FOTOAWARD is an international non-profit photography contest and an exhibition of participants' works before a large Russian-speaking audience from various countries.
The contest has existed for 7 years and its motto is: Artistic photography helps bring together people of different views from various countries.

  • Winners of the 2025 photo contest will be awarded:
    - The latest filter models from HOYA Filters / Kenko Tokina,
    - Personalized medals, diplomas, and honorary ribbons APE—the leading Russian photographers association and a representative of FIAP.
    - Licenses for the renowned Topaz Photo AI editing software
    - Photographer Press Cards
    - Contest Diplomas

  • Participation is free of charge.
  • Only experienced photographers are invited to participate.
  • Works that have won other competitions are welcome. The shooting date does not matter.
  • The contest does not have categories or genre-based nominations.
  • Invited photographers publish their works on the contest's exhibition site foto.d3.ru, where they receive a free "Gold Account".
  • The d3.ru site's audience — the initial voting pool — is large and diverse: from various countries, from beginner photo enthusiasts and people unrelated to photography ("free from photo biases") to well-known professional photographers. There are no typical praise comments from friends as on usual photo sites. Participants must be ready for feedback uncommon for photographer-only platforms. Purchasing d3.ru membership or a Gold Account is neither required nor sufficient for contest participation.
  • Every month, 10 top works are selected by public voting — TOP10. They receive diplomas and proceed directly to the final, bypassing the semi-final.
  • A distinctive feature of the contest is its unique multi-stage voting system involving the audience, semifinal jury, and final jury:
    • Initially, viewers evaluate submissions on the exhibition platform foto.d3.ru, where all votes are visible.
    • At the end of the year, about 6000 works that meet the audience score threshold are moved to FOTOAWARD.org for evaluation by the semifinal jury. Everyone can view these works alongside the jury and even participate in a demo vote in the same format.
    • Subsequently, around 500 selected works are judged by the international international final jury, comprising renowned photographers from various countries, including some world-famous Nikon ambassadors. Viewers can also participate in the final demo vote.
    • Winners are determined using a comprehensive mathematical algorithm.
    • All entries, jury results, and panels of jury members have been archived since 2020 and are readily available on FOTOAWARD.org

    • AI Artificial Intelligence, possibly for the first time in photo contests and on photo sites, assists in generating titles, analyzing submitted photographs, and even writing stories and poems inspired by them in both Russian and English. Powered by the OpenAI API.

      Rules
    • Participants may submit up to 2 works per day.
    • Some submissions may require preliminary review before publication. This particularly applies to staged portrait and nude photography.
    • Titles are mandatory for all submissions.
    • Composite images and digital manipulation are allowed but should be tagged accordingly if not apparent. Upon request, participants must provide the original file, including the RAW format if available. Use of third-party or AI-generated elements is prohibited.
    • Watermarks and frames are permitted. However, large watermarks may be viewed negatively by some jury members.
    • The minimum participation age is 18.
    • Image size: at least 1200 pixels on the longer side, max 4MB. Format: jpeg/jpg or png.
    • Additional rules and clarifications may be published on foto.d3.ru.
    • The deadline to submit works for the 2025 contest is December 31.
    • Copyright remains with the authors. Authors grant permission to publish their work for contest promotion with credit. Those who disagree should notify in writing in advance.

  • To apply, send an email to 2025@fotoaward.org with the following:
    1. Your full name, city, and country in the subject line.
    2. Required: a link to any website showcasing your work, and your Instagram profile if you have one.
    3. Include links to 5–10 photos you wish to submit, or attach them. Links are preferred.
    4. If accepted, you will receive an invitation for free registration and detailed publishing instructions.