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Over the last few days The AIPP Australian Institute of Professional Photography Victorian State awards (VPPY) were held here in my home town of Melbourne at 1140 Studios in Malvern. The AIPP Annual state and national awards are two of my favourite photographic competitions to participate in because all entries (other than Sport and Commercial categories) are judged in print and not digitally. Those of you who follow my blog regularly will already be aware that I am a huge advocate of the print as the finished medium of choice for my own photography. I personally never really feel like I have finished with an image until I make a finely crafted (hopefully!) print. The AIPP National and State awards are two of the few remaining competitions to actually judge the finished print and they do so using a panel of judges all deemed experts in their respective genres and accredited as Masters of Photography through their years of success in this arena. Prints are judged in a controlled lighting environment and assessed for their content, originality as well as technical craftsmanship. The judging is enthralling to watch (it was live-streamed to the internet this year) and can be quite nerve wracking if you are a first time entrant as the standard of work is incredibly high. In brief, prints are scored out of 100 with images judged less than 70 being deemed not of professional standard. Prints judged between 71 and 79 are considered strong professional practice. Images judged 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 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 even fewer reach the top tier of Gold with Distinction.  Out of the more than 900 print entries this year fewer than twelve received Gold awards and less than four Gold Distinctions were awarded.

This year I entered both the Travel and Creative categories as well as the Science, Environment and Nature category and was absolutely thrilled to take overall first place in both the Science, Environment and Nature Category as well as the Creative Category (I was also a finalist in the Travel category with the highest scoring prints including three gold images one of which was a Gold with Distinction). Winning both of these categories is a huge honour and I feel very humbled to have had my work judged so highly by my peers. On top of winning my two chosen categories I also took out the Highest Scoring Print award for the overall highest scoring print across all categories. Highest scoring print is one of the most coveted and sought after awards and the possibility of winning it has always felt like a dream so I am deeply honoured to be the recipient this year. As someone who is so passionate about the ‘print’ and the craft of fine art printing this was an incredible honour. The winning print scored a 97 out of 100.I was even more honoured to also be the recipient of the overall award and title of Victorian Photographer of the Year. The recipient of this award is chosen from amongst one of the category winners from: Commercial, Landscape, Travel, Wedding, Portrait, Science Environment and Nature, Documentary and Sport, Family and Illustrative. Winning both the Creative category, Science Environment and Nature category, Highest Scoring Print award and overall title of Victorian Photographer of the Year is an incredibly humbling experience and I want to sincerely thank all my judging peers and all of the staff and helpers at the AIPP – Thank you. I also want to thank those photographers I am fortunate to travel with on a regular basis for their support and also their enthusiasm, passion for photography and ability to continually inspire me with their own work and vision. I also want to thank my sponsors for their ongoing help and support – they include: Canon Australia, Moab and Legion Paper, Giclee Media Supplies, Gura Gear, Live-Books websites, Nik Software and X-Rite Color Management Solutions.Included below are my award images in each category and their respected scores out of 100. All of the prints were printed on Moab Somerset Museum Rag. This wonderful paper has continued to remain my all-time favourite stock for fine art photography prints.Highest Scoring Print Award

March of the Penguins – 97 out 0f 100 Gold with Distinction Award
Creative Category Winning Images (And Travel Category Entries)Iceland Aerial – 95 out of 100 Gold with Distinction Award

An Epic Sense of Scale – 92 out of 100 Gold AwardGodafoss Waterfall – 90 out of 100 Gold AwardRoad to Oblivion – 84 out of 100 Silver AwardNature Category Winning ImagesMarch of the Penguins – 97 out to 100 Gold with Distinction Award

Built for the Kill – 91 out of 100 Gold AwardBear Reflections – 91 out of 100 Gold AwardLeave Me Be – 86 out of 100 Silver with Distinction Award

If you are interested in purchasing a 20″ x 30″ inch Limited Edition Signed print of any of these photographs please contact me at info@jholko.com for edition availability and pricing. Signed Open Edition 13″ x 19″ inch prints will be available for a limited time only at a cost of $250 each including postage anywhere in the world.