (A1), (A2), (A3), etc.: This field must include the project title and the sequential number of the image. The platform will not upload images with identical titles, so sequential numbering is required.
7. JPEG images in the intended sequence of the project: minimum 10, maximum 25 photos. Dimensions: minimum 1,000 px, maximum 2,500 px on the long side.
8. Portrait photo of yourself.
Your photo project can be reviewed and edited in your user area until 11:59 PM on November 15, 2025. You do not need to request confirmation of a successful upload; however, if you wish, you can click the button “Send me a report of the submitted photos by email.”
© Andrea Salvucci