Foto: Sanja Merćep, from the series In Fact and in Fiction, 2024, finalist in the 2025 competition.
Different Worlds 2026
14th International Competition for Young Photographers from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)
This year marks the 14th edition of Photon’s competition for young and emerging practitioners working in the field of contemporary authorial photography. We invite artists up to 35 years of age (including those born in 1991) from countries in Central and Eastern Europe (the CEE region) to participate. Eligible countries include Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The competition promotes authorial photography and encourages original and innovative approaches to artistic production, both on a conceptual and formal level. There is no prescribed theme; we welcome projects that encompass a broad range of photographic practices and related media.
The main prize includes a solo exhibition in 2027 at either Photon Gallery in Ljubljana or P – Space for Photography in Maribor, with production support provided by the gallery. The exhibition of the ten selected artists will open on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at Photon Gallery in Ljubljana.
Jury
The selection of artists and works will be made by an international professional jury composed of:
Judita Takáčová, Director of the Central European House of Photography, Bratislava.
David Kranzelbinder, Artistic Director of Pavelhaus (Pavlova hiša), a cultural centre dedicated to cross-border cooperation between Austria and Slovenia.
Sabina Salomon, Curator and Museum Advisor for Photography, New Media, Film and Video at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka.
Application Requirements
Applications must include:
- One or two completed authorial projects or projects in progress. Applicants may decide whether to submit one or two projects.
- Each project must consist of a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 20 photographs in PDF or JPG format.
- Submitted projects must not be older than three years.
- A project statement for each submitted project (mandatory in English), up to 1,500 characters in length.
- A short biography of the applicant.
- Technical specifications of the works, including the photographic techniques used (analogue or digital photography, photo collage, photomontage, photo installation, appropriation of found photographs, etc.), dimensions of the works, and the preferred mode of exhibition display.
- If the works have not yet been produced in their final form, please indicate the intended dimensions and proposed presentation format.
Please ensure that all application requirements are carefully followed and that all requested materials are submitted.
Submission Procedure
The complete application must be compiled into a single ZIP file and named according to the following format:
FirstName_LastName_ProjectTitle.zip
Please submit the ZIP file via the online application form.
If you experience any difficulties with the submission process, please contact us at: spela@photon.si
Application Deadline
Applications must be submitted no later than September 14, 2026, at 11:59 PM (CET).
Applicants will be informed of the results no later than ten days after the submission deadline.
Exhibition
The ten finalists will be presented in a group exhibition at Photon Gallery in Ljubljana, opening on October 21, 2026.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a small exhibition catalogue. Following its presentation in Ljubljana, the exhibition will also travel to partner institutions and other European cities participating in the project.
Contact
For further information, please contact:
Contact person: Špela Pipan