International Garden Photographer of the Year 2009 Competition

The competition is Entries are welcome from any country in the world. There are no restrictions on the type of camera you use, or the techniques you use to produce your final image.

The categories of the Competition are:
(a) Plant Portraits;
(b) Wildlife in the Garden;
(c) Garden Views;
(d) People in the Garden;
(e) Trees;
(f) World Botanic Gardens;
(g) The Edible Garden;

The judges will select around 100 finalists whose photographs will be printed to exhibition standard and planned to be shown at a major exhibition at Kew Gardens, London in the summer of 2009, with substantial press coverage. All finalists will receive an invitation to the private view. Details of this will be announced later in the year.
One finalist will win the title ‘Garden Photographer of the Year’ and an under 16 finalist will win ‘Young Garden Photographer of the Year’.

Each category will have a winner and two runner-up prizes. An additional prize will be awarded for the best portfolio and there will be two portfolio runners-up prizes.

Prizes:

Best overall Single Image*: £5,000 cash and the title “Garden Photographer of the Year”

Best overall Portfolio: £3,000 cash, £2,000 Calumet Photographic Vouchers, plus more than £1,000 worth of vouchers from Manfrotto, Kata and Visible Dust

Best in Category (eg ‘Plant Portraits’): £700 cash, plus more than £700 in Kata, Manfrotto and Visible Dust vouchers

The competition costs £10 to enter. You can pay in British Pounds, Euros, or US Dollars.

As at 26.03.08 – £10 = €13 approx
As at 26.03.08 – £10 = $20 approx

(Note that the exchange rate applied will be that defined by the banking system; we do not have any control over this.)

First, you must choose which category fits your image best.

For £10 you can enter up to 4 photographs in one of the categories. If you wish to enter another category, then this costs an additional £10 for up to 4 photographs . You can enter as many photographs in as many categories as you like.

So you can, for example, buy 4 entries for ‘Plant Portraits’. You can then, if you wish, buy 4 more entries for ‘Plant Portraits’, or 4 more entries for a different category- it is entirely your decision.

Or you may choose to enter a portfolio of 6 themed photographs . This costs £20 per category entered. You can enter as many portfolios as you like.

So you can, for example, buy a portfolio entry for ‘Plant Portraits’. You can then, if you wish, buy a second portfolio entry for ‘Plant Portraits’, or a portfolio entry for a different category- it is entirely your decision.

As at 26.03.08 – £20 = €26 approx
As at 26.03.08 – £20 = $40 approx

Note that portflio photographs will not be judged as single images. They will only be judged as one of six themed photographs.

Preparing your Images

We recommend that you make your final decision on which photographs you are going to enter before you upload them to the competition.

You must have taken the picture on a camera that will enable good prints to be made from them for
the exhibition at Kew .This means that if your photograph is shortlisted, you will need to supply high quality jpeg images of around 1 megabyte as a minimum. More advanced users should aim to supply image files in 8bit TIFF format, with a filesize between 20-50 mb – this size would enable us to make larger prints if desired.

You can still be a winner with a small camera – commended pictures will also be shown in a special online gallery during 2009.

Digital manipulation by software such as Photoshop is allowed.

* Copyright: If your image is short-listed you will be contacted and invited to grant permission for your image to be used to promote the Competition and exhibition only. For avoidance of doubt, no free usage of any photograph is permitted by International Garden Photographer of the Year, or any of its partners or sponsors outside the scope of the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition and exhibition. There is no plan envisaged by International Garden Photographer of the Year, or any of its partners or sponsors, to create a general commercial archive of photographs entered into this competition.
* Eligibility: open to everyone, amateurs and professionals alike.
* Entry fee: £10 for single image and £20 for portfolio
* Third competiton opens: March 2009. Deadline Nov 30th 2009.

Official website: http://www.igpoty.com/competition.asp?parent=competition