Luis Ferreira Alves ©Arquivo Casa da Arquitetura
Luis Ferreira Alves International Photography Competition
A Contemporary Look at Architecture
25 SETEMBRO de 2026
Start of application submissions
We are delighted to announce the official launch of the second edition of the Luis Ferreira Alves International Photography Competition | A Contemporary Look at Architecture, opening on 25 September 2026. This biennial competition honours the legacy of Luis Ferreira Alves, a photographer who showed us that architectural photography can be poetic without being romantic, precise without being dry, and political without becoming didactic.
The first edition confirmed the competition's international reach, attracting 1,495 entries from 99 countries. The ten finalist series and prize-winning projects resulted in an exhibition and a bilingual publication, establishing the LFA AWARD as a platform for dissemination, research and critical reflection on architectural photography.
The competition was conceived to encourage the creation of authorial photographic series capable of interpreting a work or group of architectural works in a coherent, rigorous and distinctive way.
Each entry must comprise a series of 9 to 11 photographs, accompanied by a project statement of no more than 2,000 characters.
Rather than producing isolated images, the Award invites students, researchers and professionals working in architecture and photography to construct a visual narrative in which the photographs engage with one another through sequence, montage or cumulative effect, exploring relationships between space, light, material, time, human presence, use and transformation.
Applications will be open from 25 September 2026 to 1 January 2027.
The prizes include:
1st Prize: €10,000
2nd Prize: €4,000
3rd Prize: €1,500 voucher for photographic equipment
Portuguese Emerging Photography Award: €1,500 voucher for photographic equipment
The authors awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prizes, the remaining finalists, the recipient of the Portuguese Emerging Photography Award, and the recipients of any Special Mentions will be included in the official exhibition and publication of the respective edition.
The exhibition and publication are fundamental components of the programme, extending the competition beyond the moment of the awards and helping to create an ongoing space for reflection, research and dissemination around architectural photography.
Porto City Council, which awarded Luis Ferreira Alves the Municipal Medal of Merit – Gold Grade, and Cityscopio — Associação Cultural, publisher of Luis Ferreira Alves — Fotografias em obras de Eduardo Souto de Moura (2016), are the promoting bodies of the Award.
The Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, reflecting the close relationship between the work of Luis Ferreira Alves and the architectural culture of the Porto School, and Casa da Arquitectura, as the institution holding a significant part of his archive, are members of the Organising Committee.
The LFA AWARD is further supported by a network of partners that strengthens its institutional and international scope. The Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-N), Metro do Porto, AMAG and panoramah! are associated with the programme as strategic partners. The Portuguese Architects' Association (OA), the Marques da Silva Foundation Institute (FIMS) and the Serralves Foundation form part of its network of institutional partners.
The Luis Ferreira Alves International Photography Competition is sponsored by Fundação "la Caixa" / BPI and J. Soares Correia.
The Jury comprises distinguished figures including Paolo Rosselli (architect and photographer), Valeria Carullo (curator) and João Pedro Serôdio (architect).
For further information about the competition and details of the application process, please visit our website:
luisferreiraalvesphotoaward.com
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