The Open connects artists to a global audience.
Open to any photographer in the world.
From undiscovered photographers to emerging artists to seasoned professionals, everyone is welcome to be a part of The Open. It exists to discover – and rediscover – the most inspiring photographers of our generation. It is for any photographer who wants to open the door to worldwide exposure, connections and opportunity.
Online SOLO competition & gallery.
This site is home to the SOLO single-image competition gallery. It’s simple: photographers submit their best images in any of the 5 categories. A global audience clicks the photos they love. The most-loved images continually move to the forefront for increased exposure. Artists are encouraged to ignite their own social networks to fuel their votes. Half of the 200 finalists are chosen by public appreciation, the other half are chosen by a panel of the sharpest eyes in the business to capture the work of those who may not yet have an online following. The final judging panel awards the category winners and Photographer of the Year. The SOLO prize purse is $25,000.
A mind-blowing live event.
The pinnacle event is the LIVE World Open of Photography in September 2012 in beautiful Vancouver, Canada. Separate from the SOLO competition, photographers can request an invitation by submitting a 3-minute choreographed demo slideshow to the review panel. The year’s top 6 artists will be invited to produce full 7-minute shows with concert-level audio for a live audience and digital broadcast. The prize purse is $25,000US.
It’s all about the artists.
Every artist always retains 100% copyright control over their images. Every participating photographer creates their own Artist’s Page. Each image in the SOLO competition gallery links back to their page for the audience to check out their bio, website, blog, other portfolio samples plus any Flickr, Behance or social media links. It’s all about generating exposure and business opportunities for photographers.
An exposure powerhouse.
The Open reaches a massive database of more than 50,000 creative industry professionals around the world who turn to The Open to source new talent. It reaches a broad spectrum of art directors, photo editors, media and ad agencies – an influential network of people who hire photographers and buy photography. The Open also reaches thousands of photo lovers in over 50 countries.
The most networked contest in the world.
The Open is designed from the ground up to amplfy the power of the major social media platforms to generate massive exposure for artists. The reach of Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, Pinterest, RSS and more are compounded to reach a global audience. No other photography competition optimizes the effectiveness of social platforms like The Open.
Sell Your Photos.
We've partnered with FotoMoto to make it easy for you to sell your work and generate revenue. It only take minutes to set up an account, decide what you want to sell and at what price. Fotomoto does the rest.
$50,000US in cash awards.
The Open delivers one of the largest cash prize purses in photo history: $50,000US: $25,000US for the SOLO competition, $25,000 for the LIVE competition.
