all competitions

Photo Competition - International garden

The fifth annual competition opens in March 2011 with a deadline of November 30th 2011. There are also four seasonal competitions. Seasonal competitions are based on specific themes.

Deadlines for these are as follows:
Monochrome: 1 March - 31 March
New Mornings: 1 April - 31 May
Weather Eye: 1 June - 31 August
Textures: 1 September - 30 November


The competition is open to everyone, amateurs and professionals alike. Entries are welcome from any country in the world. There are no restrictions on the type of camera you use, or the techniques you use to produce your final image.

You have to pay a fee to enter. But unlike free competitions, we provide feedback on request (after the judging), we have a huge range of cash and other prizes available to winners and to runners-up, together with the unique prize of having a photograph exhibited in our exhibitions

You can pay your entry fee- perhaps taking advantage of any discount offers, and then upload your photographs later on - at any point up to 30th November 2011 - midnight GMT. The 4Seasons category closing dates are listed above.

Being a finalist of International Garden Photographer of the Year will not only bring you a prize - it could be a life-changing event!

We are embarking on a series of events that will help you improve your photography. Some of these we are offering as prizes. Find out more about the prizes.

The judges will select around 100 finalists whose photographs will be printed to exhibition standard and planned to be shown at a major exhibition during 2012, with substantial press coverage. The mounting of the exhibition is subject to prevailing circumstances and will be confirmed before the end of 2011.

One finalist will win the title ‘International Garden Photographer of the Year’ and an under 16 finalist will win ‘Young Garden Photographer of the Year’.

Each category will have a winner and two runner-up prizes. An additional prize will be awarded for the best portfolio and there will be two portfolio runners-up prizes. For more on prizes, click here.

Each seasonal competition will have one winner and two runners-up.

All finalists and commended photographers will have their photographs shown on the International Garden Photographer of the Year website during 2011 and beyond..

How to Enter photo competition

You must first register then login. Follow the instructions on screen.

More detailed information on entering can be found on the Help page.

The competition costs £10 to enter. You can pay in British Pounds, Euros, or US Dollars.

(Note that the exchange rate applied will be that defined by the banking system; we do not have any control over this.)

First, you must choose which category fits your image best. You can also choose a seasonal competition if you wish.

For £10 you can enter up to 4 photographs in one of the categories. If you wish to enter another category, then this costs an additional £10 for up to 4 photographs . You can enter as many photographs in as many categories as you like.

So you can, for example, buy 4 entries for 'Plant Portraits'. You can then, if you wish, buy 4 more entries for 'Plant Portraits', or 4 more entries for a different category- it is entirely your decision.

Or you may choose to enter a portfolio of 6 themed photographs . This costs £25 per category entered. You can enter as many portfolios as you like.

So you can, for example, buy a portfolio entry for 'Plant Portraits'. You can then, if you wish, buy a second portfolio entry for 'Plant Portraits', or a portfolio entry for a different category- it is entirely your decision.

Note that portfolio photographs will not be judged as single images. They will only be judged as one of six themed photographs.

How to Pay

The easiest and quickest way to pay is by PayPal. You can also pay by credit card, via the PayPal that is linked to our shopping basket. Note that the credit card transaction is undertaken by your card issuer in the normal way and will appear on your credit card statement marked 'GALPA.'

In certain circumstances we can accept payment by cheque or electronic bank transfer. See Help for more information.

Preparing your Images of the
photo competition


For detailed information on how to prepare your images, see Help.

We recommend that you make your final decision on which photographs you are going to enter before you upload them to the competition.

You must have taken the picture on a camera that will enable good prints to be made from them for
the exhibition.This means that if your photograph is shortlisted, you will need to supply high quality jpeg images of around 1 megabyte as a minimum. More advanced users should aim to supply image files in 8bit TIFF format, with a filesize between 20-50 mb – this size would enable us to make larger prints if desired. See also rules.

You can still be a winner with a small camera - commended pictures will also be shown in a special online gallery during 2012..

Digital manipulation is allowed. We will ask shortlisted entrants for details of the manipulation used. You are not allowed to claim a subject to be unmanipulated if it has been.

No responsibility can be taken by the organisers for images that are incorrectly submitted.


Types of entry

Single images: These are judged as individual, stand-alone photographs.

Portfolios: A portfolio is a group of photographs that work both as individual images and as part of a themed collection. A portfolio can explore a location, a mood, a colour, a plant group, in fact any garden-related subject that fits into one of the categories - but all the images should relate to one another and to the theme as a whole.


Fifth competition opens: March 2011. Deadline 30th November 2011.

website: http://www.igpoty.com/competition.asp