OD Photo Prize 2022

Announcing the second edition of our annual prize devoted to discovering and nurturing the next generation of photographic artists

Submission Window | 23 June – 11 August, 2022
Deadline extension! midnight, Sunday 21 August, GMT

After the success of last year, the OD Photo Prize returns for its second edition. This prize is an exciting open call for emerging artists working within the first ten years of their practice, founded by Open Doors Gallery. For many years, OD has discovered and showcased artists working across all genres of contemporary photography. This prize is an extension of that philosophy, which looks to nurture long-term relationships with artists globally. 

The finalists will participate in a Winter group exhibition with Open Doors Gallery in London to celebrate their talent and work. Selected finalists are also eligible for a variety of prizes chosen by our panel of influential experts in the field of photography.

When I received the OD Photo Prize in 2021, my project Teetering like a September myth was still in its infancy, with only a handful of close friends even knowing that it existed. The support I received from Tom and Steve in the following months would be instrumental to my completing the work and releasing it as a book the following year. As an emerging artist still finding my feet in many ways, the OD Photo Prize and exhibition have been really important entry-points into showing my work publicly and I’ll forever hold this experience as a pivotal point in the early stage of my career.

Angus Scott, Winner of OD Photo Prize 2021

Building momentum

Over the past year, OD Photo Prize artists have continued to nurture their practices and careers. We’re proud to report that Angust Scott (Grand Prize Winner), recently published his debut monograph, Teetering like a September myth with Photo Collective, and K Young (Runner-Up), who fascinated us with their intricate collages, recently exhibited alongside Max Miechowski and Kenuske Koike, at Photo London with Open Doors Gallery.

Elsewhere, we’re excited to see Marisol Mendez’s MADRE (Juror’s Pick) included in the group show, Dangerous Bodies (Kers Gallery), curated by Marina Paulenka, and Ioanna Sakellaraki’s (Juror’s Pick) The Truth is in the Soil published by GOST Books. While closer to home, we’re continuing to support OD Photo Prize artists directly, including Allan Salas (Shortlisted), Valeria Arendar (Juror’s Pick), Cecilia Bonilla (Juror’s Pick) and Elliott Verdier (Runner-up) in our Artsy Online Group Show, Ones to Watch 2022.


Further details

The Grand Prize winner will receive £500 cash, £500 credit supported by MPB, £500 print credit supported by Metro Imaging and a group exhibition with Open Doors Gallery, as well as ongoing mentorship and support. The Runners-Up will receive a group exhibition with Open Doors Gallery, as well as ongoing mentorship and support.

OD Photo Prize 2022 is an open theme. We greatly encourage submission from artists working across all forms of photographic art: this includes, but is not limited to, storytelling, narrative, social documentary, construction, archival, conceptual or theoretical practices. Submissions must be photographic or lens-based but can incorporate other art forms (i.e. performance, collage, painting, sculpture, music, literature etc), and may result in unique artworks. 

Opens 23rd June and closes 11th August, 2022
Submissions cost £12 (14€)

Meet our Jury for OD Photo Prize 2022

Tim Clark | Director of 1000 Words Magazine, editor & curator

Tim Clark is Editor in Chief of 1000 Words and Artistic Director for Fotografia Europea in Reggio Emilia, Italy, together with Walter Guadagnini, Director of CAMERA, Torino. He is also serving as curatorial advisor for the Discovery section of Photo London 2022 and 2023. Clark has previously been involved in a wide range of projects: adjunct curator on Masculinities: Liberation through Photography (2020-22) at the Barbican Centre London, an exhibition travelling to Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Les Rencontres d’Arles and FOMU Antwerp; guest curator at the Ci.CLO Bienal 2021 with the exhibition titled The Horizon is Moving Nearer for the Portuguese Center of Photography, Porto; co-curator of Mutable: Multiple, Derby QUAD, FORMAT International Photography Festival; guest curator of London Art Fair’s Photo50 section with Who’s looking at the family, now?; and curator of Max Pinckers: Margins of Excess, Lishui Art Museum, China (all 2019).

