The BPPA Press Photographer of the Year 2020 – RESULTS

Photo: ©Adam Gray/SWNS for Daily Mail |

The results are in for the first British Press Photographers’ Association Press Photographer of the year competition.

We were delighted to receive more than 2400 photographs from 183 photographers, members and non-members, into the ten categories.

The competition was then judged by our members, 140 of them took part, viewing the 408 entries. The photographer with the most votes in each category went through to be voted on by members of The BPPA board to become ‘The BPPA Press Photographer of the Year’.

We are delighted to announce that The BPPA Press Photographer of the Year 2020 is Adam Gray of SWNS.

Adam took first place in two categories, Photo Essay and the Covid-19 Essay. The board members who voted thought his Covid-19 folio in particular stood out and that he deserved the top award in this, out first, Press Photographer of the Year competition. You can see Adam’s winning folios along with the rest of the winners at thebppa.pixelrights.com

The winning portfolios, voted for by members of The BPPA are:

  • News Photographer of the Year – Dylan Martinez – Reuters
  • Arts and Entertainment Photographer of the Year Neil Hall – EPA
  • Portrait Photographer of the Year – Christopher Furlong – Getty Images
  • Royal Photographer of the Year – Samir Hussein
  • Business Photographer of the Year – James Hardisty – The Yorkshire Post
  • Sport Photographer of the Year (Action) – Tom Jenkins – The Guardian
  • Sport Photographer of the Year (Away from the action) Lee Smith – Action Images/Reuters
  • Young Photographer of the Year – Peter Summers
  • Covid-19 Photo Essay of the Year – Adam Gray – SWNS
  • Photo Essay of the Year (non-Covid-19) Adam Gray – SWNS

Highly Commended :

  • News – Hannah McKay – Reuters
  • Arts and Entertainment – Samir Hussein
  • Portrait Photographer – Dan Charity – The Sun
  • Royal Photographer – Chris Jackson – Getty Images
  • Business Photographer – Christopher Furlong – Getty Images
  • Sport Photographer (Action) – Clive Mason – Getty Images
  • Sport Photographer (Away from the action) Carl Recine – Action Images/Reuters
  • Young Photographers – Molly Darlington – Action Images/Reuters, James Speakman – Mercury Press, Jordan Pettitt – Solent News
  • Covid-19 Photo Essay – Christopher Furlong – Getty Images
  • Photo Essay (non-Covid-19) Kiran Ridley

Lindsey Parnaby, Chairman of The British Press Photographers’ Association, said: “We’ve had an amazing response from photographers entering our first Photographer of the Year competition. It really is a showcase of fantastic press photography from what really was a very memorable year. 2020 will be remembered for many reasons and these collections of photographs document it in a very special way.Many thanks to everyone who entered and thanks must go to our sponsors Canon and Pixelrights. I really hope you enjoy viewing the galleries.”

Adam Gray makes his acceptance speech from New York.

The BPPA 2020 Press Photographer of The Year

Photo: ©Lindsey Parnaby |

In an email message to members of the association, Chair Lindsey Parnaby wished everyone entering the competition the best of luck. He wrote:

“2020 was undoubtedly an incredible year for the press photographer. The impact of Covid19 changing the way we live our everyday lives for the foreseeable future as public events were forced to close their doors and socialisation banned under successive lockdowns. The NHS becoming the nation’s saviour at it’s darkest time. Brexit. George Floyd’s death and the global Black Lives Matter campaign. Captain Tom Moore’s epic £30m charity walk. Marcus Rashford’s campaign to end child food poverty. Sports being played behind closed doors and so many more news events in the space of just 366 days.

The Board deliberated for a long time whether now was the right time to hold an awards competition after many of our members had themselves suffered lack of work throughout 2020, but with such exceptional circumstances and as an organisation representing press photographers, we felt it would be an insult to those who were fortunate to work and to press photography if we didn’t acknowledge the exceptional images that have been achieved throughout 2020.”

The competition is being sponsored by Canon UK and Pixelrights and the awards website is now on line at https://thebppa.pixelrights.com

The BPPA 19/20 Chair’s Report

Despite the unforeseen global COVID19 pandemic and resulting negative effects on our industry, The BPPA have had yet another very busy and productive year with success in many projects, from an all-round stirling team effort by the BPPA’s elected Board members in what have been very challenging circumstances for us all. 

The Chair wishes to express his personal gratitude to all of our Board members for giving their time, often at very short notice in attending emergency online meetings and quickly adapting to an ever and fast-changing situation conducted with outstanding professionalism, commitment and teamwork. -As always. 

The projects that we undertook have not only given our ever-growing membership excellent value for money, they have also promoted the highest ethical, technical and creative standards from within the profession, raising awareness and appreciation from within our industry and outside it, in line with The BPPA ‘Mission Statement’. 

Below is a list of the Board’s activities and achievements throughout the year 19/20:

1. We’ve actively recruited Board members based in the regions to give our UK-wide membership confidence that we are representative of them with direct points of contact to the Board regionally. 

