Monthly Image Competition January 2024

Competition Overview

Building on the prestige of the BIPP International Print Competition, we are delighted to announce our new monthly image competition to give our members more opportunities to test, showcase and celebrate their talent and creativity.

The competition will run for ten months, from January to October, and each round will open on the first day of the month and close at midnight on the last day.

 

Judging

The judging will occur during the first week of every month, and on the 15th of the month, we will announce and celebrate the bronze, silver, and gold award winners.

Entry fee

Your first image is free, and subsequent images are £5 with a maximum of six monthly entries.

BIPP Awards Website

Note that the awards website is separate from the members’ area on the main website and, if you haven’t already done so, you need to register a member profile before entering your images.

Submission

Files should be submitted at least 4000px on the longest side. Borders, keylines, watermarks or identifying information must not be added.

All images must have been captured since 1st January 2022.

Giving a title to your entry is mandatory and will appear on certificates, and is made available to the judges. Your file name must be under 32 characters and must not contain any symbols.

Judging & Scoring Process

Every month, we will take the top-scoring image for each photographer in each category to count towards the Photographer Of The Year award. We will accrue the seven highest-scoring months for each photographer – the photographer with the highest seven out of ten months total score in each category will win that category title.

Why do seven and not all ten months count? This is so you can have a month or two without entering if you wish but still accrue sufficient points to win (though the more months you enter, the better chance you have!)

  • Gold (91 – 100): This top-tier award signifies exceptional professional skill, creativity, and innovation. Images scoring within this range are outstanding in every aspect, showcasing a superior understanding of photographic techniques, composition, and impact. They represent a standard that goes beyond professional excellence, often setting new benchmarks in the industry.
  • Silver Award (85 – 90): Images that achieve a Silver Award demonstrate high professional competency and artistic flair. Scoring in this band indicates that the work is of excellent quality, with impressive technical skills and creative thinking. These images stand out for their strong visual impact and precise execution.
  • Bronze (80 – 84): The Bronze Award is given to images that reflect an excellent professional photographic skill and creativity standard. These images are well-executed, displaying a solid understanding of photographic principles and an ability to apply them effectively.
  • Commended (78 – 79): This scoring band is for images recognised for their quality and professionalism but do not quite reach the award-winning standard. These photographs show good skill and competence, with several elements executed well.
  • Professional Practice (70-77): Images scoring within this range meet professional standards required in photography. They demonstrate a competent level of technical skill and creative application. However, these images need further refinement, creativity, or technical excellence to move into the award bands.

Eligibility

The competition is open to all BIPP members, with the following caveats:

  • BIPP judges may enter the competition, but not in any month in which they are judging.
  • Judges who are part of the final assessment panel may not enter the competition.
  • Board members, the Chair of Qualifications and Awards, and employees of the BIPP may not enter the competition.

Recipients of any awards must be members at the time of the awards ceremony (there is no requirement to attend, but you can’t win a member’s award if you’re not a member).

Categories

  1. Advertising & Commercial
  2. Architectural & Industrial
  3. Classical Wedding
  4. Documentary Wedding
  5. Pets & Domesticated Animals
  6. Environmental Portrait
  7. Fashion & Beauty
  8. Fine Art & Digital Creation
  9. Landscape
  10. Natural World
  11. Newborn
  12. Reportage & Photojournalism
  13. Sport
  14. Studio Portrait
  15. Wedding Fashion

 

If you have any questions, please call the office on 01772 367968 or email us at admin@bipp.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

1) Check the rules

Make sure you know the rules before entering!

Click here

2) Register/Log in

You need to have an account on the awards site to enter.

Log in here

Register here

3) Begin entry

click on an open Competition below to enter, and good luck!

Enter

Advertising & Commercial

This category is for images intended for commercial use in promoting, marketing, or advertising a product, brand, service, or individual.

Aerial, automotive, food, products, still life, personal branding, music covers, and corporate photography are all encompassed within this category. In addition, composite and non-composite, and retouched images are permissible in this category.

