Entering photo competitions

TPOTY and WPY judge Colin Finlay gives us his insight into how to win photography competitions.

Entering a photo competition should be a fun and an engaging thing to do. While it’s great to get recognition for your work it’s also a wonderful way of gaining experience in the process and learning a lot for the next time. Standards in photo competitions these days are very high and the more prestigious and well-established the competition, the harder it is to do well. Nevertheless, there are a few simple things you can do to increase your chances of at least making it through to the latter stages of a competition and giving yourself a fair chance of getting to the final round of judging. 

Read the rules before entering 

First of all, and it sounds so obvious, read, re-read and digest the rules of the competition before you even start to consider which images you are going to enter. I never cease to be amazed by people who spend time and money entering photo competitions but effectively rule themselves out of the running by simply not reading the rules. 


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Published

By Diana Jarvis

Diana is a writer and editor at Eye for the Light. She has a BA in History of Art and an MSc in Environment and Sustainability and has worked in travel publishing for 18 years as a photographer, book designer and writer for a wide range of publications. She’s also the Publishing and Photography Director at the British Guild of Travel Writers and undertakes travel and tourism photography commissions. You can see her work at www.dianajarvis.co.uk.