Photographic Competitions

Hi. If you're an amateur or pro photographer who would like to try entering your photographs in Australian competitions, you've come to the right place. You'll find information here about current photographic competitions and those that will be open for entries in the future.

Some of the competitions are open to non-Australians as well.

I will be updating it regularly as I find new competitions that you might like to enter.

You'll see that some of the competitions have already closed. I've included these so that you can be ready for them if they are run again.

If you come across details of any Australian photo competitions that you'd like to pass on or if you'd like publicity for a competition you are running, please email me at: editor (at) photocompetitions (dot) com (dot) au . Sorry for writing my email address like this - it stops the spammers.

COMING UP

I haven't had time to put all of the details up yet, but you might like to have a look at:

Everywhere Magazine


Thank you Elias for details of the following competitions

• National Portrait Gallery, Canberra - National Photographic Portrait Prize
• Moran Contempory Photographic Prize
• Head On - photographic portrait competition

Winner Success Story

Be inspired by David Lazar, a regular reader who has won a number of competitions. He has received fantastic prizes including a new camera and photography books. Best of all, his winning photos have been published on websites and in print publications.

See David's winning photos:

Intrepid Competition


Peregrine Adventure Travel Photo Competition


David took out the "Images of the World" 2007 category for People and Culture with this photo entitled Lady of the Clifftop.



Photo Continental Competition











Better Photo Competition David's photo is on page 14.

David also has photos on the fabulous JPG Magazine site.

Apart from being a talented photographer, David is also a music composer specialising in film music. Have a look at his web page.

CLOSED - "Life's Reflections" Photo Competition

This annual photo competition is for ACT residents. It celebrates the contributions of Canberrans over the age of 55.

Winners of the 2009 competition are listed on the website.

Deadline: Monday 23 February 2009

Categories:

• Student - primary, secondary and tertiary
• Amateur - Open - 18-54 years, Senior - 55 years and over, People with disabilities
• Professional

How to enter: Visit the competition web site for an entry form. You must be a resident of the ACT. You can enter up to 3 photos and each photo has to include at least one person over 55.
Post your photos along with the entry form.

Exhibition: There will be an awards ceremony on 20 March 2009 and winning photographs will be exhibited during senior's week (15 - 22 March) in the Canberra Centre. Winning entries and finalists will also be exhibited on the Office for Ageing website as well as at conferences and other exhibitions in the ACT.

OPEN - Photo Continental Photo Competition

Photo Continental is a Brisbane camera shop and my favourite place to browse for and buy camera gear. The staff are all very knowledgeable and they seem to hold a greater variety of stock than most other local retail outlets. It's really just a huge toy shop for we photographers.

Photo Continental hosts a monthly photo competition.

DEADLINE: end of each month

THEME: Each month has a different theme...for example, May's theme is "music".

PRIZE: May's winner will receive a Lowepro Flipside 300 backpack

HOW TO ENTER:
Email your photo to comp@photocontinental.com.au
The maximum file size in 500kb.

Take a look at the Competition website for more details and the winners gallery.

OPEN - JPG Magazine

This is my favourite online magazine.

You can contribute photos and if one is published in a hard-copy issue, you get a free subscription plus $100 US dollars.

Be sure to read the guidelines before submitting a photo.

Have a look for yourself - JPG Magazine

Photo Books

I've been enjoying making some Photo Books using Australia's Snapfish online photo printing service. They are hard cover books that look like a glossy coffee table publication with you own photos.

They make great gifts. I made one for my Mum using old family photos. You do the layout yourself online. You can add captions and there are lots of layout options. It's a bit time consuming and the hopefully the software will eventually allow more cropping control, but it is fun to do.

OPEN - PhotoComp.com.au

This site runs an ongoing photography competition with a different theme each month.

Upload your photos at Photocomp.com.au.

Photos should be no more than 1Meg in size. You can submit only jpg, gif, jpeg or png and image resolution must be at least 400 x 400 pixels.

