The 2010 Photographers Awards Competition is now closed.

The final deadline was midnight on Sunday 11th April.

There are a lot of photography competitions out there but the AOP Photographers Awards is still regarded as the original and the best - a celebration of exceptional work by the industry’s elite.

Building on this foundation, for 2010 we made some bold changes to the Awards format to inject a more contemporary feel to the whole competition, while retaining its reputation for excellence and its core values of impartiality and value for money.

First we rescheduled the dates of the competition. Online entry opened on 8th February, judging takes place from May to July and the exhibition will be held during October, when the winners will be announced and the Book will be launched.

Secondly, we re-structured the categories to give entrants a broader range of options across Commissioned and Non-Commissioned work, plus we created the Innovation category to recognise disciplines such as CGI and moving image, fields in which our Members are becoming increasingly involved.

As always, the competition is open to Full and Provisional Members of the Association of Photographers but this year, taking inspiration from the requests of a cross section of the Membership, we included a category for non-members, open specifically to commissioners of photography. The Best Commercial Use of Photography category will be judged in three sections: Advertising, Design and Publishing.

To see a full list of this year’s categories, please click here. You can also click on the following links to access the Terms & Conditions plus FAQs.

To simplify and modernise the whole submissions process we introduced an on-line entry system: on-line entry opened on Monday 8th February and the deadline for first round entries was extended to midnight on Sunday 11th April. This year we also reduced the entry fees across the board so that despite the rise in VAT it costs less to enter the competition than last year, plus those who submitted their work by Sunday 21st February were able to take advantage of our early-bird discount offer, giving them an extra reduction of around 15%. Please note that the fees were increased by 15% during the extension period (29th March to 11th April).

While the above changes represent a movement away from the customary format, we have taken every step to preserve the heritage of the Awards. The bedrock of the competition is the Judging process and as always, all the work is judged by a panel of respected industry professionals, overseen by a Chairman who will ensure that the process is fair and just. All first round entries were judged on-line this year but second round entries will still be judged as prints, which we feel is important in order to maintain continuity, tradition and the very highest standards. The Judges will be announced here on the Awards website at the end of July.

The judges are, of course, looking for images that convey beauty, creativity, technical skill and originality and all entrants will have the opportunity to win Best in Category. The winners will be announced in October 2010 when all the selected work will be showcased in the exhibition and the Awards Book, offering major exposure to art buyers and the entire creative industry. In addition, all selected entrants will have an extensive presence on the Awards website www.the-awards.com.

For more information on the 2010 Photographers Awards, please click on the links below. For information on how to join the AOP, please go to the AOP hub: www.the-aop.org.

Useful links:

Category Descriptions
Innovation Category Specifications
FAQs
Terms & Conditions
General CD ID Form & Entry Form
Moving Image CD ID Form & Entry Form
Important Dates