Enter Hertford Photo Festival – and see your work on display across the town in May 2026

Presented by Courtyard Arts Centre in collaboration with All Saints Church, and supported by BEAM.

Festival dates: 5–30 May 2026

Private View at Courtyard Arts : Friday 8 May, 2026

Community Day at All Saints Church: Saturday 9 May, 2026

Hertford is set to host a major new cultural event in spring 2026 as Courtyard Arts together with All Saints Church, Go Hertford / the Town & Tourist Information Centre and BEAM will host Love & Hope, Hertford Photo Festival, running from 5–30 May 2026.

This community-focused festival invites residents of all ages to explore the power of photography as a medium for connection, creativity, and shared expression.

The festival will transform Hertford into a vibrant visual arts trail, linking key cultural venues and inviting residents of all ages to take part in an open photography festival.

The theme, Love and Hope covers a wide and broad range of subjects — people, places, nature, objects, moments, memories, and everyday scenes, maybe even in Hertford itself ! — capturing both small gestures and shared experience. This is an open and inclusive photography exhibition celebrating the many ways connection, care, and optimism appear in our lives. From the personal to the communal, the work reflects how love and hope can be found in ordinary moments, creative expression, resilience, and the world around us.

The selected photographs will be on display across three venues in Hertford: Courtyard Arts, All Saints Church and BEAM. The Festival  will open with a Private View at Courtyard Arts on 8 May, followed by a lively Community Day at All Saints Church on 9 May, featuring food trucks, live music, and family activities.

Prizes will be awarded for:

Best in show (under-16) // Runner-up (under-16) // Best in show (over-16) // Runner-up (over-16)

People’s choice // Mayor’s choice

Click on the button for the Conditions of Entry and Entry forms.

The Love & Hope festival is open to everyone, including free entry for children under 16, with parental permission.

A dedicated schools project will further encourage young people to get involved.

Each person can submit up to 3 photographs on the theme of Love & Hope

Photos can be framed with D-rings and ready to hang /or preferably mounted on card/ board and foam board.

These should be delivered to Courtyard Arts on Saturday 2 May, 2026.