Creative Portrait Photographer of the Year 2024:
Every year the members of Societies of Photographers, which both John and I are members, gather at the annual Convention in London for 4 days of Masterclass talks, Superclasses, a trade show, a 20×16″ print competition and an Awards Presentation evening. This year we were both speaking and John had been nominated for an award in the monthly competition, sadly on this occasion he was runner-up.
As ever, it was a brilliant event and a great chance to catch up with our Convention Family, we’ve been going since 2009, coupled with the odd day out exploring the sights of London, (this year it was a visit to Highgate Cemetery to see George Michael).
This year I decided to enter 3 images into the 20×16 print competition and I’m delighted to share with you that I won the title of “20×16″ Creative Portrait Photographer of the Year 2024” with my image titled Queen Bee!
20×16 Print Competition:
What is the 20×16 Print Competition and how does it all work?
The competition is made up of 20 different categories and you can enter as many images into as many categories as you want. Each image is scored out of 100 by a panel of 5 judges from all over the world. This part of the competition is done live with members able to sit in and watch the process and hear the comments the judges make. It really is interesting, so if at any point in the future you are able to then do go and watch, it’s very enlightening.
The score categories are: Merit 80-84; Excellent 85-89; Outstanding 90-94; Exceptional 95-99; Flawless 100.
When the last image in the category has been judged the 10 highest scoring images go forward to meet 15 judges at the next stage; they are then whittled down to the top 3 and the winner is announced at the Awards presentation. The winning images from each category then go forward for selecting the top 3 places and Overall 20×16 Print Competition winner. This is all done behind the scenes so there are no spoilers on Awards night 🙂
This year there were 591 images entered for the Print Competition and were were competing with entrants are from around the world.
How did I do?
I entered Misty Blue and Pretty in Blue into the Illustrative category with both images scoring 86. I also entered Queen Bee into the Creative Portrait category and scored 87.
I was chuffed to pieces the morning after the final judging to discover a “finalist” rosette sitting neatly on the corner of the mount of Queen Bee, which meant that I was in the running for “20×16″ Creative Portrait Photographer of the Year 2024”. Thankfully the Awards Presentation night was that very evening so I didn’t have to wait long to see how I’d done. You could have blown me down with a feather when my name was announced as the winner. What a way to end an excellent week!!
To say I’m still a little blown away is an understatement, but I guess now, after 17 years as a photographer, I can truly call myself “an award-winning photographer” and I have a nice piece of glass to go with it!
** Queen Bee is the Curator’s Corner celebratory offer for the month of February. Follow the link for your print of this beautiful lady.
For those of you who like to know the nitty gritty details: the image was printed using my Canon Pro-10S on Permajet Photo Art Silk paper.
A full list of winners and runner-ups, along with images, can be found here.
Many thanks to Barnett Photo Studio for the images taken at The Convention.