Remote opportunities — page 22

Natural History Museum, London

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The world's most prestigious wildlife photography competition, run by the Natural History Museum in London, spanning 16 categories from animal behaviour to photojournalism. Winning images are exhibited at the Museum and in a touring exhibition seen by audiences worldwide.

Apply → nhm.ac.uk

Global Change Award (H&M Foundation)

H&M Foundation

An annual innovation challenge seeking bold ideas to decarbonize the fashion and textile industry, from new materials to recycling technology. Ten winning teams each receive €200,000 and a year-long Changemaker Programme with mentoring from Accenture and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Apply → hmfoundation.com

📍 Global (chapter-based)PaidEasy

The Awesome Foundation Micro-Grants

The Awesome Foundation

A global network of independently run chapters that give out no-strings-attached micro-grants (typically $1,000) to fund creative, community, or technology projects on a rolling monthly basis. Anyone who can fill out the short application form is eligible to apply, and funds require no repayment or equity.

Apply → awesomefoundation.org

International Songwriting Competition

International Songwriting Competition (ISC)

An annual global songwriting competition open to amateur and professional songwriters in 23 categories, from AAA to World Music, including lyrics-only and music video entries. 74 winners share in cash and prizes, with songs heard by influential music industry judges.

Apply → songwritingcompetition.com

USA Songwriting Competition

A long-running international songwriting competition spanning 15+ genre categories from Pop to Hip-Hop to Lyrics Only, judged by music industry professionals from major labels. The Grand Prize is $50,000 in cash, merchandise, and services.

Apply → songwriting.net

Nautilus Book Awards

An annual book award recognizing works that support conscious living and social change, spanning 35+ categories from self-help to ecology to fiction. Entries are open to self-published authors, small presses, hybrid publishers, and traditional publishers alike.

Apply → nautilusbookawards.com

Hopewell Publications / Eric Hoffer Award

Eric Hoffer Book Award

An independent book award open to small, academic, and independent press titles, including self-published books, across 24+ categories. The grand prize is $7,500, with additional category prizes and distinctions like the Montaigne Medal and da Vinci Eye.

Apply → hofferaward.com

The Center for Cartoon Studies

Cartoonist Studio Prize

An annual open-submission award from the Center for Cartoon Studies recognizing excellence in long-form and short-form comics published in print or online during the prior year. Winners in each category receive $500 and national recognition in the comics community.

Apply → cartoonstudies.org

Neukom Institute for Computational Science, Dartmouth College

Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Playwriting

An annual award for a full-length play or theatrical work exploring what it means to be human in a computerized world, offered by Dartmouth's Neukom Institute. The winner receives a $5,000 honorarium plus a professional workshop and public reading produced by Northern Stage.

Apply → sites.dartmouth.edu

Apply → winningwriters.com

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest

Winning Writers

A free-to-enter annual contest for the best humor poem, run by Winning Writers, offering $3,750 in total prizes including a $2,000 first prize. Open to poets of all ages and experience levels, with the top 13 poems published online.

📍 RemoteUnpaidMedium

University of Iowa Press / Iowa Writers' Workshop

Iowa Short Fiction Award / John Simmons Short Fiction Award

Two annual prizes for a debut collection of short stories, judged through the University of Iowa Press and Iowa Writers' Workshop, with the winning manuscripts published by the University of Iowa Press. One of the most prestigious open-submission routes to publishing a first story collection.

📍 RemoteHard

Apply → fictionawards.writersworkshop.uiowa.edu

Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress

The Whiting Foundation

A $40,000 grant awarded to ten writers completing a deeply researched, book-length work of nonfiction under contract with a publisher, given at a crucial mid-process stage of writing. Covers history, memoir, science, criticism, and other adult nonfiction genres.

📍 RemotePaidHard

Apply → whiting.org

The Nine Dots Prize (Kadas Prize Foundation)

Nine Dots Prize

An international essay competition awarding $100,000 for the best 3,000-word response to a set question about a major societal issue, with the winner then writing a short book published by Cambridge University Press. No prior publication or academic credentials are required to enter.

Apply → ninedotsprize.org

Sundance Institute Documentary Fund

Sundance Institute

A grant program supporting independent, feature-length documentary films in development, production, or post-production, with non-recoupable grants of $25,000–$100,000. Filmmakers retain full creative and editorial control of their projects.

