Environmental Photographer of the Year

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

The following photographers have been selected for the 2013 Environmental Photographer of the Year Exhibition.  The winners will be announced at the Exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society Gallery in London on 9th April 2013.

Photographers:

GMB Akash

Javier Arcenillas

K. M. Asad

Ferina Natasya Aziz

Halbert Bai

Zolt-n Balogh

Eleanor Bennett

Andrzej Bochenski

Florian Breuer

Steve Brockett

Emiliano Capozoli

Aletheia Casey

Chan Kwok Hung

Stuart Chape

Joel Devlin

Kieran Dodds

Kieran Doherty

William Eckersley

CY Frankel

Tobias Friedrich

Jonathan Goldberg

Alessandro Grassani

Julie Greenslade

Lu Guang

Step Haiselden

Bjorn Stig Hansen

Khaled Hasan

Emma Hirst

Anastasia Ivanova

Victor Kintanar

Jan Kostal

Kai Loeffelbein

Larry Louie

Pierpaolo Mittica

Steve Morgan

Filippo Mutani

Michele Palazzi

Stefano Parrini

Neville Petersen

Igor F. Petkovic

Mahmud Rahman

Alamsyah Rauf

Josh Redman

Pau Rigol

Serban Scrieciu

Khalid Rayhan Shawon

Javier Ternero

Thomas White

Rob Whitworth

Lisa Wiltse

Max Wolens

Ciaran Woolcombe

Grzegorz Ziemianski

Videos:
Kainat Afsar
Alex Cherney
Antonia Eklund
Thierry Grobet
Ada Kobusiewicz
Richard SIdey
Jonathan Goldberg

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 7 January 2013*. All entrants are asked to ensure they have read all Rules and Conditions of Entry before entering.
* Please note this date has been extended as the office will be closed for the holiday period 21 December 2012 to 7 January 2013.

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

7 January 2013* - 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

9 April - 3 May 2013 - London exhibition at Royal Geographical Society, of finalists images and announcement of winners

Summer 2013 - Exhibition tour to Grizedale Visitor Centre, Grizedale Forest, Lake District.

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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).
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RULES & CONDITIONS OF ENTRY

The Environmental Photographer of the Year aims to promote and reward excellence in international environmental photography and video, and to enhance the understanding of the causes, consequences and solutions to climate change and social inequality. Before entering, please read the Rules & Conditions of Entry and Digital Specifications & Adjustment Guidelines carefully as all entrants have to acknowledge acceptance of them during the online registration process.

Rules & Conditions of Entry
Digital Specifications
Digital Adjustment Guidelines

Rules & Conditions of Entry

• The competition is open to all international photographers, both amateur and professional, and of all ages.
• Each entrant may enter up to 10 still photographs or videos.
• Entries must be submitted as digital files only. For initial entry, all still photography images must be submitted as JPEGs, saved at a high quality level, e.g. 10 in Adobe Photoshop, with a maximum file size of 2MB. SEE DIGITAL SPECIFICATIONS SECTION BELOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
• If shortlisted, still photography entrants must be able to supply images as RAW files or original JPEGs. SEE DIGITAL SPECIFICATIONS BELOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
• Entrants must be the sole author and owner of the copyright for all the entries they submit, or they must have obtained permission from the copyright holder to submit the entries on their behalf. The photographer retains the copyright to all their entries into the Environmental Photographer of the Year.
• Do not add a signature to any entry as judging is done anonymously and entries with overlay signatures will not be accepted.
• It is the entrant's responsibility to ensure that all the necessary permissions are obtained from people featured in the entry.
• All entries, both still photography and video, should be a faithful representation of the original scene and localised adjustments should be used appropriately. Some digital adjustment or editing is allowed, but entrants should understand that the objective is to remain faithful to the original experience, and to never deceive the viewer or misrepresent reality. SEE DIGITAL ADJUSTMENT GUIDELINES SECTION BELOW FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
• Each entrant agrees to participate in related publicity and to the use of their name and entry for the purposes of advertising, promotion and publicity of the competition and exhibition without additional compensation.
• By entering the Competition, you grant CIWEM a non-exclusive licence to reproduce, publish and communicate your entry to the public by exhibiting your entry through all media throughout the world in relation to the Environmental Photographer of the Year. This includes, but is not limited to: the judging process; the exhibition and tour; inclusion in an Environmental Photographer of the Year Exhibition catalogue or book; online galleries; promotional, press and marketing materials associated with the Environmental Photographer of the Year; and associated merchandising. CIWEM is allowed to pass on any entry to online and print publications to be used either for editorial or image based promotion only in relation to the Environmental Photographer of the Year, with full credit given to the photographer.
• By entering the competition you accept that your entry may be exhibited by CIWEM or other exhibitions organised or attended by CIWEM as part of the Environmental Photographer of the Year. CIWEM reserves the right to reproduce any entry for exhibition purposes.
• CIWEM cannot accept liability for the misuse of entries and or failure of any third party to comply with the Environmental Photographer of the Year's credit guidelines.
• The sponsors of the Environmental Photographer of the Year (specifically Atkins but also any other sponsors detailed in the Background & Sponsors section of this website) reserve the right to reproduce any entry from the exhibition in their own marketing and publications, in relation to the competition and exhibition only.
• Judges appointed by CIWEM will choose the exhibition and winners. The judges' decision on all matters relating to the competition is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
• CIWEM reserves the right to cancel this competition at any stage.

