Luis Ferreira Alves International Photography Competition

The Luis Ferreira Alves International Photography Competition is a biennial photography contest celebrating architectural photography and the legacy of Portuguese photographer Luis Ferreira Alves.

The second edition of the competition invites photographers globally to submit a series interpreting an architectural work or group of works, with a top prize of €10,000.

Competition details

• Organiser: Porto City Council (CMP) and Cityscopio — Associação Cultural (CCA)
• Competition: Luis Ferreira Alves International Photography Competition A Contemporary Look at Architecture
• Judges: João Pedro Serôdio, architect; Valeria Carullo, curator and researcher; Paolo Rosselli, photographer and architect
• Registration Deadline: 1 January 2027
• Submission Deadline: 1 January 2027
• Prizes: €10,000 for 1st prize; €4,000 for 2nd prize; €1,500 voucher for 3rd prize

Competition overview

The Luis Ferreira Alves International Photography Competition: A Contemporary Look at Architecture (LFA) is a biennial programme created to honour the work and legacy of Portuguese photographer Luis Ferreira Alves.

His photography developed a distinctive way of looking at architecture – rigorous and documentary, while at the same time personal, sensitive and interpretative.

Through his close relationships with architects including Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura, both Pritzker Prize laureates, Ferreira Alves developed a profound understanding of architecture and of the ways in which light, material, scale and time shape its experience.

Building on this legacy, the LFA Award seeks to encourage contemporary photographic practices that go beyond the straightforward recording of buildings.

It is particularly interested in the relationship that can emerge between the photographer’s gaze, the architectural work, its author and its wider cultural and physical context.

For its second edition, photographers are invited to submit an authorial series of 9 to 11 photographs interpreting a work or group of architectural works.

Projects may adopt a documentary, poetic, critical or experimental approach, provided that they establish a clear relationship with architecture and contemporary visual culture.

The competition values photography not only as a means of representing architecture, but as a way of reading and understanding it: revealing spatial relationships, material and atmospheric qualities, patterns of use, human presence and the transformations brought about by time.

Participants stand to gain significant recognition, with a 1st prize of €10,000, a 2nd prize of €4,000 and a 3rd prize consisting of a €1,500 voucher for the purchase of photographic equipment.

The second edition also includes the Portuguese Emerging Photography Award, consisting of a €1,500 voucher. Distinguished authors and finalists will be included in the official exhibition and publication for the edition, under the terms defined by the organisation.

Eligibility and judging criteria

The competition is open to all, without restriction as to nationality.

Eligibility for the Portuguese Emerging Photography Award is restricted to Portuguese participants, in accordance with the specific conditions established for that award.

Entries may be submitted individually or collectively (a collective must enter as a single competing unit and identify all of its authors).

Each participant, whether individual or collective, may submit only one project. Participants must declare that the submitted images have not previously received an award in another competition.

Entrants must submit a series of 9 to 11 images, which interpret a work or group of architectural works in a coherent, rigorous and distinctive manner. Entrants must also include a project statement of no more than 2,000 characters.

Projects will be judged on:

• technical quality of the photographs: technical skill shown in the execution
• quality and poetic content of the visual narrative: quality and narrative approach of the visual sequence
• artistic and visual quality of the photographs: artistic merit of the images submitted
• originality: uniqueness and creative perspective of the project
• distinctive visual discourse: the ability of the series to present the architectural work in a distinctive way, through a visual discourse that explores relevant concepts of the work, the architect and the context, and in which the images relate to one another through order, sequence or cumulative effect

Submission details

Submissions close on 1 January 2027.

The competition winners will be officially announced on 25 April 2027.

About Porto City Council and Cityscopio

Porto City Council and Cityscopio’s Luis Ferreira Alves Photography Award is a biennial international competition that celebrates architectural photography, honours the legacy of Luis Ferreira Alves, and promotes contemporary perspectives on architecture, the city and territory through photography, exhibitions, publications and public events.

For more information visit luisferreiraalvesphotoaward.com or email info@luisferreiraalvesphotoaward.com.