ENTRY INFO 2024

 

Australian Photography is searching for Australia and New Zealand's most amazing amateur photographers. With the best entries showcased and celebrated in a special issue of Australian Photography magazine in 2025 and exhibited at a special exhibition at Ted's World of Imaging in Sydney, alongside more than $16,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs, there are plenty of reasons to get involved.

Photographer of the Year includes six portfolio categories – Landscape, Animal & Nature, People, Aerial, Travel and Black & White – and three single-image categories – Single Shot, Creative and Junior (for entrants under 18).

ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

Over the past decade, Photographer of the Year has become an important launchpad for many amateur photographers in Australia and New Zealand. For 2024, entrants will compete for a prize pool with more than $10,000 in cash.

Our Photographer of the Year 2023 finalists and runners-up were exhibited at a special event at Ted's World of Imaging in Sydney in early 2024. Image: Ted's World of Imaging.

Winners and runners up, as well as a selection of the best entries in each category, will be published in a special Photographer of the Year edition of Australian Photography magazine in December 2024. Last year we published 400 images from the competition over 60 pages.

WHO CAN ENTER?

Photographer of the Year is open to amateur photographers in Australia and New Zealand.

For the purposes of this competition, we define an amateur photographer as someone who has not earned more than $5,000 in a year from photography, and has not completed a tertiary photography qualification.

For more detailed information about the eligibility requirements see the terms and conditions.

IMAGE RESTRICTIONS

You can enter images taken on or after 1 June 2023. Do not enter images previously entered in Photographer of the Year.

Image(s) that finished in the top five in any of the following Yaffa Media photo competitions – Australasia's Top Emerging Photographers, The Mono Awards, The Landscape Awards, and Wilderness Photographer of the Year – may not be entered.

ENTERING IMAGES FROM OTHER COMPETITIONS 

In keeping with the spirit of Photographer of the Year being a celebration of the best new work captured in the last year, we encourage you to enter imagery that has not been entered, and especially recognised, in other competitions.

PRICING AND DEADLINES

$40 per entry

Entries close 11.59pm (AEDT) Sunday 20 October 2024. All pricing in Australian Dollars (AUD). 

JUNIOR PRICING AND DEADLINES

Pricing is per entry.

$20 per entry (22 July - 20 October 2024)

Entries close 11.59pm (AEDT) Sunday 20 October 2024. All pricing in Australian Dollars (AUD). 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 

This is a photography competition and, as such, images must be captured with a camera (digital, film or phone camera) by the entrant. Images created by artificial intelligence using image-creation programs (for example, MidJourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, etc) may not be entered. Images edited using Generative AI in programs such as Photoshop, Topaz Photo AI, etc, where pixels are added that did not exist in the original photo, may not be entered. Check the terms and conditions for more information.

DIGITAL MANIPULATION

There are limitations on the amount of image manipulation you can apply to your images. In all categories, except Creative, you can make 'darkroom style' edits to your photos. That means it's okay to adjust the contrast or tonality of the image, including localised changes, for example dodging and burning. You can also adjust saturation or convert the image to monochrome. Cropping, sharpening and noise reduction is fine too, though be careful not to over sharpen your image, or apply so much noise reduction that the image starts to lose detail. Generally speaking, you cannot add, move or replace pixels in your image. There are a few exceptions, for example you can apply lens corrections and make basic perspective changes (say, to make the sides of a building appear more vertical). Cloning to remove dust spots and minor distractions is also allowed. Images must be single capture. The only exceptions to this are stitched panoramas, focus stacks and HDR images, which are allowed.

In the creative category there are fewer restrictions on digital manipulation and images bay be single capture or a composite of several images. Keep in mind that, as with all categories, all elements in the image must have been photographed by you and must be 100% photographic in origin. That includes any textures, backgrounds, skies, borders, etc. Pixels may be moved, removed or added. The use of stock images, stock video, or clip art, or imagery created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not allowed. Check the terms and conditions for more information.

PORTFOLIO AND SINGLE-IMAGE CATEGORIES

Photographer of the Year has six portfolio categories and three single-image categories.

PORTFOLIO CATEGORIES

Landscape, Animal & Nature, Black & White, People, Travel and Aerial categories require you to submit four images. Images are judged together as a portfolio, not as individual images. Entries where the four images work together as a cohesive series, rather than as four unrelated images, tend to perform better in judging. When you are putting your portfolio together, look for images that complement each other visually and thematically.

You can read more about what makes for a successful portfolio entry here.