Digital Specifications

The following guidelines explain the required specifications for each category at the different stages of the competition and exhibition. Please ensure that your entries adhere to these guidelines. If any further queries, please check the HELP & FAQs section or contact the exhibition organisers by email.

• Still Photographs - initial entry: all still photographs must be submitted as JPEGs, saved at a high quality level, e.g. 10 in Adobe Photoshop, with a maximum file size of 2MB. Each image file must be named with your surname, first name and brief title e.g. SmithJohn_Title.jpeg. Whilst work titles may be too long to be used as image names, a section of your title would be adequate. 
• Videos - initial entry: entrants are required to upload a still for each video entry (JPEG max. 2MB as per still photographs) AND to provide an HTML link in order to view the full video via YouTube, Vimeo or similar. Each clip should be a minimum of 5 seconds and a maximum of 5 minutes long, and can include an audio track. Each still image file must be named with your surname, first name and brief title e.g. SmithJohn_Title.jpeg. Whilst work titles may be too long to be used as image names, a section of your title would be adequate. The HTML link must be labelled in such a way that it is easily identifiable as your work, i.e. include your name in the file link. If your Vimeo account is password protected please paste the password into the 'Description' field for that entry on the entry form. Please do not paste it in with the link, as this will corrupt the link.
• Still Photographs -proof of authenticity: original digital camera RAW files will be required if your image is shortlisted. Digital images captured as JPEG are allowed, providing the original un-retouched JPEG is available for inspection. Any work created from more than one original (e.g. stitched images), must be declared as such, and the original captured images should be available for inspection when requested.
• Videos - exhibition: high-resolution files will be needed if selected for exhibition. Entrants will be required to either upload these file to the competition FTP site, or to send a DVD to the exhibition organisers.  These details will be confirmed if selected for exhibition.
• Still images - exhibition: for printing in all media and for inclusion in the exhibition, a high-resolution image (preferably TIFF) will be requested if your image is selected for exhibition. This should be 8-bit, Adobe RGB (1998) at 300ppi. Images within the Exhibition will be printed to an approximate maximum of 920mm along the longest dimension.

Digital Adjustment Guidelines

The following digital adjustments are not allowed:

• adding or removing animals, parts of animals, plants, distractions, people etc.
• composites and sandwich shots that add elements.
• images that have been digitally manipulated outside of the allowed adjustments.

The following digital adjustments are allowed:

• removal of sensor dust spots and chromatic aberration
• removing background noise (in moderation)
• levels (in moderation)
• curves (in moderation)
• colour (in moderation)
• saturation (in moderation)
• contrast work (in moderation)
• shadow and highlights (in moderation)
• sharpening (including selective sharpening) in moderation
• cropping in moderation and as long as a suitable high-res TIFF file can be supplied for printing a large exhibition display
• dodging, burning and toning (in moderation)
• neutral density gradients (in moderation)
• removing lens vignetting
• panoramas i.e. panoramas created from several images that have been taken from the same location and at the same time, and then combined or stitched using digital techniques, and resulting in a wider view than can be achieved with most wide-angle lenses. (NB: stitched panoramas must be declared in caption information.)
• multiple exposures are only allowed if this is a feature of the camera and the result is one single file. Entrants must state in the caption if their image is a multiple exposure.

HELP & FAQs

If you experience problems with the online entry process, including payments by PayPal, or if you have any questions about entering the Environmental Photographer of the Year that can not be answered by reading the Rules & Conditions of Entry, or by looking at the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) detailed below, please contact the website administrators by email.

