ENVIRONMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

ENVIRONMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

http://www.parkerharris.co.uk/competition/EPOTY-2012

Open to all professional and amateur, national and international photographers of all ages, the CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year is an international showcase for the very best in environmental photography and video. The competition encourages entries that are contemporary, creative, resonant, challenging, original and beautiful, but most of all, pictures that will inspire people around the world to start taking care of our environment.

Exhibition & Prizes
Selectors
How to Enter
Selection Process
Key Dates
Background & Sponsors

EXHIBITION & PRIZES
Selected from an open submission process, the competition culminates in London with an exhibition of shortlisted images. The announcement of those selected for exhibition will be made in late January 2013, with the exhibition of finalists' images in London in late Spring / early Summer 2013. Following the London show the exhibition will tour throughout the UK and internationally.

The total prize fund of £7000 will be divided as follows:

Environmental Photographer of the Year  -  £5000
Young Environmental Photographer of the Year (Under 18)  -  £1000
Environmental Video of the Year  -  £1000

The Prize Winners will be announced during a preview of the London exhibition.
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SELECTORS
The selection panel for the 2012 competition will include Dr David Haley Hon FCIWEM, ecological artist and Senior Research Fellow Manchester Metropolitan University; Adam Hinton, award winning photographer, Nick Reeves, Executive Director CIWEM; and Nick Roberts, Director Water & Environment Atkins. Additional selectors, specialists in the environmental and photographic fields, will be announced shortly. 

HOW TO ENTER
The competition is open to all professional and amateur, national and international photographers of all ages. Entrants are invited to submit up to 10 still photographs or videos.  All entrants must ensure that the quality of their entries meets the competition's criteria as stated in the Rules and Conditions of Entry. Entry is by online submission through this website, and deadline for entry is by 5pm on 31 December 2012. All entrants are asked to ensure they have read all Rules and Conditions of Entry before entering.

The competition’s overall theme is social and natural issues of the environment. There are two main categories for submissions, Still Photography and Video. The Video category is for short films between 5 seconds and 5 minutes long. Those submitting video entries will be required to upload a still for each video entry (JPEG), and provide an HTML link to view their full entry online via YouTube,  Vimeo or similar. See the HELP & FAQ's section of this website for further guidelines on video entries.

Although not a requirement, entrants are asked to provide additional information about each image to help the judges during the selection process. Therefore on the entry form there are two additional fields for each uploaded image, 'Category' and 'Description'. In the category field please detail which of the following statements best describes each entry: 

The Natural World
The Underwater World
Changing Climates
Quality of Life
A View of the Western World
Building Our Future

If you would also like to add a short statement (max. 50 words) about your entry, please do so in the 'Description' field.

Please note, the online entry will allow you to upload three images at one time.  Once uploaded please wait and the page will refresh and you can then upload the next three images, and so on.  

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SELECTION PROCESS
At the first stage, entrants are asked to submit up to 10 still photographs or videos, relevant entry fees and fully completed entry form. All entries must be in line with the Digital Specifications as detailed in the Rules and Conditions of Entry.  Individual entries will be judged anonymously, and the judges will concentrate on looking for the following five qualities in submitted entries:

Impact - does it illustrate immediate, subtle or resonant messages?
Creativity - is it unusual, thoughtful, beautiful, subversive or ironic?
Originality - is the subject treated differently and is the subject matter new?
Composition - consider the perspective, balance, clarity of meaning and focus of statement
Technical quality - consider clarity, focus, lighting, exposure and colour

All entrants will be informed of the results of the first round selection by Monday 28 January 2013, by email. Shortlisted entrants in the Still Photography category will then be required to supply original digital camera RAW files or original JPEGs for all shortlisted images. See Digital Specifications section of Rules & Conditions of Entry for further information. These images will be checked for proof of authenticity and notification of the results of final judging wil then bel sent by email to all shortlisted photographers by Monday 11 February 2013. 

All finalists will be contacted by the exhibition organisers regarding further details for providing final exhibition quality image or video files, and further details about the exhibition dates and events.
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KEY DATES
31 December 2012 - Deadline for entries by 5pm

28 January 2013 - Entrants informed of results of first round selection process by this date

11 February 2013 - Shortlisted photographers informed of results of final authentication process by this date

Late Spring 2013 - London exhibition of finalists images and announcement of winners

Summer 2013 - Exhibition tour
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BACKGROUND & SPONSORS
Launched in 2007 by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), the Environmental Photographer of the Year was originally created to provide an opportunity for photographers to share images of environmental and social issues with international audiences, and to enhance our understanding of the causes, consequences and solutions to climate change and social inequality. Since its launch the competition has steadily attracted an increasing number of photographers of all ages, to submit thousands of images each year for consideration by an esteemed panel of selectors. The 2011 competition attracted over 10,500 images from photographers from 105 different countries - a 100% increase on total submissions in 2010 - and culminated with an exhibition of 70 shortlisted images in London in December 2011. In addition, the competition has also attracted international press coverage, including features in the Daily Mail Online, The Telegraph, The Sun, National Geographic and the New York Post

Now in its sixth year CIWEM are ready to take this extraordinary competition to a new level, and are delighted to announce that Atkins, one of the worlds leading engineering and design consultants, will be generously supporting the competition and exhibition in 2012 / 2013.  With Prizes now totalling £7,000, the newly launched Environmental Photographer of the Year looks set to be better than ever. 

Nick Reeves, Executive Director of CIWEM says:

"CIWEM is delighted to be working with Atkins on the development of the Environmental Photographer of the Year Competition. With Atkins support and global reach the Institution can build on the success it has already achieved and carry important and exciting visual stories on the environment to a much bigger world-wide audience."

CIWEM is an independent professional body and a registered charity, advancing the science and practice of water and environmental management for a clean, green and sustainable world. www.ciwem.org

Atkins is one of the world's leading engineering and design consultancies*, employing some 17,700 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. It has the breadth and depth of expertise to plan, design and enable some of the world's most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects. www.atkinsglobal.com

*It is the largest engineering consultancy in the UK (New Civil Engineer Consultants File 2011) and the 13th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2011).