AIPP Silver Lining Awards 2020 Semi-Finalist

2020 has been a year unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime. Circumstances have forced us to change the way we work, play, behave and interact. One thing that has not changed, however, is our need for creative expression. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both the AIPP Epson State Awards and the Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA) were unfortunately cancelled. This was really unfortunate as they represent some of the very last print award competitions still running today. However, the AIPP Awards Committee saw this as an opportunity to do something special, to channel the challenges now facing us all into a communal outpouring of creative energy. As art critic and winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for criticism, Jerry Saltz, says, “Isolation favours art”. So, appropriately, the AIPP decided to ignore the clouds and focus on the silver lining.

The AIPP Silver Lining Awards aimed to do just that, with an online program incorporating image critiques and feedback sessions, judge training and a national competition culminating in a multi-state print exhibition. This new silver Lining Awards members-only program was been designed to engage as many AIPP members as possible – in a demonstration of members collective imagination and expertise.

I am delighted to announce today that of the five images I chose to enter into the Wild category of the Silver Lining Awards that all five of them made the semi-finals and have now moved onto the final round of judging. All the semi-finalist photographs can be seen online HERE. With almost 3000 entries into the Silver Lining Awards, the Semi-Finalists represent the top 10% of entries into the competition.