You can upload as many entries as you wish, but there is a fee for entering the competition.

OPEN - Intrepid Photography Competition

Intrepid Travel, which has its head office in Melbourne, Australia specialises in adventure travel. They are inviting travellers from all over the world to send in their photos for this photo competition.

In case you were wondering, the alien photo was taken on Earth, in a shop window in New Zealand.

Open now
Closes 30 June each year*

* If you miss the deadline, Intrepid will automatically submit your photo for the next competition.

THE PRIZES

There are a bunch of prizes you can win with this contest.

Have a look at http://www.intrepidtravel.com/inspirations/win/photocomps/ for inspiration and to see the winners so far.

Each month a photo is chosen to appear in Intrepid's online newsletter, and be displayed in Intrepid Travel stores. Apart from your 15 minutes of fame as a travel photographer, you'll receive a travel photography book pack from Lonely Planet. So it's worth sending a photo in each month.

Five Categories -- At the end of the photo competition there will be individual prizes for the following categories:

1. Real Life Experiences
2. Families
3. Local Friends

(Winners of these 3 categories each receive a AU$1,000 voucher for Kathmandu Travel Gear plus Lonely Planet's pictorial book, One People.)

4. Landscapes
5. Icons

Lonely Planet Images has a special award. The winner of this category will be invited to show their portfolio of photographs to the editors for personal advice and feedback. Could this be your first step to becoming a professional travel photographer?

The overall winner will go on an Intrepid trip worth up to AU$3,000 and also receive a copy of Lonely Planet's pictorial book, One People.

HOW TO ENTER

Only digital images saved onto a CD will be accepted. So you can take your photos with a digital camera, or scan in images if you've used a film camera.

Check out the terms and conditions and download an entry form from:
http://www.intrepidtravel.com/inspirations/win/photocomps/

Post your entries to:
The Editor, Intrepid Travel
PO Box 2781
Fitzroy DC
Victoria 3065 Australia

You can enter four photos in each category, each month. So that's a total of 20 images each month.

WEBSITE

http://www.intrepidtravel.com/

OPEN - Australian Weather Calendar Photo Competition

Opens 1 July 2008
Closed 31 March 2009

Did you know that the weather has its own calendar? It's a large format - A2 - full colour production.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society have produced a photographic weather calendar since 1985.

Now that you know, start looking for spectacular photos of:

• clouds
  
• thunderstorms
  
• lightning
  
• rainbows and
  
• tornadoes

Have a look at winning photos included in the 2008 calendar.

And I learned something else after looking at the Bureau of Meteorology website -- there is a cloud appreciation society. If you've ever looked up and thought, "nice clouds today", have a look at http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

HOW TO ENTER

You will need to mail in a colour print at least 15 x 10cm in size, accompanied by an entry form which you can download from the website.

When you shoot your weather photo, take note of where and when it was taken, and record exposure details because you'll need to send in this information.

The original photo can be digital, negative or slide. If your photo is selected for the 2009 calendar, you'll need to send in the photo in its original format.

The selection committee is after genuine images of weather events, so photos of rainbows over tornadoes emitting lightning are going to make them suspect a bit of photoshopping has taken place. No digitally altered images is the message.

Post to:
Weather Calendar Selection Committee, Public Affairs
Bureau of Meteorology, GPO Box 1289, MELBOURNE VIC 3001

PRIZES

If your photo is published as one of the central monthly images, you receive three complementary calendars. Other published photos are rewarded with one calendar.

You also get the satisfaction of knowing that your photo will be admired the world over as 50,000 weather calendars are distributed throughout Australia and internationally. The 2008 calendar has sold out quickly. Who would have thought there'd be so many fans of the weather?

