NewImages Festival reaches its 10th edition from 21 to 25 April 2027 in Paris, free for the general audience, with Industry Days running 20–23 April 2027. Its open calls have been accepting submissions since 4 September 2026 and close on 22 December 2026.
There are two deadlines, three competitions, and one of the three costs nothing to enter.
The deadlines
| Deadline | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Bird | 10 December 2026 |
| Last Call | 22 December 2026 |
Twelve days apart, and for the paid competitions the price rises by a third across that gap. If you are entering XR or Fulldome, the 10 December date is the one that matters.
The three competitions
XR Competition
Open to VR, AR, Mixed Reality, narrative video games, hybrid performances and other immersive experiences.
- Eligibility: “Works completed in 2026 or 2027 are eligible.” No premiere status required.
- Fees: Early Bird €75, or €45 as Individual Talent. Last Call €100, or €60 as Individual Talent.
- Prizes: Grand Prize €6,000, Impact Award €3,000
Fulldome Competition
Native fulldome only — work authored for 360° dome projection, not a flat piece reformatted.
- Eligibility: “Works completed after 2023 are eligible.” No premiere status required.
- Fees: same as XR — €75 / €45 Early Bird, €100 / €60 Last Call
- Prize: Dome Award €3,000
Virtual Worlds Competition
Social VR platforms — VRChat, Roblox, Fortnite Creative are the named examples — plus independent worlds, multiplayer art spaces, and interactive installations inside virtual environments.
- Eligibility: no premiere status required, and no completion-year rule is stated
- Fee: free
- Prize: Virtual Worlds Award €3,000
The two details that decide whether you are eligible
First, the completion windows are not the same. XR requires work finished in 2026 or 2027. Fulldome accepts anything completed after 2023. That is a three-year difference in the same festival’s rules, and it is easy to read one and assume the other. A 2024 piece is ineligible for XR and perfectly eligible for Fulldome.
Second, Virtual Worlds is free and has no stated year limit — and carries the same €3,000 award as Fulldome. For a persistent world, which is the kind of work that has no meaningful “completion” date anyway, that combination is unusually open. If your work lives on a social platform rather than in a headset build, this is the cheapest serious submission on the list.
Industry Days, for work that is not finished
Four separate tracks run alongside the competitions:
| Track | For | Fee (Early / Last) |
|---|---|---|
| XR Development Market | Projects in development | €50 / €75 |
| Immersive Art Fair | Completed work ready for distribution | €50 / €75 |
| XR Partners | Technology and service providers | €50 / €75 |
| Industry Sessions | Panels, workshops, masterclasses, case studies | No fee listed |
The XR Development Market offers four days of one-to-one meetings with decision makers and a Best Project Award of €1,000 — the route for work that is not ready to screen.
The Immersive Art Fair wants projects completed within the last five years and ready for distribution in 2027; selected participants also rent showcase space, with terms in the Regulations. Industry Sessions proposals are reviewed by the programming team and a community vote, which is worth knowing when you write the pitch.
Fee reductions and what selection gets you
Students and self-produced creators can select “Individual Talent” in the entry form for the reduced fee — €45 instead of €75 on Early Bird, €60 instead of €100 on Last Call. Selected competitors receive two complimentary festival accreditations.
How to submit
- Competitions (XR, Fulldome, Virtual Worlds): the “Apply – Competitions” form
- Industry Days (Development Market, Art Fair, XR Partners): the Industry Days application form
- Industry Sessions: the SeaTable proposal form linked from the calls page
Practical
- Submissions open: 4 September – 22 December 2026
- Early Bird: 10 December 2026
- Festival: 21–25 April 2027, Paris — 10th edition, free for the general audience
- Industry Days: 20–23 April 2027
The festival has published its dates and city but not a confirmed venue for 2027; the 2026 edition ran at the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie rather than the Forum des images, so check before making travel assumptions. Fees, categories and rules can change — the calls page and the Regulations are authoritative.
Sources
- Calls for Projects — NewImages Festival
- NewImages Festival
- NewImages Festival : une nouvelle édition en faveur de l’art immersif — CNC
- Forum des images