Readers of Edinburgh
A Photography Competition · Open 2026

Readers of
Edinburgh.

For the 2026 National Year of Reading, Tills Bookshop is hosting a photography competition, celebrating the private, unseen places where reading happens — home bookshelves, bedroom corners, a grandmother's wild collection.

Submit your entry → Read the brief
Interior of Tills Bookshop, Edinburgh, with bookshelves around a fireplace and red wooden chair
Tills Bookshop, Edinburgh.
i.The Brief

Capturing the domestic, intergenerational life of books.

We are looking for photographs of the spaces our books actually live in: the shelf above a bed, the pile beside an armchair, a kitchen table buried in paperbacks.

Be experimental and expressive — we don't mind some flare. We are open to any photographic style or technique: documentary, staged still life, experimental printing techniques, montage, impressionistic or expressive works. Entries are judged on the quality and impact of the image and your accompanying statement.

We want to see different ways of capturing the domestic life of readers and our collections.

What we want to see
Home bookshelves · bedroom reading corners · portraits with books · piles, stacks, drifts · forgotten personal libraries & private collections
Exclusions
Public spaces · bookshops & public libraries · AI-generated images (of course)
ii.Eligibility & How to Enter
  1. Free & open to all
    No entry fee. Photographers of any age. Any camera — phone, film, or otherwise. Edinburgh residents and visitors welcome.
  2. Up to three entries
    Submit a single image or a small series — no more than three photographs per person across the competition. Each entry is judged on its own, not as a series. A photo montage is fine as a single submission.
  3. A short statement
    Include 50–100 words with each entry. Tell us why you took this photo; what is the story behind the image? What drove your vision?
  4. High-res JPEGs
    Submit each photograph as a high-resolution JPEG, up to 100 MB per file. This ensures we can print finalists at exhibition scale.
  5. Private & domestic spaces only
    No public libraries or bookshops. We're looking for the quiet, lived-in places books call home.
  6. No AI
    All work must be photographed by you. No AI-generated images, and no AI-augmented edits.
iii.Judges
Joshua McNamara
Ethnographer · Lecturer in Film, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland · Director, Cultural Commons CIC

Ethnographer with a background in visual cultures, and lecturer in film at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

iv.Prizes
First Place
£100
Cash prize.
Second Place
£50
Cash prize.
Third Place
£50
Tills Bookshop voucher.

Every finalist also receives a 1-month Mixer Membership to AGITATE. All winning entries will be exhibited at Tills Bookshop, 1 Hope Park Crescent, for three months from October 2026 — with printing and framing costs for finalists covered by Cultural Commons CIC.

v.Timeline
1 June 2026
Submissions open
30 July 2026
Deadline
20 September 2026
Winners announced
October 2026
Exhibition opens
vi.Submit
Deadline · 30 July 2026

Send us your photographs.

Submissions are taken through a short Google Form. Upload up to three images, with a 50–100 word statement for each.

Open submission form →

Can't use the form? Email your photographs as high-res JPEGs (max 100 MB each) and a statement for each image to photo@tillsbookshop.co.uk before 30 July 2026. Include your name, age (if under 18), and a contact number.

Entry feeFree
Open toAll ages
Max entries3 per person
Statement50–100 words
File formatHigh-res JPEG · max 100 MB
Closes30 July 2026
vii.Questions

Still unsure? Email photo@tillsbookshop.co.uk.

Do I have to live in Edinburgh?

The photographs should be made in Edinburgh, but you don't need to live here.

Can I submit photos taken in my own home?

Yes — your own bookshelves, reading corners, and family libraries are exactly what we're after.

Do the photos need to include people?

No. If your photograph does include another person, please make sure you have their permission.

What rights do you take over my photographs?

You retain full copyright. By entering, you grant Tills Bookshop and Cultural Commons a non-exclusive, perpetual licence to reproduce your work on social media and in connection with the competition and exhibition, always with your name credited. We will not use entries in any for-profit print product.

Can children enter?

Yes — please have your parent or guardian's consent.

Is there a particular style of photography you're looking for?

No — still life, analogue development, experimental work, documentary, portraiture and so on are all welcome. There are no specific judging categories for style; all work is considered in relation to the strength of the image and its supporting statement.