Additional Guidelines for Video Entries

The following points should be considered when submitting video entries:

• Do not overload films with text, this competition is looking for striking images, be it still or moving, which address environmental issues.
• Whilst the judges are keen to see images and films with strong, thought provoking messages, they do not expect entries to overly preach, i.e. do not just get on a soapbox, be clever with the message you are conveying.
• The video category is for moving image rather than an edit of still images.
• Consider how the story or message develops in your video.

FAQ's

How much is the entry fee?
I am a student, how much do I have to pay to enter?
I don't have a PayPal account does this matter?
I want to pay by cheque or cash, is this possible?
I am outside the UK but want to pay in British pounds, is this possible?
What resolution should my images be?
I cannot upload my images, what should I do?
I want to submit a mix of still photographs and videos, is this possible?
The entry form asks for a 'Sale Price', what does this mean?
What does the Description field mean on the entry form?
If selected for exhibition, who would be responsible for printing and framing my work?
How many images will be accepted for exhibition?

How much is the entry fee?

The entry fee is £5 or €8 for the first entry, and then either £1 for each additional entry up to a maximum of 10 entries, or €2 for 6 works and ten €1 for each additional entry up to a maximum of 10 entries.

I am a student, how much do I have to pay to enter?

It is free for students to enter but proof of student status is a required field on the entry form.

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I don't have a PayPal account does this matter?

No, you do not need to have a registered PayPal account in order to enter online. Once you are linked through to the PayPal payment page, you will be asked to input your credit card details on the secure PayPal website. Those with PayPal accounts are given the option to sign in if they wish.
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I want to pay by cheque or cash, is this possible?

Only online entries with payment via accepted PayPal methods are accepted for this competition. Please check the PayPal website for clarification of payment methods - PayPal website. Please note that of the listed PayPal methods, we are not able to accept e-Check payments due to the delayed clearing of this method. If you experience any problems or have any further queries, please contact the exhibition organisers by email.
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I am outside the UK but want to pay in British pounds, is this possible?

Entrants have the option of choosing to pay entry fees in either British pounds or Euros. It is up to the individual to choose whichever they prefer.
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What resolution should my images be?

At the initial stage, all still photographs must be submitted as JPEGs, saved at a high quality level, e.g. 10 in Photoshop, Adobe (1998), with a maximum file size of 2MB. Please check the Digital Specifications and Digital Adjustment Guidelines on the Rules & Conditions of Entry section of this website for further details.
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I cannot upload my images, what should I do?

Check that each of your image files are 2MB or less and that they are the accepted file types (either JPG, TIFF, or PNG.) If you still encounter problems, please contact the website administrators by email.
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I want to submit a mix of still photographs and videos, is this possible?

Yes. Each entrant can submit up to 10 entries, which can be a mix of both still photography and video. Please ensure you follow the guidelines for submitting video entries, as detailed in the Digital Specifications of the Rules & Conditions of Entry section of this website.
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The entry form asks for a 'Sale Price', what does this mean?

Please leave this section of the form blank as it is not applicable for entries to this competition.
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What does the Description field mean on the entry form?

Although not a requirement, entrants are asked to provide additional information about each image or video, to help the judges during the selection process. Therefore in the 'Description' filed on the entry form, please detail which of the following statements best describes their work:

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 small statement (max. 50 words) about your entry, please do so in this field.

If selected for exhibition, who would be responsible for printing and framing my work?

The organisers will be responsible for the printing and framing of all images for the exhibition.
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How many works will be accepted for exhibition?

Approximately 70 - 100 images and videos will be selected for exhibition.
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Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM)
www.ciwem.org

Atkins is one of the world's leading engineering and design consultancies
www.atkinsglobal.com

Parker Harris are Contemporary Visual Art Specialists (* Please note the office will be closed for the holiday period 21 December 2012 to 7 January 2013.)
www.parkerharris.co.uk

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Robert Harding World Imagery is the worlds leading independent provider of outstanding Travel Nature, Culture and Environmental Images for Creative Professionals and discerning Photo Editors. They are judging and sponsoring the video category. www.robertharding.com

Our thanks also to...

Go online at www.photomonth.org and discover the delights on offer this year with over 200 exhibitions and events to explore and enjoy throughout October and November 2012 in East London.

Get quotes from local photographers at www.Photographer4me.co.uk which offers several freelance photography jobs for professional photographers.

Contact details

For all enquiries, please contact the Exhibition Organisers:

Parker Harris

Tel: 01372 462190
or by email

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