Summer is peak shooting season—golden sunsets stretch long past dinnertime, festivals burst with colour, and nature is in full bloom. If you’re looking to turn those fresh frames into accolades, TopPhotoAwards has lined up a robust slate of competitions whose deadlines fall squarely in July and August 2025. Below is your field guide to the ones you shouldn’t miss, organised by closing date so you can plan your submissions (and editing marathons) wisely.
Spoiler: it’s a cool $1,500 spread over six money-prize contests.
1. Street Life in Black & White
Deadline: 10 July 2025 · Prize Fund: $200
Monochrome strips the city of colour but amps up story, shape, and light. Judges want frames that feel lived-in: commuters lost in thought, graffiti-scrawled alleys, glistening pavement after rain. Focus on decisive moments, strong contrast, and textures that would be muted in colour. Two free entries per account, PayPal required for payouts; the in-house TPA jury handles judging. 
2. Muse: Beauty in Female Portrait
Deadline: 14 July 2025 · Prizes: Retouch4me plugins & cloud credits
Portrait shooters can lean into elegance, grit, or vulnerability—as long as the image tells a nuanced story of womanhood. The winner chooses any Retouch4me AI plugin plus 1,000 cloud retouches; runners-up get 1,000 / 500 retouches, and everyone receives a 20 % discount code. Expect extra exposure via a blog feature and coordinated social-media posts. Submit two freebies; co-judged by the TPA and Retouch4me teams. 
3. Flowers Still Life Composition
Deadline: 18 July 2025 · Prize Fund: $200
Think nature morte—carefully staged blooms under controlled light, not snapshots of garden beds. The brief encourages dramatic chiaroscuro as much as pastel serenity, so experiment with back-lighting, macro focus-stacking, or Dutch-master colour palettes. Two free submissions per user; upgraded tiers allow more. 
4. Textures & Surfaces
Deadline: 25 July 2025 · Prize Fund: $200
From cracked paint and rust to polished chrome, this theme celebrates the tactile. Judges want stories in the surface—how time, weather, or human touch has altered a material. Use raking light, extreme close-ups, or graphic repetition to emphasise depth. Two shots free; further slots with paid upgrade. 
5. Birds in action
Deadline: 28 July 2025 · Prize Fund: $200
Avian photography is already tricky, but this contest asks you to go beyond static portraits and freeze genuine movement—mid-dive kingfishers, territorial squabbles at the feeder, synchronized flock lifts, even a hummingbird’s split-second hover. Judges will be looking for sharp eyes, crisp wing detail, and compositions that convey speed or drama (think motion-blur wingtips against tack-sharp heads, or splash trails that trace a bird’s path). Fast shutter speeds (¹/₂₀₀₀ s and up), continuous autofocus, and lenses in the 300 mm range are your friends here. Two free uploads per entrant; winnings are paid via PayPal and accompanied by a blog feature and social-media spotlight.
6. Macro Beauty
Deadline: 1 August 2025 · Prize Fund: $500
The richest purse of the season focuses on cosmetics and skin close-ups: shimmering eyelids, lipstick textures, pore-level detail. Eligible subjects include faces, hair, and standalone beauty products. High-impact colour and meticulous retouching are welcome, but keep the look believable—oversmoothing kills the magic. Two free entries for base accounts. 
7. Sport Photography Spotlight
Deadline: 8 August 2025 · Awards: Badge + Certificate + Feature
Freeze explosive action or capture the tension before a serve. Judges crave emotion—grit-filled portraits, soaring leaps, team celebrations. Winners get a certificate, blog profile, and dedicated shout-outs across TPA socials (ideal for building a sports portfolio). Two free uploads; motion-blur creativity encouraged if it tells a clearer story. 
8. Majestic Horses
Deadline: 15 August 2025 · Awards: Badge + Certificate + Feature
No riders, no people—just the raw power and grace of the horse. Whether you shoot a galloping Friesian in golden light or a quiet paddock portrait in mist, aim for images that reveal muscle tone, flowing manes, or subtle behavioural moments. Winners headlined in a blog feature and social carousel. Two gratis submissions per shooter. 
9. Perspectives of Place: Architecture
Deadline: 22 August 2025 · Awards: Badge + Certificate + Feature
Exterior architecture only—no interiors, no human figures. Judges value compositions that go beyond documentation: dynamic angles, interplay of light and geometry, or environmental context (fog, reflections, foliage). Successful images often lead the eye with converging lines or isolate textural details in lofty façades. Two free entries; expanded tiers available. 
10. Bug’s Eye View: Macro Challenge
Deadline: 29 August 2025 · Prize Fund: $200
Shrink your audience down to insect scale—compound-eye reflections, iridescent wings, dew-covered antennae. Phone macros are welcomed alongside DSLR shots; judging weighs creativity, technical execution, and wow-factor. Winners pocket cash and feature slots, plus bragging rights for crawling on the ground all summer. Two uploads free; PayPal needed for payouts.
How to Maximise Your Chances
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Shoot with the brief in mind. Judges notice when images echo the contest’s stated themes and keywords.
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Mind the technicals. TopPhotoAwards allows two free entries per contest on a basic account; prep high-resolution JPEGs but stick to the platform’s size limits to avoid upload hiccups.
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Tell a story in your caption. A well-crafted description can give context and elevate an already strong frame.
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Submit early, iterate often. Upload at least a day before the deadline—servers and Wi-Fi gremlins love last-minute panic.
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Cross-promote. Share your entry on social media; many winners get featured by TopPhotoAwards’ Instagram, extending your reach.
Whether you’re enamoured with macro minutiae, street-life candour, or the drama of sport, TopPhotoAwards offers a summer contest tailor-made for your lens. Pick your favourite themes (or tackle them all), block out some golden-hour shoots, and turn the heat of Summer 2025 into winning frames. Happy shooting, and may your memory cards stay roomy!
