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With the WPPI awards just ended, I thought I would share the processes of entering photo competitions. Ok, I am no serial contest participant so I hope that whatever little I know and am sharing will be useful to you.
To begin with, the processes and judging procedures of photo competitions are quite different. Let's start with the WPPI. The WPPI Awards of Excellence is held once a year in Vegas. It is very prestigious and attracts photographers from all over the world. Some of the most popular photographers in the world participate in the WPPI and winning the awards guarantees international recognition. The Australian has something similar for their industry. It's the APPI and like at the WPPI, the Australians have been dominating.
With the WPPI, you need not be a member to submit your entries but there is a discount if you are a member. Each entry cost about US$37. The entries are submitted as prints on matts. The quality of the print and the matting also counts towards your final score. Thus finding a good printer is pretty important. You are then required to register your images online before sending them by mail to the USA.
WPPI allocate a couple of days for judging. There will be a panel of judges who will judge your images and award a score to it. Scores above 80 are awarded Accolades of Excellence and considered for the grand prizes. There are a number of categories and the top 3 images of each category recieves a trophy.
I have attached a link from the official website www.wppionline.com/competition/16x20.taf
Besides the WPPI, I also enter my images in the WPJA contests. The WPJA is a younger association that is also based in the states. There are members from all over the world. In Asia, Singapore has one of the highest number of members. The WPJA is a little more strict on their membership rules and some of the best photographers in the world has been barred for various reasons... quite a shame. As such, you won't find Jose Villa or Huy Ngyuen as members. Huy incidently won the overall prize in 2006!
The contests are held quaterly and images are submitted online. No prints are needed. The emphasis here is more on the image than anything else. You don't even need to submit a high res file. There are about 12-20 categories in each contest and the top 3 of each categories are awarded prizes and points while the rest in the top 10 gets points. These points are accumulated and the one with the highest pints for that quarter is placed in an overall table. At the end of the year, an overall winner is announced. Entry is at US$10 per submission.
The last and perhaps the most biazzare is the MPA Singapore awards. The MPA stands for Masters Photographers Association. It is based in the UK and they have an annual contest as well that is held in the UK. They also have smaller contests that are held in various countries. In 2007, I attended an MPA workshop and entered the contest that was held in Singapore.
Like the WPPI, the contest requires a submission of prints on matts. The prints can be in any size. Among all the submitted entries, a shortlist of prints (about 6 gets picked by the organiser and a guest speaker (then, it was David Oliver). They then put up the 6 images and it goes for a vote among the workshop participants! So, if you like image 1, raise your hand. The one with the most vote wins the category! The rest are awarded an Award of Excellence. Amazing.
Most of us workshop participants are there to learn and to be asked to judge is a little biazzare for me. Besides, wouldn't the results be biased especially if a photographer has plenty of friends or fans among the participants?
The MPA awards in the UK, from what I hear, is quite different altogether and the judging process is quite similar to the WPPI.
That said, lots of efforts are taken by the photographers and the judges in preparing and conducting these contests. It is a great opportunity to put your best works forward and see where they stand. Its also a great chance to meet and learn from other photographers and be amazed by the works put forth.
Cheers
To begin with, the processes and judging procedures of photo competitions are quite different. Let's start with the WPPI. The WPPI Awards of Excellence is held once a year in Vegas. It is very prestigious and attracts photographers from all over the world. Some of the most popular photographers in the world participate in the WPPI and winning the awards guarantees international recognition. The Australian has something similar for their industry. It's the APPI and like at the WPPI, the Australians have been dominating.
With the WPPI, you need not be a member to submit your entries but there is a discount if you are a member. Each entry cost about US$37. The entries are submitted as prints on matts. The quality of the print and the matting also counts towards your final score. Thus finding a good printer is pretty important. You are then required to register your images online before sending them by mail to the USA.
WPPI allocate a couple of days for judging. There will be a panel of judges who will judge your images and award a score to it. Scores above 80 are awarded Accolades of Excellence and considered for the grand prizes. There are a number of categories and the top 3 images of each category recieves a trophy.
I have attached a link from the official website www.wppionline.com/competition/16x20.taf
Besides the WPPI, I also enter my images in the WPJA contests. The WPJA is a younger association that is also based in the states. There are members from all over the world. In Asia, Singapore has one of the highest number of members. The WPJA is a little more strict on their membership rules and some of the best photographers in the world has been barred for various reasons... quite a shame. As such, you won't find Jose Villa or Huy Ngyuen as members. Huy incidently won the overall prize in 2006!
The contests are held quaterly and images are submitted online. No prints are needed. The emphasis here is more on the image than anything else. You don't even need to submit a high res file. There are about 12-20 categories in each contest and the top 3 of each categories are awarded prizes and points while the rest in the top 10 gets points. These points are accumulated and the one with the highest pints for that quarter is placed in an overall table. At the end of the year, an overall winner is announced. Entry is at US$10 per submission.
The last and perhaps the most biazzare is the MPA Singapore awards. The MPA stands for Masters Photographers Association. It is based in the UK and they have an annual contest as well that is held in the UK. They also have smaller contests that are held in various countries. In 2007, I attended an MPA workshop and entered the contest that was held in Singapore.
Like the WPPI, the contest requires a submission of prints on matts. The prints can be in any size. Among all the submitted entries, a shortlist of prints (about 6 gets picked by the organiser and a guest speaker (then, it was David Oliver). They then put up the 6 images and it goes for a vote among the workshop participants! So, if you like image 1, raise your hand. The one with the most vote wins the category! The rest are awarded an Award of Excellence. Amazing.
Most of us workshop participants are there to learn and to be asked to judge is a little biazzare for me. Besides, wouldn't the results be biased especially if a photographer has plenty of friends or fans among the participants?
The MPA awards in the UK, from what I hear, is quite different altogether and the judging process is quite similar to the WPPI.
That said, lots of efforts are taken by the photographers and the judges in preparing and conducting these contests. It is a great opportunity to put your best works forward and see where they stand. Its also a great chance to meet and learn from other photographers and be amazed by the works put forth.
Cheers
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