Images must not include any text or graphic elements not present in the original capture (i.e. it is a photographic rather than a graphic design competition).

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work.

 

Architectural & Industrial

Architectural entries typically involve accurately documenting structures but can also employ more artistic techniques, such as capturing unusual angles or creating abstract images from the building’s form. This type of photography can encompass a variety of buildings and structures, including bridges, telecom towers, windmills, staircases, and monuments.

On the other hand, Industrial photography focuses on serving businesses in the industrial sector, such as engineering companies, manufacturers, factories, and high-tech startups.

Composite, non-composite, and digitally altered images created using software like Photoshop are permitted in this category.

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

 

Entries in this category can be commissioned or non-commissioned work.

 

Classical Wedding

Images must be taken during the wedding celebration, either a single or multiple-day celebration, reflecting the atmosphere and personalities while illustrating the photographer’s creativity, posing, technical skills and understanding of light.

Minor retouching, cropping, colour adjustments, and cleaning are allowed, as well as the use of HDR for extended tonal range.

Composite images are also allowed as long as post-production does not significantly alter the subject’s essence, e.g. head swaps, enhancing skies etc.

Images with significant manipulation must be entered into Illustration & Fine Art or Advertising/Commercial categories.

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

The entrant must be the primary photographer for the wedding.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work.

 

Documentary Wedding

The ability to capture unposed moments as they happen on a wedding day. These images must not be posed or staged and be actual moments. There has to be authenticity to the image.

Taken on the day of the wedding or during the celebration, including multiple-day ceremonies. But not taking the couple off to compose shots. Celebrating the magic of the day captured through the eyes of a photojournalist

Post-production must be kept to a minimum and not over-manipulated and be as the scene was at the time the image was taken. Entrants are permitted to carry out minor skin retouching, crop, rotate, brighten and darken the image locally, reduce noise, sharpen, adjust colour/black and white, use grain and minor cleaning such as removing sensor dust and chromatic aberration and use of HDR for extended tonal range.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work.

 

Pets and Domesticated Animals

This category is for animals not in their natural habitat, including tame animals such as pets, farm animals, or those residing in zoos.

Animal portraits can be captured in a studio or on-location setting.

Composite images are permitted, provided that the digital post-production does not significantly alter the natural appearance of the animal(s). Images with significant manipulation or post-production should be submitted to the Fine Art & Digital Creation

It is important to note that animals photographed in their natural habitat must be entered into the separate Natural World category.

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work.

 

Environmental Portrait

This category may include one or more people and must have been created outside a studio environment. Images can be traditional or contemporary and should capture the atmosphere of the location as well as the character of the subject.

Adults, youth, children, toddlers, families, self-portraits: artistic images capturing the unique personalities and characteristics of a person or group of people as well as the photographer’s creative vision and technical skills.

Post-production must be kept to a minimum and not over-manipulated and be as the scene was at the time the image was taken. Entrants are permitted to carry out minor skin retouching, crop, rotate, brighten and darken the image locally, reduce noise, sharpen, adjust colour/black and white, use grain and minor cleaning such as removing sensor dust and chromatic aberration and use of HDR for extended tonal range.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work.

 

Fashion & Beauty

Fashion photography showcases a lifestyle, generates interest or encourages product, business, or fashion brand purchases among customers. This category typically features clothing, fashion accessories, makeup, or styling.

On the other hand, beauty photography emphasises the beauty of someone or something and can be either artistic or commercial, using glamour-style portraiture.

Images must not include any text or graphic elements not present in the original exposure (i.e. it is a photographic rather than a graphic design competition).

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work.

 

Fine Art & Digital Creation

This category is for images that depict an idea or concept, with creativity, originality, and storytelling being essential components.

It is intended for images predominantly produced or modified through digital technologies such as 3D modelling, editing, CGI software, or other similar means.

These images may be composites or involve multiple exposures, and heavily digitally post-processed photos are permitted.