SPONSORS

Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society

WEBSITE

http://www.bom.gov.au/calendar/

OPEN - Salt Magazine Photo Competition

Salt Magazine Summer Snap Happy Photographic Competition

Deadline Continuously Running

Salt Magazine which is based on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia runs the competition each quarter. So if you miss one publication deadline, don't worry just submit it for the next one.

Prizes
The top ten photographs are featured on their website.

The top five photographers receive a free one year subscription to Salt Magazine and winning photos are printed in the magazine.

Sponsors
Salt Magazine

Website
Salt Magazine

What are they are looking for?
The photo should capture the essence of the Sunshine Coast and must be taken there. You don’t have to be an expert photographer – the photo just has to make the judges smile.

You would of course need to visit Queensland’s Sunshine Coast to get the appropriate photo. Considering the gorgeous beaches, fabulous weather and huge variety of accommodation, it might be worth the trip to take the winning photo.

How to enter
Visit the website and click on the “win” section. You can send in more than one photograph.

OPENING SOON - Outer Edge Magazine Photo Competition

Outer Edge, an Australian adventure magazine ran a photo competition with a $2,000 camera package including a Leica V-lux 1 digital camera for the winner. The winning shot was taken in the Northern Territory.

Deadline:
was 28 February 2008
A new competition will be starting soon.

Enter:
Email your photo to: competitions@outer-edge.com.au

or post on CD to:
Outer Edge Real Adventure + Travel Photography Competition'
Locked Bag 4321
South Melbourne VIC 3205

More Details:
Outer Edge Photo Competition

Something to note is that according to the Terms & Conditions of the competition, photos entered can be used by Outer Edge Publications or licensed to a third party without any payment to the photographer. I'm not a lawyer, but it looks like they can sell your photo and not pay you, which many photographers would see as bad form! You might want to download the Terms & Conditions which are available on the competition page.

CLOSED - Expose Your World Photo Competition

Online Image Library, Roving Eye is sponsoring the "Expose Your World" photo competition and there are $60,000 worth of prizes, as well as the possibility of having your images displayed in an exhibition, a coffee table book and in Australian Traveller magazine.

Prizes include a Nikon D300 and lenses plus luxury travel.


DEADLINE 25 July 2008

There is a fee of $20 per entry for this competition. The Young Photographer category is free.

CATEGORIES
Photo Essay themes

• Australian Story


• A Traveller's Tale


• Environmental Issue

Single Shot themes

• People


• Place


• Event
  

Young Australian Photographer of the Year themes

• People


• Place


• Event

For full details and to see last year's winners, visit the Expose Your World site.

CLOSED- Australian Women Pilots' Assoc Photo Competition

Closed
Deadline: 10 January 2008

If you've taken a great aviation themed photo, keep it in mind for next year's Australian Women Pilots' Association calendar. Entries can include:

• arial photos
• air-to-air
• people and aviation
• aircraft

Entry is open to amateur and professional photos and images can be prints or digital files.

There was an entry fee of $20 per image for the last calendar.

Visit Australian Women Pilots' Association web page for information about the 2008/2009 calendar.

CLOSED - 2008 Human Rights Photo Competition

It's 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights came into existence. Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission is holding a photo competition to celebrate.

This photo was the 2003 winner taken by Amanda Lim. It's called Ring of Respect.

Have a look at the website to see how the Declaration affects us all. We often take our basic human rights for granted.

DEADLINE: 31 October 2008

THEME: Dignity and justice for all of us.

The theme reinforces the vision of the Declaration as a commitment to universal dignity and justice, and reinforces how human rights are an inextricable part of our lives - for everyone, everywhere, everyday.

CATEGORIES

Under 18 (male), Under 18 (female) and 18 and above (age at 30 June 2008).

Anyone residing in Australia can enter.

PRIZES

Winners: $500 voucher at Digital Camera Warehouse

Runner up - a year's subscription to Australian Photography magazine.

The winners, highly commended and shortlisted entries will all be placed on the website and displayed at the annual Human Rights Medals and Awards Ceremony on 10 December 2008.

