www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com

Since the voluntary administration and closing of the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography), I have steered clear of the new Australian Photographic Prize Award. Like a phoenix from the ashes, the Australian Photographic Prize arose as a direct result of ex-AIPP member’s desires to maintain a high-level photographic (both print and digital) competition in Australia for both professionals and amateurs (after the Australian Professional Photography Awards that were an inseparable part of the AIPP became no more). I chose to avoid (not boycott) the Australian Photographic Prize (APP) in its first two years since I was on the board of directors that took part in the decision to shut down the AIPP via voluntary wind-up due to predicted and inevitable insolvency (based on projected cash flows). At the time, this was the fiscally responsible decision (although much has been touted otherwise), and I still believe this to be the case as a director who was privy to the full picture of the organization’s finances. As of today, there still remains a small chance the AIPP may be re-born – pending a Supreme Court decision on what is to become of the remaining surplus funds. I have a feeling we have not seen the end of the AIPP, and it may yet re-emerge in one form or another.

This year, I decided to put the closure of the AIPP behind me (since it felt like the dust had significantly settled) and enter the single-image Nature category of the Australian Photographic Prize. The Nature category was judged yesterday, and I just caught up on the preliminary results on You-Tube during some downtime here in Mongolia (on my summer workshop for Pallas Cats). Much like the deceased APPA awards, the APP awards are judged by a team of five professional photographers on a moderated panel. Of the five photographs I chose to enter this year, all five made the final round of judging (top 35 entered images). Three of the five have gone to receive highly coveted Gold Awards, and the remaining two racked up Silver with Distinction awards, with one photograph (of the two back-lit Cheetahs) being a single point off a fourth Gold award. Screenshots of the judge’s scores and images are included below. You can also watch the recorded live-steam for the Single Image Nature category below. The overall winner of the category will be announced in the next few days.

Addendum: Since this post, I have been notified that two of my photographs (the owl and Pallas cat) were in the final round of judging as grand finalist images.