Photographer of the Year 2023 Animal and Nature category runner-up, Rowan Dear, The turtles of Heron island.

SINGLE-IMAGE CATEGORIES

There are three single-image categories: Creative, Single Shot and Junior (for entrants aged under 18).

THE CATEGORIES

AERIAL (4 IMAGES)
Aerial includes photos taken from an elevated position. Images may be captured with a drone, from an aircraft, or from a high vantage point such as a building or bridge. Australian Photography supports the safe and legal operation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs), including drones. All entries must comply with local rules and regulations. Any image suspected of being captured illegally will be disqualified.

ANIMAL & NATURE (4 IMAGES)
Images may be of animals (wild or domesticated), flowers, plants or other flora. The entrant must not do anything to cause injury or stress to an animal, or damage habitat. This includes flying a drone close to an animal.

BLACK & WHITE (4 IMAGES)
Images may be monochrome (eg black and white, sepia, selenium, etc). Images with more than one tone, for example, spot-colour, duotone and and colour images are not eligible. Images may be captured in black & white or converted from colour to monochrome in post-production.

LANDSCAPE (4 IMAGES)
Images may be of the natural or built environment. Aerial images must be entered in the Aerial category.

PEOPLE (4 IMAGES)
Images may include one or more people in the frame. Images may be posed or candid. Portraits of animals should be entered in the Animal & Nature category.

TRAVEL (4 IMAGES)
Travel is a broad genre that can include portraiture, landscapes, wildlife and other imagery, but should try to reveal something about the culture or the unique character of a place. Images can be captured anywhere in the world including in Australia or New Zealand. 

SINGLE SHOT (1 IMAGE)
This is an open-themed category: you may capture any subject you like.

CREATIVE (1 IMAGE)
The Creative category has fewer restrictions on the use of post-production. Check the terms and conditions for more information. Images must be photographic in origin and all elements must be the work of the entrant. The use of stock images and clip art is not allowed. Images may be single-capture or composite.

JUNIOR (1 IMAGE)
Junior is for entrants aged under 18. Junior is an open-themed category: you may capture any subject you like.

Photographer of the Year 2023 Creative category winner, Paul Evans, Still life with fish.

IMAGE PREPARATION

IMAGE FORMAT: JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg), PNG (.png)
IMAGE SIZE: 2,500 pixels (or more) on the longest edge. Please note, while full-size images are used for shortlisting and judging, low-resolution images (620 pixels) are displayed on the website.
FILE SIZE: 5MB maximum per image.
WATERMARKS: Do not include watermarks or other branding on your images.

IMAGE MANIPULATION

ALL CATEGORIES EXCEPT CREATIVE

Images may be processed in post-production to adjust photographic variables such as cropping, noise, sharpness, colour, tone and contrast, including dodging and burning and black-and-white conversions. Lens and perspective corrections and minor cloning to remove distractions are allowed. Images must be single capture, not composites, with the following exceptions: stitched panoramas, focus stacks and HDR images (In these cases multiple images may be captured at the same location and merged to form a single image). Images must be photographic in origin and all components of the image must be the work of the entrant. The use of stock images or clip art is prohibited.

CREATIVE CATEGORY

There are no restrictions on the use of post-production, though images must be photographic in origin and all components of the image must be the work of the entrant. The use of stock images or clip art is prohibited. Images may be single-capture or composite.

RECOGNITION

Winners, runners-up, and top-ranked portfolios will be published in the Photographer of the Year edition of Australian Photography magazine, which will be available in December 2024. For smaller categories, only the Top 10 will be published in the magazine, but for larger categories up to the Top 20 will be published. A parallel announcement will be made at www.australianphotography.com in December 2024.

Also in December, winners, runners-up, Top 10, Top 20, Highly Commended, and Commended photographers will receive a pdf award (similar to the one pictured right) via e-mail confirming their placing in the competition. Further, category winners will be exhibited at Ted’s World of Imaging, Sydney, in early 2025.

JUDGES

Photographer of the Year will be judged by a panel of some of Australia's leading professional photographers. We'll announce the judging panel soon. 

Photographer of the Year 2023 Overall winner and People and Portrait category winner, Raoul Slater, Tintype Portraits.

PRIZES

In 2024, Photographer of the Year includes a prize pool valued at more than $16,000, including $10,000 cash and a range of cool prizes from our sponsors. 

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions about the competition or you need help uploading your entry, feel free to email us at contact@australianphotography.com

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