Prior to this, Clark held posts as Artistic Director of Photo Oxford 2017, together with Greg Hobson; and while Associate Curator at Media Space, Science Museum, London, he organised Julia Margaret Cameron: Influence and Intimacy (2015) and Gathered Leaves: Photographs by Alec Soth (2015–18). Curator Conversations, an edited anthology of interviews with prominent international photography curators working today, was released in 2021. He is currently a lecturer on BA Photography at The Institute of Photography, Falmouth University, and associate lecturer on MA Photography & Visual Design at Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) Milano.

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Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi | Publisher, Chose Commune

Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi is a French/Japanese publisher, co-founder and director of Marseille based independent publishing house Chose Commune, making carefully curated and crafted books in the fields of photography and works on paper. Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi is also the founder of aato, a new ceramics gallery in Marseille.

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portrait © Vasantha Yogananthan

Professor Steven Macleod | Creative Director, Metro Imaging, artist

Professor Steven Macleod is an award winning Creative Director and artist and has been at the forefront of photographic imaging for thirty years, collaborating with a vast network of clients he has also developed several innovative photographic printing practices. He is a Director at Metro Imaging. The company is one of Europe’s leading imaging companies with a global reach offering a comprehensive solution for exhibition and collecting markets. He is a practicing artist, represented by Black Box Projects. He regularly exhibits and his works are held in both private and public institutions. He is also a commissioned artist for the Hospital Rooms Arts mental health charity. Steve is a Visiting Professor at the University of Suffolk; Trustee and Deputy Chair of QEST and E E at RGU Aberdeen. He runs an established mentorship programme and is a regular judge on international panels.

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Bill Shapiro | former Editor-in-Chief at LIFE Magazine, writer

Bill Shapiro is the former Editor-in-Chief of LIFE magazine; he was also the founding Editor-in-Chief of LIFE.com, which won the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital photography. Bill is the author of several books, among them 2018’s What We Keep, and Gus & Me, the best-selling children’s book he co-wrote with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. He is a contributing editor to Leica Conversations, edits photo books, and writes about photography for the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, Vogue, Esquire, Oprah Daily, the Los Angeles Times, among others. He curates the weekly Meet This Photographer series on his Instagram feed (@billshapiro) every Friday on Instagram.

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Bindi Vora | Curator at Autograph Gallery, artist, lecturer

Bindi Vora is British-Indian artist working with expanded photography, visiting lecturer at University of Westminster and Curator at Autograph a London-based non-profit arts charity that explores issues of identity, representation, human rights and social justice through photography. Since joining Autograph she has curated Poulomi Basu: Fireflies (2022), co-curated Care I Contagion I Community ­– Self & Other (2021-2022); Lola Flash: [sur]passing and Maxine Walker: Untitled (both 2019) and contributed to a series of in-conversations with multidisciplinary artists include Mónica Alcázar-Duarte, Poulomi Basu, Maryam Wahid, Tobi Alexandra Falade, David Uzochukwu amongst others. She has also independently curated Poulomi Basu: Centralia for Recontres d’Arles – Louis Roederer Discovery Award (2020); Let’s Go Through This Again (Portland Works, Sheffield 2018)

As an artist her works have been exhibited at The Photographers’ Gallery (UK); Yinka Shonibare’s Guest Projects (UK); 180 The Strand (UK); Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood (UK); Phoenix Gallery (UK); Cultural Centre of Belgrade (RS); Benaki Museum (GR); Art Stage, (SG); amongst others. Her works are part of collections including the Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection / MoMA (US), Guy’s & St Thomas Foundation (UK), The Hyman Collection (UK); Imperial Health Charity (UK), Self-Publish Be Happy at Maison Européenne de la Photographie (FR), The Women’s Art Library at Goldsmith’s University (UK), amongst others.

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Closes 11th August, 2022
Submissions cost £12 (14€)

OD Photo Prize partners

Thanks to:
Metro Imaging
Photo Contests
All About Photo
Arts Jobs
Run The Check
ArtsHub
London Photography
Phocus Magazine
Revolv Collective