How it works

Procedure

Online entries are open now and the deadline for all digital entries is 23:00 Sunday May 12th 2019.

Before you can enter your images you will need to register and create a profile. This is not the login you may use to access the members’ area on the BIPP website, it is a dedicated login for this awards site. Once you have done this and activated your account by clicking on the link you’ll receive via email, you will be ready to upload your images.

Files should be submitted at at least 4,000 px on the longest side, no borders, keylines, watermarks or identifying information should be included. The cost is £5 per image for BIPP members and £10 per image for non-members.

The proceeds from your region’s awards will go to your region, and will help them to organise events and workshops for their members, so please get involved and support your region.

Digital images will be judged by the same group of judges that will judge the final print round and will be scored out of 100. Images judged to be of Merit standard or higher (although this will of course be dependant on the quality of the final print) will progress through to the print round. Finalists will be notified during the w/c 20th of May via email.

Finalist will be asked to print and mount their selected images at 16”x20” or A3. Prints will need to be at Head Office by 17:00 on the 31st of May.
Wedding albums will also be submitted at this stage.

The deadline for the digital entries stage is 23:00 Sunday May 12th 2019.

Print Judging

Every regions’ prints will be judged by the same set of judges. There will be one judge from each region (a total of 9 judges). The judge from a specific region will sit out when their region is being judged, but will take notes so that they can deliver a critique for their region at a later date. We will also endeavour to ensure the judges’ skills cover the breadth of members’ work.

Judges will not be eligible to enter.

The awards ceremonies, organised as usual by each region’s committee will take place in late June or July.

Categories

The beauty of photography is its diversity. We would suggest that diversity is represented across the BIPP membership more acutely than in any other body within the industry, and we hope that the categories on offer do justice to the breadth of members’ skills.

The spread of categories may be slightly different to those you have been used to in your regional awards traditionally, but the benefits of homogenised categories across every region make the readjustment more than worth it.

While the categories are pretty self-explanatory, please use your professional judgement and consider carefully which category an image will sit best within.

These are professional photography awards, so it goes without saying that unless a category is specifically marked as ‘self-commissioned’ all work must have been commissioned and produced in a professional context.

All wedding categories (other than ‘Styled Shoot’) are for images shot on a wedding day. Styled or staged wedding images must be entered into the ‘Styled Shoot’ category.

The wedding album category is for complete albums. Albums will be judged on image content and quality, as well as image selection and overall presentation.

Student BIPP members are welcome to enter any paid commissioned work they may have undertaken into the relevant categories, classwork must be entered into the self-commissioned categories.

Successful students’ work will not be passed through to the BIPP national awards. There will be a dedicated student awards that will be timed to dovetail into your coursework and will be announced through your colleges.

Categories 2019:

Awards

As well as awarding merits where earned, the judges will select a 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each category for every region (BIPP Midlands Awards 2019 – Classical Wedding 1st Place, for example).

The judges will then select the best overall image from all four wedding categories to become that region’s ‘Wedding Photographer of the Year’, the same for the best Portrait, Commercial and Fine Art image.

Finally, an overall winner will be selected from the four main category winners to become that region’s ‘Photographer of the Year 2019’

So no matter where you’re based or what area of the industry you work in, every member will have the chance to be in the running for plenty of awards. Awards that reflect their specific skills, as well as awards that select and showcase the very best imagery within each region.

As mentioned above, the regional finalists (all printed entries) will be automatically passed on to the BIPP 2020 National Awards, so there is double the incentive to get involved.

The BIPP 2020 National Awards will take place around Autumn time. Stay tuned.

A final note

We are sure you will all appreciate that all this is new and untested. There will be teething problems, but we’ll learn from them and refine the system. This year will be the toughest as we consolidate the different regional awards systems into a unified structure, and we would like to thank all the regional committees for their help and cooperation in doing this.

So what are you waiting for… dig out your best work and show it off to the rest of the country!