International visitors view winning photos from the 2025 HCM City International Photography Contest on display outdoors in the city. — VNA/VNS Photo Thu Hương

HCM CITY — The 2026 HCM City International Photography Contest (HOPA 2026) is inviting Vietnamese and foreign photographers, both amateurs and professionals, to submit their works.

The contest is conducted by the HCM City Photographic Association (HOPA), under the patronage of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), the Photographic Society of America (PSA) and the Việt Nam Association of Photographic Artists (VAPA).

According to the organisers, the event aims to promote tourism in Việt Nam and around the world, and introduce the country’s beauty, culture and people. It also highlights HCM City's development achievements as it integrates into a new era of development.

Only digital works are acceptable.

The contest consists of four sections: open colour, open monochrome, portrait (colour only) and action (colour only).

The content, theme and form of expression in the open colour and monochrome sections are unlimited.

Meanwhile, portrait photography focuses on depicting the expression, personality, emotions, or story of a person or a group of people.

Action photography focuses on capturing subjects in motion, including everyday activities or sporting events.

Each contestant can submit up to four photos per section on the website https://hopavnphotocontest.com by October 15. Photos must be submitted in JPEG format and be no more than 2MB in size.

The AI photo editing tools that enhance, adjust, or intelligently modify what was already captured in photos are permitted, while AI tools that generate new synthetic visual content based on external image data not originally present in the authors’ photos are prohibited.

The judges include prestigious photographers Lý Hoàng Long, Bùi Minh Sơn, Đoàn Thi Thơ and Nguyễn Minh Tân from Việt Nam. International jury members include Thigh Wanna from Singapore, Pia Jessen from Australia, Santos Moreno from Spain and PSA Membership Vice President Lewis Ka Yin Choi from Hong Kong (China).

The organisers will grant 107 awards, including gold, silver and bronze medals and honourable mentions from PSA, FIAP, VAPA and HOPA.

They will award the FIAP Blue Badge to the author with the highest number of total acceptances.

The winners will be announced on the website https://hopavnphotocontest.com by November 19. The electronic catalogue may be downloaded from the website.

The winning photos will be showcased at the third HCM City International Photography Festival, which is expected on November 22.

Last November, the second edition of the festival was held, providing exhibitions, photography talks, a photo symposium, and a showcase of photography equipment.

The “Photography Without Borders” exhibition showcased works by 36 artists from 14 international photography organisations, representing countries including Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Poland, Turkey, the US and Australia, and 50 Vietnamese artists, each contributing three of their finest photos.

The photo symposium attracted 100 artists from FIAP and PSA, as well as participants from several countries. — VNS