Your photo might also be included on posters, postcards or other publications. You will always be acknowledged as the photographer.

HOW TO ENTER

Entry is free. You can enter up to six photos. Photo size should be 20 x 25cm to 20 x 30cm.

You can post prints or email your photos as jpgs at 300dpi.

Be sure to label your emailed photos with your name. You must submit a posted, hard copy entry form.

Each photograph must be accompanied by a title and up to 50 words explaining the picture and the circumstances in which it was taken.

ENTRY FORMS & WEBSITE

Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission 2008 Photo Competition

Thank you Leon for submitting details of this competition.....editor.

CLOSED - Snowden Photo Competition

Thank you to Carol D for letting me know about this competition.

Opened 1 January 2007
Closed 30 June 2007

The Snowden Group is a mining consultancy company and not surprisingly, this photographic competition is all about the mining industry. If you work in the industry, or just happen to be passing by a mine with your camera, it's worth taking a shot because first prize is $10,000.

All photos entered in the competition will be displayed online. You can vote for the people's choice photo from 16 July.

Last year's winners are stunning photographs. Have a look at: http://snowdengroup.com/PhotoComp.asp?CID=239&BID=383

PRIZES

All in Australian Dollars

First Prize $10,000
Second Prize $3,000
Third Prize $1,000

People's Choice Prize $1,000

In addition, all winning entries will appear on the Snowden website and be displayed around the world at conference and exhibitions.

WHO CAN ENTER?

The competition is open only to amateur photographers who are at least 18 years of age. Citizens of any country may enter.

HOW TO ENTER

You are allowed to enter a maximum of three photographs. They can be:

• black and white


• colour


• sepia


• landscape, portrait or panorama format
  

You will need to submit an Entry Form plus an Artist Release Form with each photograph. If there are any people in your photograph, you will also need a model release form. These are available online at: http://snowdengroup.com/PhotoComp.asp?CID=173&BID=302

Also, have a read of the FAQs.


Enter Online

Enter JPG or TIFF files online at: Online Entry Form


Enter Via Mail

If you want to send in a print, it must be at least 20 x 25cm. You cannot send negatives or transparencies.

Post your photos to:

PO Box 77, West Perth, 6872, Western Australia.

CLOSED - People in Wine Photography Competition

Closed: 31 March 2007

Results will be announced on the site at the end of April

If you've ever needed an excuse to visit a winery, here it is. Combining the pleasures of wine and photography has to be a good thing.

This competition "celebrates people's passion for winemaking and those helping us to enjoy it."

So look out for photos of:

• wine makers
• proprietors
• oenologists
• vineyard workers
• harvesters
• sommeliers
• writers
• shop workers
• anyone else involved that keeps with the theme of "people in wine". (I wonder if that includes people who drink wine? Perhaps not.)

PRIZES

There are three categories:

• Best male portrait
  
• Best female portrait
  
• Best group shot

The winner of each category will win an Olympus [mju:] 725 SW camera.

WHO CAN ENTER

Amateur and professional photographers can enter but you must be 18 years of age or over. There is no restriction on where you live. You'll see on the site that there are lots of entries from Europe.

OTHER INFORMATION

Have a look at the entries submitted so far at www.finewinepress.com/digital/. You can comment on the photos and give them a rating.

HOW TO ENTER

You can enter up to two photos, but no more than two.

The only way to enter is to upload your entry on the Fine Win Press website. So if you've taken a print or a transparency, you will need to scan it in.

Only jpg files will be accepted.

The judges would prefer the file size to be less than 150KB with simple file names containing no spaces or special characters. The maximum size is 300KB in total for both entries.


SPONSORS

Wine Australia
International Wine and Spirits Competition
Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours
Cephas Picture Library
Wines of Chile
VDP-Die Prädikatsweingüter
Andes Wines

WEBSITE

http://www.finewinepress.com/