The 2018 AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography) Victorian Professional Photography Awards concluded last night with the awards presentation at 1140 Studios in Melbourne (Judging was held on Tuesday and Wednesday this week). I was very pleased to be honoured as the overall winner for the EPSON Victorian 2018 Professional Documentary Photographer of the Year as well as being a finalist in the Nature category. I have previously won the Nature Category (formally the Science, Wildlife and Wild Places category) in 2014 and was also a finalist in 2015, 2016 and 2017. I also won the Documentary category last year so its fantastic to back that up with a repeat win.

Like last year I decided to split my print entries across the Documentary and Nature categories for 2018. All of the images were awarded either Gold, Silver with Distinction or Silver awards.Documentary Category – Adelie Penguins Ride Blue Ice in Antarctica – Silver Award 83Documentary Category – Lone Gentoo Penguin Antarctica – Silver with Distinction 86Documentary Category – Mother and Cub – Silver with Distinction 89 (one point from Gold)Documentary Category – Male Polar Bear on Blue Ice – 90 Gold AwardNature Category – Hawk Owl – 83 Silver Award Nature Category – Atlantic Puffin Fly By – 80 Silver Award
Nature Category – Back Lit Polar Bear – 84 Silver AwardNature Category – Polar Bears at Play – 84 Silver Award

From my previous post on these awards: 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 and can be quite nerve wracking if you are a first time entrant as the standard of work is incredibly high.