Gaze – The Queer Photo Award 2026

GAZE – the queer Photo-Award is an activist cultural project with a nationwide presence in Germany and international reach, created by and for the LGBTQIA+ community. It is run by Nadja Brendel, Judith Weber and Han Vogel under the agency Vielformat, hosted by Brendel, Vogel & Weber GbR as a non-profit project, with MPB — Europe's leading used-camera reseller — as its 2026 sponsor.

The 2026 theme, 'HOW TO / GATHER – Queer Communities in Photography', focuses on queer spaces as places of gathering where identities can unfold freely. It asks what friendship, romantic love and family mean beyond heteronormative-patriarchal norms, and what happens when queer communities are threatened and access to queer spaces is denied.

Entry is open to lens-based artists who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, are at least 18, and reside in Germany, the EU or the UK. Participants submit one project of 1–5 individual photographs, or a series of up to five images, taken no more than five years ago, via Picter. The entry fee is €15 per submission; submissions opened 15 June and close 31 August 2026.

GAZE awards a National first prize and an International first prize of €1,000 each (as MPB vouchers), plus a €500 Audience Prize. Winning entries are presented in an exhibition in Berlin in winter 2026.