2. The BPPA’s Assignments 2019 exhibition was a stunning success story attracting thousands of visitors to three beautiful and unique galleries showing in London, Stoke-on-Trent and Bradford. Also, the introduction of guest speakers from within our membership has proven hugely successful with insightful and candid talks to big audiences during the exhibitions. So successful has Assignments been, our regular sponsors have very kindly offered increased funding for The BPPA to expand the Assignments exhibitions even further into hosting workshops and seminars creating information hubs for our members, those studying press photography and the general public to attend. 

3. We held a members’ vote on a proposal for a new level of Associate membership which had a huge vote in favour for. We now have a panel of Board members working on this project who’ve been liaising with a number of education establishments keen to work with us. Board members have already given talks to photojournalism students on their own work and that of The BPPA and continue to do so.

4. We attended the 2019 Picture Editors’ Guild Awards with our members. This event is an excellent networking evening for our organisation. 

5. The continuation of The BPPA’s ‘Spotlight’ series, highlighting the outstanding and diverse work of our membership through this online gallery. 

6. We hosted Assignments Live in London with a tribute to John Downing from his son Bryn and horse racing specialist Alan Crowhurst.

7. We invested corporate sponsorship in The BPPA co-creator’s John Downing book ‘Legacy’.

8. Through the organisation of the Snapperweb Christmas party raffle, The BPPA Board helped to raise a total of £2,816.00 for the National Autistic Society. 

9. We instituted discounted subscriptions on newspaper publications. 

10. We issued important guidance on the ‘Four Cs’ of metadata to coincide with Google’s Licensable Images.

11. We began work on a complete rebuild of the existing website which is currently ongoing.

12. We intervened in a number of issues relating to freedom of the press including; Downing Street pooling of images, assaults on press photographers during COVID19, private security and police abuse of powers, as well as News UK copyright grab contracts. These have included publication of official statements from The BPPA and interviews with media representatives. 

** Please note that the following points all relate to COVID19 and The Board’s work throughout the ongoing pandemic **

13. Outside of our monthly Board meetings, we held fortnightly online meetings specific to Covid19 as the situation was an ever-changing environment. The meetings have proven vital in quick Board decisions and for giving regular updates and useful resources to our members. This included the creation of a Covid19-specific resources webpage.

14. Despite a minor halt in production of press cards, our Membership Secretary and Secretary have done and continue to do an outstanding job of dealing with all new applications and press card renewals as the UKPCA press card became essential to being recognised key workers during the pandemic. 

15. We have given six months of payment holidays to our members suffering loss of work as a direct effect of Covid19.

16. We’ve built good working relationships with a host of organisations including; The National Union of Journalists, the Society of Editors, the Sports Journalists Association, the News Media Coalition, the Football Association, the Premier League, Football Data Co Ltd, the English Football League, Premiership Rugby and Premier League football clubs comms officers. It has been a pleasure working with everyone. 

17. Liaised with national football and rugby organisations from a variety of leagues in the creation of Pool C enabling not only members of The BPPA, but also non-member license holders to access ongoing Project Restart fixtures being played behind closed doors in stadia nationally. Countless hours of online meetings have been conducted both in consulting with our members and all relevant organisations and clubs in the creation and continued smooth operation of Pool C.

18. The BPPA Board conducted over 160 Premiership League Pool C draws during the 2019-2020 season finish, in addition to four Pool C draws for FA Cup semi finals and finals held at Wembley stadium played behind closed doors. All draws were announced before being conducted live on Zoom, with results posted on social media immediately afterwards to add transparency to all interested parties.

19. Through the work of The BPPA Board in representing the best interests of our members and of press photography, we have increased our membership number over the 19/20 year by 117 new members (and counting) which brings our total to 420 at the time of writing. The welcome additional funds will be reinvested in new innovative projects.

20. Fortunately the Covid19 pandemic never halted operations of The BPPA Board, we responded well in working together and already have more exciting projects currently in their planning stages for our members throughout 2021.

Thank you to those organisations who work with us, the Assignments speakers and most importantly, our membership for their continued confidence in The BPPA during these uncertain and challenging times.

Onwards and upwards for a brighter and successful 2021. 

Lindsey Parnaby

Chair
the BPPA

News gatherers are key workers

News gatherers are key workers. That was made clear by HM Government during the original COVID-19 lockdown and our Police forces acknowledged the vital role media workers play by recognising the UK Press Card Authority’s official Press Card as sufficient evidence that the holder is a working journalist.

Members of The British Press Photographers’ Association and their colleagues with UK Press Cards issued by other bodies were regarded with contempt by a significant number of officers of the Metropolitan Police Service as they repeatedly failed to recognise carriers of the UKPCA card, harassing and threatening them with arrest for non-compliance of lockdown rules as they covered the Million Mask demonstration in central London on 5th November.