Composite, non-composite, and digitally manipulated images, such as those created using Photoshop or similar software, are allowed. However, the images used to create the underlying concept of the final picture must be captured or created by the photographer and not be stock images.

All images must be presented as single-frame images. However, panoramic images (created using photo stitching), focus stacking, multi-exposures captured simultaneously in the same location (as a continuous sequence, seconds or minutes apart), and HDR for extended tonal range are allowed.

Note that images created using AI or Machine Learning generators such as (but not limited to) Midjourney or DALL-E are not eligible and will result in immediate disqualification.

 

Entries in this category can be commissioned or non-commissioned work.

 

Landscape

Landscapes, natural and artificial landscapes, urban landscapes, cityscapes, sunsets, and astrophotography are allowed in this category.

All images must be presented as single-frame images. However, panoramic images (created using photo stitching), focus stacking, multi-exposures captured simultaneously in the same location (as a continuous sequence, seconds or minutes apart), and HDR for extended tonal range are allowed.

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

 

Entries in this category can be commissioned or non-commissioned work.

 

Natural World

This category is for nature photography, including plants, animals, and natural scenes. Macro and underwater photography are included in this category.

Entries must not deceive viewers or alter the content of the image. Animals NOT in their natural habitat, such as pets, farm animals, those kept in zoos or animals that are trained, should be entered in the Domesticated Animals category.

Minor adjustments such as cropping and colour correction are allowed, but composite, heavily manipulated and multiple-exposure images are strictly excluded.

 

Entries in this category can be commissioned or non-commissioned work.

 

Newborn

This category is for baby/babies up to 8 weeks old (or up to 8 weeks corrected) at the time of capture. For babies and children over this age, please enter your image into one of the other portrait categories.

Parents/carers may not be included in the image unless used as a prop, e.g. arms, fingers, shoulders etc.

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work.

 

Reportage & Photojournalism

This category is for unaltered photographs that capture actual events, life, areas of human interest, public or private occasions, news, and emotional moments.

Subjects include general news, contemporary issues, political and social events, environmental topics, cultural events, wars, conflicts, photo essays, and feature stories.

However, wedding-related images should be submitted under the Documentary Wedding category.

The entrants are not allowed to combine multiple photos, alter, add, delete, or move any elements in the image using tools like cloning, healing, patching, content-aware fill, or liquify.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work or work that has been submitted to an agency, press or stock library for resale.

 

Sport

This category is for all sports-related photography, editorial or artistic, featuring any competitive or recreational sport, sport-people and activities.

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

All entries in this category must be commissioned work or work that has been submitted to an agency, press or stock library for resale.

 

Student BIPP

This is an open category for any image of any style, type or creation method by a student member of the BIPP.

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

 

Entries in this category can be commissioned or non-commissioned work.

 

Studio Portrait

This category may include one or more people and must be created in a studio environment. Images can be traditional, contemporary or fine art in nature.

Adults, youth, children, toddlers, families, self-portraits: artistic images capturing the unique personalities and characteristics of a person or group of people as well as the photographer’s creative vision and technical skills.

Entrants are permitted to carry out skin retouching, crop, rotate, brighten and darken the image locally, reduce noise, sharpen, adjust colour/black and white, use grain and minor cleaning such as removing sensor dust and chromatic aberration and the use of HDR for extended tonal range.

Composite elements such as textured backgrounds are allowed. However, you must have captured or created all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.

Portraits with significant post-production, such as adding CGI backgrounds or virtual worlds, should be entered into the Fine Art & Digital Creation category.

 

All entries in this category must be commissioned work.

 

Wedding Fashion

This category is for wedding photography, capturing the couple together before or after their wedding day. For example, it may be a pre-wedding shoot capturing the couple in their outfits on location or a trash-the-outfit session in the weeks after the wedding. The images may be classic or contemporary in style.

Images taken during the wedding celebration, either a single or multiple-day celebration, should be entered into either the Classical or Documentary Wedding categories.

You must have captured all parts of the final image yourself and may not source any element from 3rd parties, e.g. stock imagery or AI generators.