Apply → sundance.org

📍 Global (Global South project locations)PaidHard

Whitley Award (Whitley Fund for Nature)

Whitley Fund for Nature

An annual conservation prize recognizing grassroots conservation leaders in the Global South, providing up to £40,000 in project funding over one year plus training, mentoring, and a global media profile. Applicants apply directly without needing a nomination or invitation.

Apply → whitleyaward.org

Rolex Awards for Enterprise

Rolex

A biennial-turned-annual global award recognizing pioneering individuals with impactful projects in science and health, the environment, applied technology, exploration, or cultural heritage. Laureates receive a cash grant, a Rolex chronometer, and access to a global network of past award winners.

Apply → rolex.org

NASA (administered by the Methuselah Foundation)

NASA Deep Space Food Challenge: Mars to Table

A NASA Centennial Challenge inviting teams to design complete, nutritionally sufficient food systems for long-duration Mars missions. The competition has a total prize purse of up to $750,000, split across an overall winner, runners-up, and category awards.

📍 RemotePaidHard

Apply → nasa.gov

Vesuvius Challenge (EduceLab / Nat Friedman / Daniel Gross)

Vesuvius Challenge

An open, ongoing machine learning and computer vision competition to virtually unroll and read the carbonized Herculaneum papyrus scrolls using AI, with over $1.8 million awarded in prizes to date. Progress Prizes are awarded monthly for open-source contributions, alongside larger prizes for major breakthroughs like decoding full letters or titles.

📍 RemotePaidHard

Apply → scrollprize.org

Wikimedia Foundation and local Wikimedia affiliates

Wiki Loves Monuments

The world's largest photography competition, where anyone can photograph local historical monuments and heritage sites and upload them under a free license to Wikimedia Commons. National contests run in over 50 countries each September/October, feeding into an international jury round with prizes.

📍 GlobalUnpaidEasy

Apply → wikilovesmonuments.org

Apply → hasselbladfoundation.org

Hasselblad Foundation Photo Book Grants

Hasselblad Foundation

An international grant supporting the production and publication of photographic book projects that are largely edited and designed but not yet published. Two grants of SEK 100,000 each are awarded annually to photographers, artists, curators, researchers, or writers.

📍 GlobalStipendHard

World Nature Photography Awards

An annual international competition celebrating nature and wildlife photography across categories like animal behavior, underwater, and plants/fungi. The World Nature Photographer of the Year receives a cash prize and global recognition.

Apply → worldnaturephotographyawards.com

International Photography Awards / Lucie Foundation

International Photography Awards (IPA)

One of the largest annual photography competitions in the world, open to professional, non-professional, and student photographers across genres like fine art, documentary, nature, and portraiture. Offers a total of $60,000 in prizes including the International Photographer of the Year title.

Apply → photoawards.com

World Press Photo Foundation

World Press Photo Contest

The world's most prestigious annual photojournalism competition, recognizing the best single images, photo stories, and long-term projects documenting the past year. Winners are featured in a travelling exhibition seen by millions and the official yearbook, alongside cash prizes.

Apply → worldpressphoto.org

World Photography Organisation / Sony

Sony World Photography Awards – Single Image Competition

A free global photography competition open to anyone, where you submit up to three single images across ten categories. The overall winner receives $5,000, Sony digital imaging equipment, and international media exposure, with shortlisted and category-winning work exhibited and promoted worldwide.

Apply → worldphoto.org

📍 Multiple cities worldwide / Remote chaptersEquityMedium

Founder Institute Core Program

Founder Institute

A roughly 4-month, part-time, chapter-based pre-seed accelerator run in dozens of cities worldwide, guiding idea-stage founders through incorporation, business model development, and fundraising prep. Entry fee (~$799-$1,199 depending on timing and region, partly refundable) plus a 2.5% equity pledge into FI's 'Equity Collective,' paid only upon a liquidity event.

Apply → fi.co

📍 Remote (American time zones)EquityHard

Techstars Anywhere Accelerator

Techstars

Techstars' remote-first accelerator delivering the standard Techstars mentorship-driven program to companies in American time zones without requiring relocation, with three in-person offsites during the program. Standard Techstars terms apply: a $220,000 investment package for roughly 5% equity plus the value of an uncapped MFN SAFE.

Apply → techstars.com

📍 Global (Global Finals typically at Ashridge House, UK)EquityHard

Hult Prize

Hult Prize Foundation

A year-long global pitch competition for student and early-career entrepreneurs building for-profit ventures aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals. The competition runs through campus qualifiers, national finals, and a Global Accelerator before the Global Finals, where the winning team receives $1 million USD in seed funding.

Apply → hultprize.org