Venturing outside of the trade marketplace, there are opportunities for photographers to raise their profiles and potentially their incomes. Aside from numerous museum and gallery exhibitions, there are two renowned international competitions, which run annually.
World Press Photo organises what it calls 'the world's largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest.'25 There are ten categories, each with a first-place prize of 1,500EUR, as well as the main World Press Photo of the Year Award, which brings the winner a 10,000EUR cash prize.26 The awards ceremony itself, held each springtime in Amsterdam, is one of the highlights of the photographic industry's calendar and offers a rare networking opportunity for photographer's and trade staff from around the world, as well as publicly showcasing the portfolios of the prize winning photographers.27 Following the awards, the winning photographs spend the next year as part of a touring exhibition which reaches over 100 cities.28 Secondly, the Southern French city of Perpignan hosts Visa pour l'Image: International Festival of Photojournalism, a two-week event which includes screenings, exhibitions, industry meetings and seminars. Three prestigious Visa D'or awards of 8000EUR for outstanding photojournalism are given out at the festival, and there are several other prizes awarded of similar financial value.29
Both World Press Photo and Visa pour l'Image offer educational programmes, with the latter organisation tending to concentrate on supplying schoolteachers with the necessary tools to teach photo analysis to their pupils.30 WPP, however, is one of an increasing number of bodies which offer training to those already working within the press photography trade.31 The agency VII also offers workshops and masterclasses focused on professional development,32 as do both of the major British trade organisations (the British Press Photographer's Association (BPPA) and the Bureau of Freelance Photographers [BFP]).33 For those thinking of getting into the press photography business, or indeed for photographer's simply wishing to continue to develop professionally, there are a number of more formal options available. New York's International Centre of Photography's Documentary and Photojournalism program is a vocationally targeted course aimed at those already with an advanced level of technical skill.34 In the United Kingdom, a number of British universities offer undergraduate courses. They start at near-beginner level; Newport School of Art Media and Design's BA (Hons) Documentary Photography is particularly well-thought of within the industry, largely due to the third and final year of the course being devoted entirely to building a portfolio and preparing students for entry into the trade with extensive professional training workshops and seminars.35 London College of Communication's MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography course is one of a few choices available for those wishing to study at postgraduate level.36