9th international
annual photography award

What Is a Photo Award

A photo award is not just a contest, but an international online platform where photographers from all over the world can compare the level of their work, receive objective evaluation, and see their place in a global ranking.

Unlike local competitions, a photo award brings together tens of thousands of participants from different countries, genres, and styles. There are no closed juries or “pre-arranged” winners — every photo goes through a multi-stage selection process and is compared with thousands of other images worldwide.

A Photo Award as an Online Development Marathon

• you can see how the quality of your work changes year by year
• you understand which photos are stronger and which need improvement
• you compare yourself not with a few winners, but with the global benchmark

At 35AWARDS, a Photo Award Means

• a transparent scoring system
• anonymous voting
• multi-stage selection
• an international jury
• open rankings by genre, country, and city

The outcome is not only winners, but a complete picture of the level of world photography for the year.

How a Photography Contest Works

Participants upload photos to themed categories throughout the year. A preliminary voting stage helps evaluate photo quality.

The main voting takes place in March and consists of three stages. At each stage, fewer works remain, while the jury may move photos between stages.

Voting is anonymous, and every stage includes quality review.

Transparent Photo Scoring System

In 35AWARDS you see photo scores at every stage, not only final results. This is rare among photography contests where only final positions are shown.

A Photography Contest as a Marathon

Participation becomes a yearly marathon where photographers compare their results with previous years and grow creatively.

Themed Online Photo Contests

In addition to the main annual photo award, 35AWARDS regularly hosts themed online photography contests focused on a single subject, genre, or creative idea. This format allows photographers to receive fast feedback, test new styles, and participate without waiting for year-end results.

Themed contests are finalized much faster and help photographers concentrate on a specific creative task — from portrait and street photography to conceptual and experimental projects.

International Jury of the Photo Award

The annual 35AWARDS photo award brings together an international jury of more than 50 professional photographers from 50 countries worldwide.

This diversity of cultures, genres, and visual schools helps ensure fair and balanced evaluation, while the multi-stage selection system prevents random results.

Photographer Rankings by Genre and Country

Each award generates rankings by genre, city and country, as well as an overall photographer ranking based on top three works.

Best Photos in the Annual Photo Catalog

The best works of the year are published in the official 35AWARDS catalog, preserving contest history and achievements.

International Photography Contest Platform

35AWARDS unites photographers from more than 174 countries, creating a global platform for photo contests and photography awards.

Founded in 2015, the award has gone through many annual cycles of selection, technological improvements, and system updates. We continuously refine the voting, ranking, and evaluation processes based on real experience and feedback from photographers worldwide. This long-term development makes 35AWARDS a trusted and evolving international photography platform.

Photo Contest Certificates for Participants

Every participant receives a personalized certificate confirming results in the photography contest.