The competition is now closed! We are aiming to announce the Top 101 and the winners on 18 June 2021. Stay tuned!
Will We See Your Photos In Our Premier 2021 Edition?
There's nothing more satisfying than seeing your photos published alongside the world's best. And the International Portrait Photographer of the Year Awards book is a real book - printed on paper and bound between hard covers, but of course, you will also be able to see the wonderful flip-book presentations here on the website. Being published is a mark of success!
This is our first year of the International Portrait Photographer of the Year Award and we're following a similar philosophy to our successful International Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards (now in its eighth year). And because we want to create a book of 'contemporary' photography, we're not interested in old chestnuts that have won awards years ago, we want to see what you're capturing and processing now. That's why your entries must have been captured after 1 January 2019 (so, within the last 28-odd months).
The main aim of our Award is to be one of the Top 101 portrait photographs of the year. This gives you a place in our exclusive book which is published online and can be purchased as a 'real' hard-cover paper publication as well (it's proudly printed by Momento Pro).
There is US$10,000 in cash prizes shared between the overall winner and 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in each of the four categories, plus a printed copy of the book from Momento Pro.
So, what's the process? Your job is to impress our judges - easy! And entry is also easy - just size your file to 4000-5000 pixels on the longest side, save it as a JPEG and upload it. The entry fee is US$25 per image, and if you enter by 23 April 2021, every fifth entry is free. Final entries are accepted until 30 April 2021.
When the competition closes, our judges will use calibrated computer monitors to judge each photograph, giving it a score out of 100. Judges can open each and every entry and view it pixel for pixel on their monitor if required - and this is invariably done before they give their higher scores. Technique and craft are just as important as creativity for the top awards.
Once the first round of judging is completed, we have a score for each entry out of 300, expressed as percentage. We will then take the top 10 scoring entries from each of the four categories and ask the judges to confirm their choice of 1st, 2nd and 3rd. And then they will take the four category winners and choose the overall International Portrait Photographer of the Year.
For the book, we will take the top 10 entries from each category, and then a further 60-70 top scoring images, weighted for the number of entries in each category (categories with more entries will be more highly represented in this selection). We then check to ensure the entries comply with the rules (e.g. not taken before 1 January 2019) and that there are not two or more photographs that are very similar (we are looking for variety). There is also a limit on the number of photographs a single entrant can have in the Top 101 - no more than two, just to share the experience around. In the past, we've found that selecting the top 105 to 110 allows us to end up with the top 101, taking into account these adjustments.
At this stage, we have everything we need and so it's into production. Our art director is given the photographs and the text and she weaves her magic to produce the book. We aim to have all this ready so we can announce the winners on 18 June 2021.
So, that's the road map! We hope you enjoy getting your entries ready for our Awards and the best of luck to each and every one of you!
Peter Eastway
International Portrait Photographer of the Year Awards
To enter, click on the 'Entrants Login Here' menu button at the top right of the page.