2026

The Photographic Society of South Africa would like to encourage young people to develop their photographic skills. The Youth Division of PSSA also provides the Youth with a platform to measure their skills and compete against other children of their age nationally and internationally. These competitions also provide schools with a means to assess the skill levels of the children external to the school as a means of awarding school colours.

Some important information regarding the PSSA Youth Division and its activities and deadlines for 2026.

CERTIFICATES of EXCELLENCE (COE)
Applications for COEs take place twice a year. The dates for 2026 are as follows:
Certificates available for application-
• Friday 8 March 2026
• Friday 9 August 2026
– More detail here

MONTHLY COMPETITIONS
PSSA Youth Division Monthly Website Competition (Closes the 20th of each Month)
– A different set subject every month.
– Alternatively, the Youth can enter extra images in other categories available in the competition to be judged.
– More detail here

NATIONAL COMPETITIONS
• 29th PSSA Up&Coming Competition 2026 Closing 14th March 2026

• 30th PSSA Up&Coming Competition 2026 TBA
• The Youth can enter 4 images per category into the three categories in the Up&Coming competitions. These are:
– Open Colour
– Photojournalism & Sport
– Open Monochrome

• 7th PSSA Youth Salon 2026 TBA
• The Youth can enter 4 images per category into the following six categories:
– Nature
– Open Colour
– Open Monochrome
– Scapes
– Photojournalism & Sport
– World in Focus – NEW Category

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS
• PSA YOUTH SHOWCASE 2025 (High School Students only) – Closing 8th April 2026 –
– 8 images per High School are allowed
– More detail here

PSSA Youth Photographers of South Africa participating in the following salons:

• German International Photocup 2026 Closing TBA March 2026 Link: https://germanphotocup.de/
– Entrants under 25 Free of charge. Appointed Date of Birth__ March 2001
– 4 Images per category may be entered in this competition.
There are 4 categories:
– Open Colour
– Open Monochrome
– Nature
– Play and Fun

• 13th International Salon Plovdiv – Bulgaria 2026 TBA (May) (Youth 16-25)
Link Photo Salon Plovdiv (photosalon-plovdiv.com)
– 4 images per category
The six Categories are:
– OPEN MONOCHROME
– OPEN COLOR
– NATURE
– PHOTOJOURNALISM
– PORTRAIT & BODY
– URBAN LIFE

FREE OF CHARGE:
All the young photographers from 16 to 25 years old can take part free of charge in the salon, but only in 2 sections (of their personal choice).

Requirements for Youth:
To be eligible to enter, you must be 16-25 years of age still at the closing date of the competition.

39th Youth Competition Luxembourg 2026 –  Closing TBA (October)
• Link: Photo-Club PETANGE (photoclubpetange.lu)
Each entrant may submit up to 4 digital photos. The subject is Open.
There are 2 age groups :
A) up to the age of 16 (born after 14/10/2010)
B) up to the age of 25 (born after 14/10/2001)

All the entries for the international salons will be entered as the group PSSA Youth Photographers of South Africa, except for the PSA Youth Showcase, where the entries are per School/College.
Closing date for Group entries 5th October 2026
All the entries are handled by Phillip De Lange at upcomingpssa@gmail.com

Phillip De Lange
APSSA, DPSSA(Vers), DPSSA(Cls), AFIAP
PSSA Director: Youth Division