[Hokkaido, Higashikawa] 'Photo Koshien 2026' Begins! 80 Schools Advance Through Preliminary Judging

The Photo Koshien Executive Committee (Higashikawa Town, Hokkaido, the 'Town of Photography') has announced the results of the preliminary judging for the 33rd National High School Photography Championship, 'Photo Koshien 2026,' following the application deadline on May 14.

The 80 schools that successfully passed the preliminary judging will proceed to the block judging round (held on June 6-7), where 18 schools will be chosen to advance to the final tournament.

The judging was conducted on May 21 by eight Photo Koshien judges. Following a rigorous process lasting over six hours, 80 schools were selected out of 463 applicants (including 41 first-time applicants).

Since 2021, the block judging round has been conducted online via mutual communication. The 33rd competition is scheduled to be held on June 6-7, and the judging process will be available on the official Photo Koshien YouTube channel at a later date.