Contest entry should be part of your marketing plan. Consider them the currency of the industry. The downside is it can be expensive to enter the multitude of contests out there. Here’s a list of the more reputable ones. Pick and choose as you see fit. I found this list on the ASMP website in a PDF format so I’ve posted it here for better web searchability.
Good luck!
General Photography
American Photography American Illustration / American Photography
Art Directors Club Art Directors Club – New York
Dorothea Lange/Paul Taylor Prize Center for Documentary Studies
PDNedu Student Photo Contest Photo District News
PDN Photo Annual Photo District News
D&AD Awards British Design and Art Direction
Santa Fe Center for Photography Project Competition Santa Fe Center for Photography
Applied Arts and Illustration Annual Applied Arts Magazine, Toronto
ASMP Image 05 American Society of Media Photographers
Communication Arts Photography Annual Communication Arts Magazine
Spider Awards for Black & White Photography Spider Awards
BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Natural History Museum (UK) and BBC Wildlife Magazine
James D. Phelan Award in Photography Kala Art Institute
Photo Review Competition The Photo Review Magazine
Top Knots Wedding Contest Photo District News
PDN/Nikon Self Promotion Awards Photo District News
LUCIE Awards International Photography Awards
AOP Open Association of Photographers – Great Britian
PIX Digital Imaging Contest Photo District News
The Center Awards Center for Photographic Arts
Gordon Parks Photography Competition Fort Scott Community College
Honickman Foundation First Book Prize Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman Foundation
Travel Photographer of the Year Travel Photographer of the Year
Golden Light Awards Maine Photographic Workshops
Fifty Crows Fund for Documentary Photography Fifty Crows Foundation
NATJA Awards Competition North American Travel Journalists Association
Ultimate Eye Foundation Ultimate Eye Foundation
Corporate Photography
Oscar Barnack Prize Leica
L’OREAL Art & Science of Color Award L’OREAL
Polaroid International Photography Awards Polaroid
Finch Paper Photography Competition Finch Paper
Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize Schweppes/National Portrait Gallery
Nikon Photography Competition Nikon
NPPA/Nikon Sabbatical Grant Nikon / National Press Photographers Association
Fellowships and Grants
Alexia Foundation Grant Alexia Foundation for World Peace
Graham Foundation Grants Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Arts
Marty Forscher Fellowships Parsons & Photo District News
Foundation Grants for Interactive Projects Black Rock Arts Foundation
McKnight Photography Fellowship Program McKnight Foundation
Lindbergh Foundation Grants Charles & Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation
W. Eugene Smith Grant W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund / Nikon
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Alicia Patterson Award Alicia Patterson Foundation
Aaron Siskind Foundation Grant Aaron Siskind Foundation/School of Visual Arts
Buhl Foundation Biennial Photography Grant Buhl Foundation
Puffin Foundation Grants Puffin Foundation
Gift of Freedom Awards for Women A Room of Her Own Foundation
Photojournalism
World Press Photo World Press Photo Organization
Picture of the Year Univ. of Missouri School of Journalism
Overseas Press Club Awards Overseas Press Club
Scripps Howard National Journalisn Award Scripps Howard Foundation
Pulitzer Prizes Columbia University / Pulitzer Prize board
Best of Photojournalism National Press Photographers Association
China International Press Photo Awards Photojournalist Society of China
Canon Female Photojurnalist Award French Association of Women Journalists
Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography Getty Images
NLGJA Excellence in Photojournalism Award National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association
Editor & Publisher Newspaper Photos of the Year Editor & Publisher Magazine & Nikon
3P Photo Prize 3P Photographers for a Photographic Project
Fujifilm Young Photographer Award Fujifilm
CARE International Award for Humanitarian Reportage CARE
Nomination Awards
John D Rockerfeller 3rd Award Asian Cultural Council
Hasselblad Foundation Intl. Award Hasselblad
Grand Prix Intl. Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson
Deutsche Bourse Photography Prize Deutsche Bourse Group
Santa Fe Prize for Photography Santa Fe Center for Photography
