PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

Australian Photography is searching for Australia and New Zealand's most talented amateur photographers.

There's more than $20,000 in prizes up for grabs and more than 500 of the best images will feature in a special Photographer of the Year edition of Australian Photography magazine in December 2025.

Winners images will also be printed on A2 photo paper, framed and exhibited at Ted's World of Imaging in Sydney in February 2026.

Photographer of the Year includes six portfolio categories – Landscape, Animal & Nature, People, Aerial, Travel and Black & White – and three single-image categories – Single Shot, Creative and Junior (for entrants under 18).

For the portfolio category we encourage you to submit four unique but related images. Keep in mind that the images are judged together as a portfolio, not as individual images. Entries where the four images work together as a cohesive series, rather than four unrelated images, tend to perform better in judging. When you are putting your portfolio together, look for images that complement each other visually and thematically.

Australian Photography's Photographer of the Year 2024-25 edition featured more than 500 images from the competition across nine categories.

PRICING AND DEADLINES

EARLY BIRD
$25 per entry (1 May to 20 July 2025)

STANDARD 
$33 per entry (21 July to 14 September 2025)

LAST MINUTE
$39 per entry (15 September to 11.59pm (AEDT) Sunday 12 October 2025)

Entries close 11.59pm (AEDT) Sunday 12 October 2025. All pricing in Australian Dollars (AUD). 

JUNIOR PRICING AND DEADLINES

Pricing is per entry.

$20 per entry (1 May to 15 October 2025)

Entries close 11.59pm (AEDT) Sunday 15 October 2025. All pricing in Australian Dollars (AUD). 

WHO CAN ENTER?

Photographer of the Year is open to amateur photographers in Australia and New Zealand.

For the purposes of this competition, we define an amateur photographer as someone who has not earned more than $5,000 in any one year from photography, and has not completed a tertiary qualification in photography.

Previous category winners of Photographer of the Year 2023 or 2024 are not eligible to enter Photographer of the Year 2025. (Note: Previous People's Choice winners may enter, as long as they were not category winners in 2023 or 2024.

For more detailed information about the eligibility requirements see the terms and conditions.

IMAGE RESTRICTIONS

Only enter images taken on or after 1 January 2024. 

You may not enter an image (or similar version of an image) that has been a Winner or Runner-Up in any of the following Yaffa Media photo competitions: The Mono Awards, The Landscape Awards, The Capture Awards, Australasia's Top Emerging Photographers or Wilderness Photographer of the Year.

In keeping with the spirit of Photographer of the Year being a celebration of the best new work captured in the last year, we encourage you to enter imagery that has not been entered, and especially recognised, in other competitions.

Photographer of the Year winners exhibited at Ted's World of Imaging at Ted's World of Imaging, Pitt Street, Sydney.

CAN I USE GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

No. This is a photography competition and, as such, any entered images must have been entirely captured with a camera (digital, film or phone camera). Images created or edited using generative artificial intelligence may not be entered.

CAN I USE AI NOISE REDUCTION AND SHARPENING?

Yes, but... The use of AI noise reduction and sharpening technology is allowed, as long as the integrity of the original photographic image is maintained. 

WHAT ABOUT DIGITAL IMAGE EDITING?

Up to a point. Adjustments may be made to cropping, noise, sharpness, shadows, highlights and contrast, including dodging and burning. Stitched panoramas, focus stacks, and HDR images, where two or more exposures are captured in the same location and merged to form a single image, are also permitted. Other composite images are not permitted. Cloning of dust spots, scratches, and minor distractions is permitted. Digital lens and perspective correction is permitted.  

In the Creative category there are fewer restrictions on digital manipulation and images bay be single capture or composites of several images. Keep in mind that, as with all categories, all elements in the image must have been photographed by you and must be 100% photographic in origin. That includes any textures, backgrounds, skies, borders, etc. Pixels may be moved, removed or added. The use of stock images, stock video, or clip art, or imagery created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not allowed. Check the terms and conditions for more information.

PORTFOLIO AND SINGLE-IMAGE CATEGORIES

Photographer of the Year has six portfolio categories and three single-image categories.

PORTFOLIO CATEGORIES

Landscape, Animal & Nature, Black & White, People, Travel and Aerial categories require you to submit four images.

Images are judged together as a portfolio, not as individual images. Entries where the four images work together as a cohesive series, rather than as four unrelated images, tend to perform better in judging. When you are putting your portfolio together, look for images that complement each other visually and thematically.

You can read more about what makes for a successful portfolio entry here.

Photographer of the Year 2024 Landscape category Winner: 'Colours of Bolivian Highlands' by Niall Chang.

