FORMAT27 Young FORMAT Open Call
Exhibition opportunity for young photographers aged 25 years and under.
FORMAT/QUAD‘s Young Advocates and Photofusion’s Young Curators are excited to announce that we are seeking photographs from children and young people, aged 25 years and under, to exhibit as part of the FORMAT27 Biennale in Derby at at Photofusion in London.
FORMAT27 is an international Photography Festival taking place in venues across Derby from 11 March – 11 April 2027. Photofusion is London’s largest all-encompassing photography centre.
In 2027 FORMAT festival is exploring the theme of PLAY and will feature a range of work by photographers from all around the world. The open call offers a brilliant opportunity to show your photographic skills to a huge audience of photography fans from far and wide. As part of this partnership between QUAD/FORMAT and Photofusion, the Young Advocates and Curators will each curate a physical exhibition of selected works from the open call which will be exhibited in the respective venues during 2027.
We want to see your interpretation of PLAY! Try and be creative with your subject matter by thinking about:
- What emotions do you want to inspire?
- Different angles and viewpoints.
- Composition, shapes, light and colour.
- Abstract and conceptual interpretations of the theme.
- Experimentation of new techniques
- Unconventional pictures/ using unconventional methods
- Exploring new perspectives
How to approach this:
- Use what you’ve got! You don’t need any special equipment or experience.
- There’s no right or wrong way to do this, so enjoy yourself and feel free to experiment.
We can’t wait to see your submissions and we encourage everyone to have a go!
Deadline for submissions: Sunday 13th December 2026
How to Apply
- Submit up to five images, accompanied by a short description explaining how your work responds to the theme, via our online submission form.
- Submission deadline: Sunday 6 December 2026.
- All applicants will be notified of the outcome in February 2027.
File Guidelines
- File name: Save each file using your FIRSTNAME_AGE (e.g. AMY_22).
- File format: JPEG or JPG.
- File size: Each image must be no larger than 10MB.
- If your work is selected but the image file is not of sufficient quality for print, we will aim to include it in the festival through a digital display instead.
Teachers and Lecturers
- If you are submitting work on behalf of your students, please indicate this in the online submission form.
Important Information
- For submissions featuring children and young people under the age of 18, a completed consent form must be provided for each image. Consent forms can be downloaded through the online submission form. Without a completed consent form, we will be unable to exhibit the work.
- If you are under 18, your work must be submitted by a parent or legal guardian.
Terms and Conditions
- A selection of submitted works will be chosen for the final exhibition by the QUAD/FORMAT Young Advocates and Photofusion Young Curators. Depending on the volume of submissions, we will aim to showcase other submissions through a collage or digital display.
- All submitted images will be reviewed by the curatorial teams at QUAD/FORMAT and Photofusion.
- By submitting your work, you agree that it may be considered for exhibition at QUAD and Photofusion. Images featuring people under the age of 18 will not be used in promotional materials or associated social media. Images featuring adults may be used to promote the FORMAT27 Festival across QUAD, FORMAT and Photofusion’s associated promotional channels, subject to the relevant permissions.
- All applicant information will be handled in accordance with applicable UK data protection legislation, including UK GDPR, and the privacy policies of QUAD/FORMAT and Photofusion. For further information, please visit:
- Submissions that do not meet the specified file format or size requirements may not be eligible for exhibition.
- All submitted work must be your own. Submitting another person’s work as your own may constitute copyright infringement.
- FORMAT27 is not responsible for independently verifying the authorship or authenticity of submitted work.
- Any images considered inappropriate or unsuitable for the exhibition will be removed from the open call.
