Convention 2020
One of the highlights of each year for me is the Societies Convention 2020 which takes place in London in January. This year was a special occasion as it was the first year I would be part of the judging team for the 20x16 print competition and also distinction awards. I’m going to do a separate blog post about that experience and want to purely speak about awards in this post.
The awards evening is always a great part of the convention and an opportunity to see the best of the previous years photography that has been shortlisted and the winners of awards recognised for their achievements.
Working as a photographer can often be a lonely existence for most of the time, and it’s at events such as the convention that it really is a great opportunity to connect with existing friends and make new ones all with the same passion and love for photography.
Sports POTY Winner
Photographer of the Year Awards
The Photographer of the Year Award (POTY) nominations are selected from pictures entered into the monthly competitions ran by the Societies which receive gold awards. There are approx 24 categories which cover different genres that people work in. The Pictures are awarded a gold, highly commended (HC) or no award each month in each category. At the end of the year a team of judges meet and spend time reassessing pictures that have been awarded a HC to see if they should be upgraded to a gold award. Then three shortlisted images for POTY are selected from the gold awarded pictures for each category along with the winner.
Around 11,000 pictures are entered into the monthly competitions each year, and out of these there are 3 shortlisted pictures for each category, so approx 72 shortlisted images from an original 11,000 worldwide entry from working photographers. To be shortlisted in itself is an achievement, to go on and win a POTY is a major achievement.
I was very happy to have received 6 nominations in 5 categories for the photographer of the year awards. The categories I was nominated in were Sport, Architecture, Events, In Camera Artistry, Media and Documentary.
On the awards night I was awarded Photographer of the year awards in Sport, Architecture and the Media and Documentary categories. The Sport category was particularly pleasing for me as I had been nominated in that category for the previous 4 years and never won it before. A saying I live by is that if you want something, don’t give up until you have it.
One of several print finalists
20x16 Print Competition Documentary category Winner
20x16 Print Competition
A separate competition that runs at convention is the 20x16 print competition. Which accepts world wide entries and is judged in front of an audience with comments on prints made publicly as the prints are judged and scored. This is a unique opportunity for visitors to sit and listen to judges debate and assess prints and learn from the comments. For the first time this year prints were also shown on a large projected screen and judges comments were relayed over a speaker system so everyone could see and hear what was happening. There were approx 38 judges involved, from the UK, Australia, USA and Europe. Split into 5 teams each in a different room judging separate categories.
All my prints were printed on Fotospeed Photo Smooth Pearl 290 which is ideal for competitions for both
colour and monochrome prints. the printed medium is so important, a photograph is not a photograph until it is printed.
In the 20x16 print competition, I had 7 awarded prints and 5 finalists, resulting in 2nd and 3rd place in the Wildlife category, and 1st 2nd and 3rd in the Documentary category.
Judges are not allowed to be involved in any way with judging when their own prints are up for consideration at the competition and are removed prior by the chair of judges to ensure that is the case.
Competitions, Awards, Distinctions, why bother?
There is a high value in taking part in competitions and awards. The taking part time is a time of immense personal development and that can only happen from being involved. If a person simply watches how to do something they will likely forget very easily. If a person is taught something in a structured way, they are more likely to remember it. If a person is INVOLVED in a process, that is when they learn and develop.
Being involved in competitions, awards and working towards distinctions involves a person in a deep process of learning and development. Something to aim towards and a time they can be totally engaged and motivated. The actual final award is merely the icing on the cake.
Winning awards can also gain you recognition and help get your name known, that in itself can be very valuable particularly in business matters.
Awards and Distinctions are hard earned and don’t come along easily, so if you have any be proud of that, if you are thinking of gaining some, congratulations, it is one of the best things you can do for your own personal development.
www.fotospeed.com
thesocieties.net