2011 UK Picture Editors' Guild Award
15 September 2011
An exhibition displaying the winning entries from the prestigious national press photo competition, the UK Picture Editors' Guild 2011, will be mounted on the iconic external walls at the Museum of London.
This is the first time the rotunda entrance walls – a few minutes' walk from St. Paul's Cathedral – will be used. The free public exhibition aims to attract a new and wider audience, letting them appreciate up-close and in all weathers the best in modern photo-journalism.
This ground breaking exhibition is the result of the collaboration between the UK Picture Editors' Guild, leading online photo printing and personal publishing service PhotoBox, and the world-class Museum of London.
The nine category winners, including SABMiller Photographer of the Year which was won last year by The Guardian's Martin Argles, will be judged by a panel of 12 picture editors from across the publishing industry. Winners will be revealed at a ceremony this Tuesday hosted by the BBC's Kate Silverton and will be awarded their prizes from Fleet Street legend Sir Harold Evans.
The Museum of London exhibition follows on from this with its grand launch and gala evening on the 29th September. The exhibition, which uses innovative high quality waterproof prints, closes in January next year and from here the Guild continues its mission to share these works of art with fresh audiences nationwide by taking the prints on tour across the country for the first time in its history.
These awards are distinctive in that panels of judges consist only of working picture editors from national and regional newspapers plus international photo agencies, who together assess thousands of entries from professional photographers across the media. For the second year running, 2011’s awards give enthusiastic non-professionals the chance to have their work judged by the same top editors in the BT Citizen Photographer of the Year category.
For over a decade PhotoBox has helped millions bring their photos to life by giving them the tools to share and re-live the moments that matter in new and exciting ways. From award winning photo books to their latest innovative addition the waterproof gallery mounted print range, which launches at this exhibition.
The Museum of London regularly hosts changing exhibitions of photography alongside the nine permanent extensive galleries telling the story of the Capital from prehistoric times until the present day.
Guild chairman Alan Sparrow sees the exhibition as an opportunity for the public to pass their own judgement on what makes a great Press picture commenting: “This is how every photographer likes to show off the best of their work – a large-scale perfect print to be viewed and savoured. In our deadline driven world, the artistry contained in a picture may escape attention or fail to make maximum impact until reproduced to its full potential. We are fortunate to have such a great company as PhotoBox, coupled with the Museum of London, to create this fantastic addition to the 2011 Awards.”
Sponsors of the Awards, in addition to SABMiller the international brewer, include British Airways, and Nikon, plus the media companies Bloomberg, Newscast and Fotolia. Amateur Photographer magazine has joined with the Guild in promoting the BT Citizen Photographer award for non-professionals.
