Intl Theatre Photography Contest Spotlights Children & Young Adult Theatre @ 9th Edition

The Theatre Exposed’s International Theatre Photography Contest is creating a wider visibility for children and young adult theatre performances this year.

The decision comes after nine years of receiving an insufficient number of photography submissions in the Children and Young Adult theatre practice. Hence, the collaboration with its longtime partner ASSITEJ, an international association that convenes theatre groups, organizations, practitioners and individuals from across the globe, who create theatric performances for children and young adult, to limit submission options in the contest’s ‘Open Category’ – where ‘Experimental’ and ‘Street Theatre’ Photographs applied in the past, to ‘Children and Young Adult’ Photography.

Contest Director Irina Averina, who noted that theatre for children and young adults is not developed to the standard level everywhere in the world, expressed optimism that having a separate category for this aspect of theatre in the contest will draw the interest of professional photographers to the practice.

“It is no secret that if a photographer does not work in such a theatre, they will not go specifically to performances for children. In this way, we aim to attract more participants and demonstrate the level of development of these theatres in various countries around the world. After all, children are the most grateful audience.”

Averina has a point. Children and young adult theatre is not developed to the required level anywhere in the world. This is particularly true in Africa, where the practice is scarce or non-existent. Except for school plays, which feature child actors, theatre performances specifically designed for children are rare, let alone inclusive theatre productions featuring children with disabilities. The latter does not exist.

Thus, much commendation goes to children and adult theatre festivals like Joshua Alabi’s Kininso International Theatre Festival (KIFT) and Seun Awobajo Footprints of David Arts Festival, both in Lagos, Nigeria, that produce and host quality children and young adult theatre productions from across the globe and Africa, annually. The latter has a group of young dancers and actors who perform across Nigeria and the world.

By emphasising submissions in the Children and Young Adult Theatre Photography contests, as seen in Theatre Exposed, not only do they create global visibility for practitioners, but also highlight opportunities for employment for photographers in the field. Additionally, it draws attention to the role of such theatre in the education and development of empathetic and critical thinking children, and a means through which young people understand the world without necessarily having to experience the unfortunate traumas their peers do in various parts of the world.

In this ninth edition, an expanding eleven-member jury pooled from various continents Africa (Nigeria), Asia (Japan, South Korea, Iran), Europe (Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Slovenia, France), and North, and South America (USA, Peru, Colombia), will evaluate entries from July 1 through 31, post a submission deadline of January 1 to July 1, 2026, followed by the release of a selected longlist.

Voting for the public’s favourite photos will hold from August 1 to 10, 2026, on Theatre Exposed Facebook page, while winners across the contest’s various categories – Arts Photo, Portrait Photo, Movement In Arts, Open Category: Theatre Performances for Children and Youth, alongside Audience Favourite Photo, will be announced on August 19, 2026.

The International Theatre Photography Contest is held in commemoration of World Photography Day every year on August 19. The 2026 edition, which embodies the contest’s key objective, is themed ‘Theatre As Art’