SINGLE-IMAGE CATEGORIES

There are three single-image categories: Creative, Single Shot and Junior (for entrants aged under 18).

THE CATEGORIES

AERIAL (4 IMAGES)
Aerial includes photos taken from an elevated position. Images may be captured with a drone, from an aircraft, or from a high vantage point such as a building or bridge. Australian Photography supports the safe and legal operation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs), including drones. All entries must comply with local rules and regulations. Any image suspected of being captured illegally will be disqualified.
Drone photos of whales: Due to the difficulty of assessing the legality of images of this type, aerial images of whales that are captured by drone are not eligible to be entered in the competition.

ANIMAL & NATURE (4 IMAGES)
Images may be of animals (wild or domesticated), flowers, plants or other flora. The entrant must not do anything to cause injury or stress to an animal, or damage habitat. This includes flying a drone close to an animal.

BLACK & WHITE (4 IMAGES)
Images may be monochrome (eg black and white, sepia, selenium, etc). Images with more than one tone, for example, spot-colour, duotone and and colour images are not eligible. Images may be captured in black & white or converted from colour to monochrome in post-production.

LANDSCAPE (4 IMAGES)
Images may be of the natural or built environment. Aerial images must be entered in the Aerial category.

PEOPLE (4 IMAGES)
Images may include one or more people in the frame. Images may be posed or candid. Portraits of animals should be entered in the Animal & Nature category.

TRAVEL (4 IMAGES)
Travel is a broad genre that can include portraiture, landscapes, wildlife and other imagery, but should try to reveal something about the culture or the unique character of a place. Images can be captured anywhere in the world including in Australia or New Zealand. 

SINGLE SHOT (1 IMAGE)
This is an open-themed category: you may capture any subject you like.

CREATIVE (1 IMAGE)
The Creative category has fewer restrictions on the use of post-production. Check the terms and conditions for more information. Images must be photographic in origin and all elements must be the work of the entrant. The use of stock images and clip art is not allowed. Images may be single-capture or composite.

JUNIOR (1 IMAGE)
Junior is for entrants aged under 18. Junior is an open-themed category: you may capture any subject you like.

Photographer of the Year 2024 Animal & Nature category Runner-Up: 'Wild Winter in Iceland' by Rebecca Harrison.

IMAGE PREPARATION

IMAGE FORMAT: JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg), PNG (.png)
IMAGE SIZE: 2,500 pixels (or more) on the longest edge. Please note, while full-size images are used for shortlisting and judging, low-resolution images (620 pixels) are displayed on the website.
FILE SIZE: 5MB maximum per image.
WATERMARKS: Do not include watermarks or other branding on your images.

IMAGE MANIPULATION

ALL CATEGORIES EXCEPT CREATIVE

Images may be processed in post-production to adjust photographic variables such as cropping, noise, sharpness, colour, tone and contrast, including dodging and burning and black-and-white conversions. Lens and perspective corrections and minor cloning to remove distractions are allowed. Images must be single capture, not composites, with the following exceptions: stitched panoramas, focus stacks and HDR images (In these cases multiple images may be captured at the same location and merged to form a single image). Images must be photographic in origin and all components of the image must be the work of the entrant. The use of stock images or clip art is prohibited.

CREATIVE CATEGORY

There are no restrictions on the use of post-production, though images must be photographic in origin and all components of the image must be the work of the entrant. The use of stock images or clip art is prohibited. Images may be single-capture or composite.

RECOGNITION

Winners, runners-up, and top-ranked portfolios will be published in the Photographer of the Year edition of Australian Photography magazine, which will be available in December 2025. For smaller categories, only the Top 10 will be published in the magazine, but for larger categories Top 20 will be published. A parallel announcement will be made at www.australianphotography.com in December 2025.

Also in December, winners, runners-up, Top 10, Top 20, Highly Commended, and Commended photographers will receive a pdf award (similar to the one pictured below) via e-mail confirming their placing in the competition. Further, category winners will be exhibited at Ted’s World of Imaging, Sydney, in early 2025.

JUDGES

Photographer of the Year will be judged by a panel of some of Australia's leading professional photographers. We'll announce the judging panel soon. 

Photographer of the Year 2024 People category Runner-Up: 'Chrysalis' by Natalie Arber.

PRIZES

In 2025, Photographer of the Year includes a prize pool valued at more than $25,000, including $10,000 cash and a range of cool prizes from our sponsors. 

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions about the competition or you need help uploading your entry, feel free to email us at [email protected].

 

Thank you to our sponsors...