LFA AWARD | 2nd Edition - Opening on 25 September

Held biennially, the Luis Ferreira Alves International Photography Competition | A Contemporary Look at Architecture returns for its second edition in 2026, inviting photographers from around the world to explore architecture through distinctive and coherent photographic series. Created in tribute to Portuguese architectural photographer Luis Ferreira Alves, the Award approaches photography as a critical, poetic and documentary practice, and as a way of investigating architecture, the city, territory and contemporary life.

Open to photographers of all nationalities, working individually or collectively, the competition invites the submission of a photographic series of 9 to 11 images engaging with a single work of architecture, a group of works or a broader architectural context. Projects may be produced through analogue or digital photographic processes, in colour or black and white, and should demonstrate a clear authorial position and a considered relationship between photography, architecture and the experience of space.

The first international edition attracted 1495 submissions from 99 countries. Its shortlisted and award-winning projects were presented through a public exhibition and a bilingual publication, extending the competition into a wider space for visual culture, research and critical debate.

On 26 September, the Open Call launched the previous day will receive its first in-person presentation in Porto, through a brief introduction to the second edition immediately before LFA Talks - Publishing an Award, Extending a Legacy.

LFA Talks is a specific event, integrated into the parallel programme of the 11th Sophia Journal International Conference, and dedicated to Luis Ferreira Alves, the Award, its publication and the ways in which that legacy can continue through photography, architecture, publishing and visual culture. Moderated by Jorge Sobrado, the conversation will bring together Hugh Campbell, Cristina Gastón, Judit Torres and Gabriel Hernández.