2027 Thin Line Photo

2026 Thin Line Fest Photography Submission Portal Submissions are open Sep 15, 2026 through Jan 15, 2027. Submissions are $8.50 each. However, if you buy more than 5 submission 'credits' in one order, every credit past the first five is $4.25 per submission. To begin, click Register and Apply. Once you have created an account and logged in, click Add Submission to begin submitting your photography. Every Image Tells a Story Thin Line is a multidisciplinary storytelling festival celebrating the many ways stories can be shared: through photography, documentary film, music, and live experiences. Photography has always been an essential part of Thin Line because a single image can hold an entire story: a place, a person, a moment, a conflict, a culture, or an idea. Each year, we invite photographers from around the world to submit work for consideration in our curated photography exhibitions and become part of the larger Thin Line festival experience. Selected photographs are professionally printed on archival paper, mounted frameless, and exhibited in galleries throughout the festival. Exhibitions remain on display for several weeks after the festival concludes, giving the work a life beyond festival weekend. After the gallery run, photographers are welcome to take their exhibition prints home. But Thin Line is about more than putting photographs on walls. We want the storytellers behind the work to be part of the experience. Every accepted photographer receives a complimentary Artist Pass, providing VIP access to Thin Line events and opportunities to connect with photographers, filmmakers, musicians, artists, and audiences from throughout the festival. Accepted photographers traveling from outside the Dallas–Fort Worth area are also offered complimentary nights at the official festival hotel. Our audiences love meeting the photographers behind the images. Those conversations [about how an image was made, why a moment mattered, or what story exists beyond the frame] are part of what makes Thin Line special. We also award cash prizes to the top photographers in each category, but Thin Line is not simply a photography contest. It is a festival built around storytellers and the work they create. If you have a story worth seeing, we want to see it. Submit your work. Come to Denton. Tell your story. Categories Macro / MicroIn a photo or series of photos, bring the smallest parts of our world closer. Transform miniature into massive to offer new perspectives that alter perceptions through size and scale. Site / UnseenIn a photo or series of photos, reveal the commonly overlooked subjects and spaces that surround us. Expose secluded locations, small moments, secret stories, and hidden details. Time / SpaceIn a photo or series of photos, showcase interactions between time and space with compositions capturing motion or the lack thereof. Bursts of energy. Steady momentum. Brief pauses that change everything in an instant. Still / LifeIn a photo or series of photos, use traditional still-life techniques to create staged scenes depicting the energy and motion of real life. Compose and capture tableaus that serve as artistic representations of reality. Hear / HereIn a photo or series of photos, showcase the vibrant energy of musical artists performing on stage. Bonus points for regional artists or stages. AWARDS A "Best of Category" photograph will be selected in each of the five categories above. Winners will receive a $500 check. First runners-up will receive free submissions to the 2028 festival. NOTE: You will select a category for each photograph during submission. Thin Line Fest reserves the right to exhibit your work in any category.