- Entries are open NOW until midnight on Friday 5th April 2024.
- Each member can enter up to 10 photographs taken between 11th March 2023 and 5th April 2024 (inclusive).
- You must be a full member of The BPPA to enter – if you aren’t you can join now.
- Thanks to our generous sponsors at Canon UK it is FREE to enter although entrants whose work is selected will be asked to pay a fee of £50 per picture towards the cost of framing (capped at £100 max). Once the exhibition tour is complete, if you wish to keep your framed print there will be an opportunity to collect it.
- Entries will be selected anonymously by a panel of curators drawn from across the industry.
Assignments Live – International Women’s Day
The British Press Photographers’ Association, in partnership with Sony Pro Imaging, U.K. & Ireland, are delighted to announce the return of our photography talks series ‘Assignments LIVE’. To kick off the new run we are excited to reveal our International Women’s Day panel talk at The Frontline Club on Friday 8th March. We are assembling leading professionals in the field to participate in a photography-focused discussion. Our aim is to delve into the evolving role of a Press Photographer, analysing the landscape of 2024 amidst challenges such as Artificial Intelligence, the decline in newspaper print sales, the growing demand for digital content, shifts in the political sphere, and international conflicts. We will also explore the pertinent question of whether press photography still maintains its significance. Spoiler alert: Yes, it unquestionably does! Join us as we uncover the reasons behind its enduring importance. BOOK TICKETS HERE
Chair:
Alexia Singh a Senior Lecturer on BA (Hons) Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communications, a multimedia producer and photo editor with 20 years’ experience leading creative teams in the news and NGO sectors. During a 16 year career at Reuters News Agency she set up and managed picture desks in London, Paris, and Singapore and launched the Emmy award-winning Wider Image website for immersive storytelling. She has worked for Magnum Photos, WaterAid, DEC and Save the Children as a photo editor and producer.
Panel:
Sarah Lee – who started her professional career 24 years ago as a contract freelancer for the Guardian. She is still there. She’s also one of BAFTA’s regular photographers, and an ambassador for Leica. She recently shot a number of campaigns for Transport for London. And her book “West of West” (loosely focusing on the end of Route 66 in California) was published by Unbound early in 2020. The subject Sarah is most thrilled to have shot is Iris Murdoch.
Lucy Young – a highly versatile London-based photographer specialising in news and features work for national newspapers and magazines, with the bulk of her work commissioned by The Times and the Sunday Times. Her work ranges from capturing breaking events to intimate portraits of the people in the news. Lucy’s work has included the revolution in Libya, the work of Islamic Relief in rural Kenya and images of the Royal family and top political figures in the UK.
Chloe Knott – a freelance sports photographer based in London working across commercial and editorial assignments. After starting out in football with Danehouse Photography, she has worked across a wide range of worlds class events including The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis championships, The Rugby World Cup and Olympic events. Over recent years she has worked primarily under world renowned photographer Bob Martin for clients including The IOC, Sail GP, Manchester City FC and Wimbledon.
Helen Healy – a picture editor with over thirty years experience in the industry. She was the Head of Pictures at the Financial Times for seven years and has also worked at the Guardian, The Times and The Independent. She has seen the newspaper industry move from being a print to a mainly digital product. During her career she has been involved with covering many major news events, including 9/11, the wars in Ukraine and Iraq and Brexit.
Sarah Tilotta – who has worked as a photo editor and photographer for CNN in London since 2016, as part of an award-winning Visuals team covering news, politics, and features worldwide. Her publications as a picture editor and photojournalist have been recognised with Emmy, Webby, and Foreign Press Association awards, among others, on subjects including climate change, LGBTQI+ rights, and migration. Previously she held roles at NOOR Images in Amsterdam, and National Public Radio (NPR) in Washington, DC. She completed an MA in Photojournalism at the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University, and a BA in Visual Arts & Photography from Fordham University in New York.
Thanks must go to our fantastic sponsor Sony Pro Imaging, U.K. & Ireland who have enabled us to bring this event to you.
The BPPA’s Statement on the use of Generative AI by photo agencies
The BPPA’s Statement on the use of Generative AI by photo agencies
The news that Shutterstock’s generative AI platform has been used to create and sell child-abuse content, as reported by Petapixel, will concern everyone.
Images of child abuse have been constructed from datasets built using millions of real photographs, without the consent of the photographers or those in the photographs. Photographers should be wary of lending their work to any agency that might use it in this way.
The BPPA is shocked and disappointed that Shutterstock made this possible. It harms our members when agencies market genuine photojournalism alongside such imagery.
We’ve taken time to consider how this reflects on the work of photojournalists more widely, and the impact this has on our members.
Generative AI images are fiction. Image manipulation of any sort is against The BPPA’s Code. Use of such content by news publishers harms them and their audiences.
Trustworthy photojournalism such as is produced by members of The BPPA every day requires direct documentation of events by skilled photographers working to the highest ethical standards. Anything short of that is dishonest.
Further reading:
https://thebppa.com/artificial-intelligence-press-photography-and-the-bppas-position/
The BPPA Press Photographer of the Year 2023
Congratulations to BPPA member Oli Scarff for winning “Press Photographer of the Year” at this year’s BPPA Awards.
Winners are selected by BPPA members who recognise their peers’ outstanding work as a true representation of the work done day in and day out by BPPA photojournalists working across the UK.
You can see all the winning work here.
Category Winners
Arts & Entertainment – Oli Scarff
Business – James Glossop
Essay – Adam Gray
News – Leon Neal
Portrait – Geoff Pugh
Royal – Kelvin Bruce
Sport (action) – Adrian Dennis
Sport (away from the action) – Carl Recine
Young Photographer – Ryan Jenkinson
Highly Commended
Arts & Entertainment – Celia Bartlett
Business – Simon Hulme
Essay – Simon Townsley
Portrait – Daniel Hambury
Royal – Adrian Dennis
Sport (action) – Carl Recine
Sport (away from the action) – Oli Scarff
Young Photographer – Belinda Jiao
Comment from the BPPA chair:
Now in its fourth year, The BPPA’s Press Photographer of the Year competition has once again delivered an abundance of outstanding images from the industry’s best photographers.
The broad range of this year’s entries shows that the best Press Photographers can turn their talents to any subject and still walk away with something fresh and engaging, the kind of images that jump off the pages of newspapers across the country and indeed the world.
It is very encouraging to see such high quality entries in the Young photographer category. A group of photographers that we will be watching closely over the coming years and expect to see taking home more trophies in the future.
Congratulations must go to all the category winners, but special congratulations to Oli who has shown himself to be a stand out winner and a very worthy recipient of this year’s title.
I’d like to thank everyone for entering, judging and to the team at The BPPA for their hard work to run this competition on behalf of press photographers.
Jamie Lorriman, Chair, The BPPA