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Professional Competitions

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Darrell Marriott, United Kingdom, Spider
Entry Start:
28th May 2010
Entry Close:
5 January 2011

Submit your work for the chance to become the next Professional Photographer of the Year and win the coveted prize, L’iris d’Or, along with prize money of $25,000.

The professional is a serious photographer with a true passion for the job – the art of taking pictures, documenting a story, conceptualising an idea, capturing emotions and evoking a response from those who view the finished product.

Submissions must be based on a body of work and contain a minimum of 3 images and a maximum of 10 images.

Within the Professional competition, three distinct sectors within photography are discovered and awarded.  The Commercial, Fine Art and Photojournalism & Documentary genres are all equally recognised and sought after.

Image entered in to any of the 15 professional categories must have been completed or first published in 2010.

Entering & Judging

  • Step One: Register
  • Step Two: Upload your Images into your portfolio
  • Step Three: Select your best bodies of work.
    • There are 14 categories in the professional programme, spread across 3 main photographic genres
    • Each photographer may submit up to a total of 10 images into a single professional category and a minimum of 3 – all must images per submission must be of the same body of work and will be judged as such.
  • Step Four: Your images will go through critical rounds of selections by the official 2011 Honorary Judging Committee – members of the World Photographic Academy.
  • Step Five: A shortlist of photographers in each of the 14 categories will be selected and announced in February 2011.
  • Step Six: If one of your images are selected to go into the top 100, you will then be judged by a selected jury including members of the World Photographic Academy.
  • Step Seven: For the final stage of judging, one single photographer will be chosen by the Honorary Judging Committee from the 14 First Place category winners. This photographer will be announced and awarded in Cannes as the recipient of the 2011 L’Iris d’Or.
  • Step Eight: All 42 Category finalists, will be showcased as part of the official 2011 Finalists exhibitions in Cannes, published in the winner’s book and announced to the worldwide press as Sony World Photography Awards Category Finalists. These finalists will also be part of an annual SWPA Global Tour, have the opportunity to be represented and promoted by the World Photography Collection, showcased on the SWPA website for all of 2011 and much more.
  • Step Nine: The first place winner of each category will receive all of the above plus:
    • Be flown out to London
    • Receive two nights’ accommodation in a luxury London hotel
    • Receive week-long passes to attend the World Photography Festival featuring screenings, workshops, exhibitions, talks and other events taking place throughout London in April
    • Receive VIP tickets to attend the Gala Evening Awards Ceremony
    • And finally… Come on stage to collect their prize of $25,000 and Sony gifts.

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