The 2018 Focus Awards competition gets underway on 1st September, so now is a good time to start selecting and preparing the images you might enter.
Some photographers choose not to enter competitions. Why is that, and why are the Focus Awards any different to the many other photography contests out there ?
Here are three answers to three commonly held beliefs, which are not true for the Focus Awards.
There is no point entering if you’re not going to be a winner
Why this is not true: There are plenty of reasons to enter the Focus Awards!
It stands to reason that you would only choose to enter some of your best images into a photography competition, to impress the judges and hopefully come away with a prize.
But not everyone can win a prize, and the Focus Awards are not just about the winners or the value of the prizes for those who do succeed.
Focus is a community dedicated to encouraging photographers at all levels of experience and helping them to improve their skills going forward. We recognise that photography is a ‘journey’, and that we were all beginners once.
Uniquely, we think, every image entered into the Focus Awards receives a judges’ feedback comment, designed to provide constructive guidance on how the image might be improved; whether it be how the image was captured, how the composition was conceived, whether the image has impact and emotion – tells a story – and how the image was processed.
These comments are chosen from a palette of literally dozens of common observations that our judges have compiled. They are valuable because they reflect decades of experience and insight into what makes a compelling photograph. Entrants into the Focus Awards can learn from this feedback and apply the judges’ insights to their work going forward.
Every image entered into the Focus Awards also receives a score, out of one hundred, which is the average of the three scores supplied independently from each of our three expert judges.
These scores obviously provide a measurement of your progress from year to year. To add context, Merit Certificates are assigned to scores over 75/100; Bronze (75-80), Silver (81 – 87), Gold (88 +). Entrants can download their Merit Certificates and share them on social media or post them onto their own websites, to celebrate their achievements.
So, it’s not just about prizes. It’s about applying yourself to photography; learning and improving as you go. And entering the Focus Awards can help you with that.
Photography competitions are all about making money for the organisers
Why this is not true: Focus is not-for-profit. Every entrant is important, and everyone who enters can benefit!
Most, though not all, photography competitions are run as a commercial enterprise. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean the organisers have a profit incentive to attract as many entries as possible.
And that can lead some people to become rather cynical towards the whole category of photography competitions, if it seems they are nothing more than a money-making scheme with no real interest in the participants.
And who can blame them ? One comp was recently exposed for publishing a panel of expert judges who, it turns out, were never asked to judge a single image! There are some rogues out there, so how can you tell them apart ?
The Focus Awards are different, because Focus is a not-for-profit body, operating on behalf of its Members, not as a commercial entity.
Because we have no profit margin, the Focus Awards is one of the best value photography competitions around. At $12 per entry, plus a five-for-the-price-of-four discount, the Amateur Awards competition is priced to encourage photographers at all levels of skill and experience to have a go and take part.
Of course, we do have expenses to cover. Our professional judges work hard to earn their fees; we have web development and maintenance costs, PayPal transaction fees and numerous Awards-related items to produce at commercial printers, that do need to be covered by the revenue generated from image submissions.
So, while it is gratifying to attract hundreds, if not thousands of entries into the Focus Awards, that is not our main motive. Every competitor is important to us, and everyone who enters can benefit from taking part.
It’s always the same top pros who win everything
Why this is not true: The Focus Awards are primarily for amateur photographers!
There is a good reason why celebrated photographers regularly win major photography competitions. They are very talented and their work is outstanding !
That can be quite daunting. “How can my work ever be as good as theirs. How can I compete at that level ?”
For this reason, the Focus Awards competition separates Amateur from Professional photographers. Professionals may only enter the Open competition, which has a single prize for Image Of The Year, and a higher entry price.
Professionals cannot enter the Amateur competition, and the Focus competition organisers do check that condition very carefully.
The Focus Awards are firmly weighted around the Amateur Awards competition, comprising six categories and the Photographer Of The Year Award.
So, that creates a more level playing field. But in 2018 we have gone one step further. This year there is a greater incentive to enter images into each of the six Amateur Award categories.
Those entering images into each category will be eligible for the Photographer Of The Year Award at no extra cost. The Photographer Of The Year is decided by calculating the average of a photographer’s highest score in each of the six Amateur Award categories.
So, you don’t even need to be an outright winner of a single category to produce a competitive average score across all six. In 2018 there will be valuable prizes for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in the Photographer Of The Year competition.
All of which is designed to give everyone who enters the Focus Awards a fair chance. Because it’s not just about the top talent always winning everything. It’s about hard-working amateur photographers getting better at their craft and having a real chance of success.
Just a few thoughts in case you had some doubts about the merits of participating in the 2018 Focus Awards.
Find out more on the competition website http://comp.focusphotographers.org/
If you’ve got any questions, please do contact us via the website chat box. You can also get in touch via email [email protected], or directly via Messenger at https://m.me/FocusPhotographyAwards