At a time when HM Government and the emergency services of the UK continue to rely heavily upon the free press as trusted sources of vital public information during the COVID-19 pandemic, for officers to bully and inhibit working press photographers is both irrational and counterproductive.

The BPPA welcomes the apology to the Society of Editors but we are still concerned that MPS staff members are either ignorant of the arrangements in place or are deliberately choosing to ignore them.

The BPPA calls upon the Metropolitan Police Service and the National Police Chiefs Council to commit to adhering to governmental instructions regarding the recognition of UK Press Cards and their holders as key workers.

An open letter to the Premier League

The BPPA represents the interests of over 400 full-time press photographers, many of them working in sport as freelancers. To that end, we have written to The Premier League to highlight the impact on our members should plans go ahead to severely limit the number of photographers at stadia when football returns.

The BPPA has offered suggestions on Project Restart match coverage with health and safety at the forefront of consideration, which would help both increase the coverage of the Premier League as well as help photographers recover from the crisis.

The BPPA urges the Premier League not to use one photographic media source exclusively, as not only would it severely affect the variety and richness of coverage in our national game it would also adversely affect many members of The BPPA’s and the wider freelance community whose income is totally reliant on football. The BPPA wrote to the Premier League last Monday and are still awaiting a response to this concerning issue for the sporting media community.

With this in mind The BPPA has joined with other organisations who want to be involved in Project Restart in this common goal and welcome further dialogue with The Premier League as a matter of urgency.

A Statement from The BPPA on the role of press photographers during crisis.

During any crisis, up to date trustworthy and impartial news is vital to all governments and authorities worldwide in communicating important advice and information to their populations.

The role of newsgathering falls upon the respective countries’ local, regional, national and the international media. Made up of photographers, reporters, broadcast reporters, camera operators and news crews working tirelessly out in the field supported by a plethora of editors, researchers and production staff covering the events and breaking news on a 24/7 basis.

Without these accredited mainstream media organisations operating, providing the public with vital and timely information in such crises, gossip and misinformation spread quickly, causing panic and potentially life-threatening situations with an added burden on the country’s already struggling authorities.

The UK government recognise the vital role that the press play in their battle against the Coronavirus pandemic and as such, awarded them the status of keyworker, along with other essential services seen to be imperative in the fight. Be it transport, utility, education, healthcare, local/national government and public services -the media, they each have their unique role to play.

Research conducted by The BPPA on interactions between bona fide press photographers and the general public during their coverage of the COVID-19 crisis revealed some very disturbing results in a number of regions across the UK, where photographers reported being threatened with violence, physically assaulted, trolled on social media, death threats, incitement to attack, even being spat at by members of the public whilst working on Coronavirus-related assignments.

This is absolutely despicable behaviour. It is completely unacceptable by any means and at any time and should not be tolerated by any member of the press. These are criminal offences and The BPPA strongly advise any of our members or any non-member to report such incidents to the authorities immediately.

No person, keyworker or other, should go to work with the fear of physical attack or abuse. Press photographers do not have the luxury of reporting from home, they have to be out in the field seeing and communicating what is in front of them and do this with a variety of camera equipment, be that with wide angle, standard or telephoto lenses. The misconception that telephoto lenses in some way give a distorted and more crowded view of a scene is as bizarre as it is ill-informed.

If you should happen to see a press photographer out on assignment during the current crisis and you are curious, please do not be afraid to ask for their credentials and have a chat (while observing social distancing advice please), we’re human like everyone else, with families and loved ones who are just as eager for life to return to normal as you.

Important notice for members of The BPPA

Whilst the world is experiencing turbulent times due to the Covid 19 pandemic The BPPA will try to offer as much support and advice to our members as we can.

At a specially convened Board Meeting there was a unanimous vote to offer all members the option of taking a payment holiday from their membership subscriptions for an initial period of three months.

We don’t want anyone to think that they have to give up their membership of the association just because their work has dried up and their income has been drastically reduced.

If you are experiencing, or are about to experience, any financial hardship because of the pandemic then please email [email protected] and we will suspend your payments whilst leaving your membership status as “paid” so that you can still make use of any and all membership benefits.

Best wishes
The BPPA Board

Downing Street and the curtailment of press freedom

Photo: © Lindsey Parnaby


The British Press Photographers’ Association objects to any and all attempts by Government to exclude photographers, reporters and television from events where there is a reasonable expectation from the public that those events would be covered by independent witnesses on their behalf. 

Restricting access and replacing independent coverage with free images, copy and footage from special advisers, Government employees and heavily vetted individuals is wrong and represents a serious assault on our free media. Once any organisation and especially the Government has full control of the news and how it is reported then the perception of accuracy, trust and accountability will all suffer and democracy will be the ultimate casualty.

We ask that any and all plans to limit and eliminate the access of the news media to Government events be scrapped and that the system that guarantees the access of journalists becomes a bedrock of the relationship between the Government and the people of this country.

(Photo ©Lindsey Parnaby)