The AIPP National and State awards are two of the very few remaining photographic competitions to actually judge the finished print and they do so using a panel of 5 judges for every section, who are all deemed experts in their respective genres and accredited as Masters of Photography through their years of success in photography. Prints are judged in a controlled lighting environment and assessed for their content, originality as well as technical craftsmanship. All the prints are scored out of 100 with images judged less than 70 are deemed not to professional standards. Prints judged between 71 and 79 are considered strong professional standards. Those images judged between 80-84 are awarded a Silver and are considered strong professional practice of an award standard. Scores of 85-89 are given a Silver with Distinction and demonstrate superior imagination, craft and skill. Prints judged 90-94 exhibit excellence in visual communication, craft technique and skill. And finally those rare few images that reach 96-100 are considered to have exceptional vision, creativity, innovation, master craftsmanship and skill. Very few prints score Gold awards in these competitions and only a tiny proportion of entries ever reach the top tier of Gold with Distinction. I entered 10 images this year with 7 achieving silver and one being awarded gold. The other 2 images I entered received 78 and 79 respectively, just missing the silver award by a fraction.

“Fotheringate” Silver award

“Reflected” Silver award

“Ghostly” Silver Award

“Golden” Silver award

“Jokulsarlon” Gold award

“Luminence” Silver award

“Serenity” Silver award

“Shadowed” Silver award

My sincere thanks goes to both Landon and Stuart at the Print Bureau in Prahran, for the wonderful job they do with all my work and especially in the choosing of the fine archival papers that suit each particular print.