International Garden Photographer of the Year – About Us

International Garden Photographer of the Year - About Us

About IGPOTY

International Garden Photographer of the Year continues to be one of the world's most respected photography competitions and exhibition, particularly within the genres of garden, plant, flower and botanical photography.

International Garden Photographer of the Year is wholly owned and organised by Mirror Plate Media Ltd.

It is supported by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London. The main exhibition is usually held annually at Kew, with a rolling programme of touring exhibitions in the UK and all over the world.

The main competition closes on October 31 every year. Winners are announced at the opening of the launch exhibition, the following February.

There are regular main competition categories each year including favourites such as; ‘The Beauty of Plants’, ‘Beautiful Gardens’ and ‘Abstract Views’ plus there are 5 photo projects and numerous seasonal special awards - for example: ‘Captured at Kew’.

Although the Competition name is 'International Garden Photographer of the Year' - IGPOTY has always embraced the word 'Garden' in its broadest definition, that is a 'Garden' could be; a back/front/balcony garden, a local park, landscapes and forests, after all - Earth is everyones' Garden.

To read our Environmental and ethical policy please click here.

Entries are welcome from amateurs and professionals alike, from any country in the world. The competition as a whole attracts thousands of individual entries annually, from across the world.

There is a fee for entering the competition which helps to cover the expense of administration, prizes and the exhibition tour. This fee is £16 for 4 single images ('Single Entry'), or £30 for a portfolio of 6 images. Sometimes, free-to-enter Special Awards are run, please check each Special Award's individual entry page for terms/pricing.

 

Feedback

Feedback has always been important to us. Professional feedback is available to buy through our shop.

All entry reviews will be processed after the results of the competition it relates to has been announced. Before Entry Reviews can be delivered you must assign them to an image/s in your account.

 

Prestige

The IGPOTY touring exhibition normally launches at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew each year, it then tours the UK and the world with its prestigious exhibition. In addition to this, IGPOTY attracts strong press coverage for winnning entries and entrants, building year-on-year covering both domestic and international news platforms such as The English Garden magazine and the BBC News website.

IGPOTY made Amateur Photographer Magazine’s feature – ‘Best Photography Competitions to Enter in 2020’. The list included their top 20 competitions to enter in 2020. IGPOTY is highly respected by its peers and is mentioned on the list amongst other well-established and respected competitions.

IGPOTY winners achieve prestige, pride and promotion.

 

My Dashboard

This is your space. Here you can see your entries, shopping history and account information. A complete profile is a great first step to get started on your journey into garden photography. After competitions close, remember to login regularly to check the status of your entry; you will also be alerted via e-mail, but checking the status in your dashboard is good practice as e-mails don't always make it through!

As well as updates on your entries, you will also be able to see your achievements of previous competition wins. We will be adding early competition wins in future updates.

 

How to pay

Due to the volume of entries we receive, the most efficient way for you to pay is by PayPal - this also includes paying by most credit/debit cards including Mastercard and VISA. You do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. 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 'PAYPAL' OR 'PAYPAL IGPOTY'.

PayPal Acceptance Mark

Your Privacy (Cookies/GDPR)

Cookies

When you visit the IGPOTY website, we send you a text file called a "cookie" in the browser directory of your computer's hard drive. A cookie is a small piece of information that a website can store on your web browser and later retrieve. The cookie cannot be read by any website other than the one that setup the cookie. Cookies enable this website to recognise the information you have consented to give to this website, such as Cart details and help us determine what portions of this website are most appropriate for your professional needs. As a result, cookies will allow you to retrieve previous entries, access your account with ease, and view your previous activity. We do NOT use cookies to examine your surfing behaviour before or after leaving the IGPOTY website. However, we do use cookies to identify your presence on our website, view number of visits, initiate chat windows where appropriate and view your search results on our website(s) only.

We recommend that you use supported and up-to-date versions of; Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari browsers. Our cookies pose no hazard to your computer but if you remove them you will have to sign in again in order to use our website.

GDPR

IGPOTY has updated its Rules section with a new GDPR section, please read section 1.3b here: https://igpoty.com/igpoty-rules/ all entrants must agree to the Rules and new users must tick the box when registering to explicitly opt-in.

Data requests please contact us here.

Data removals please contact us here.

All requests will be processed as soon as is reasonably possible and may require ID.

How to Enter

Entering is quick and easy. Just go to ENTER NOW, select your category and you’re on the way. Follow the instructions on the respective category landing pages for briefings/rules and how to enter (most categories are pay-to-enter, however certain Special Awards are free-to-enter). You can add a more detailed profile after you have entered images.

So you can, for example, buy 4 entry tokens for The Beauty of Plants. Then, if you wish - buy 4 more tokens for The Beauty of Plants, or 4 more entry tokens for a different category - it is entirely your decision.

Or you may choose to enter a portfolio of 6 themed photographs. You can enter as many portfolios as you like.

So you can for example, buy a portfolio entry for The Beauty of Plants. Then if you wish, buy a second portfolio entry for The Beauty of Plants, or a portfolio entry for a different category such as Trees, Woods & Forests - it is entirely your decision.

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

Entrants may enter the same images into 'Single Entry' categories as well as Portfolios, however entrants cannot win more than 1 award using the same image/s. In fact, entrants cannot win more than 1 award using the same image/s in any category. For full terms and conditions please visit the IGPOTY Rules page.

 

 

Preparing your images

For all main category entries, we require the following specifications.

Capture guidelines: * Minimum - JPEG, quality: high, 3780 pixels [longest side] at 300 ppi (pixels per inch). As a guide a 10 Megapixel image captured should be fine for printing.

* Ideal - JPEG, quality: highest (maximum) Adobe RGB (1998) colour profile at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) the image needs to be 4961 pixels [longest side], A3 size and above would enable us to make larger quality prints if needed.

If shortlisted, a larger file with more data is always preferred.

 

Entry guidelines

Please upload all initial entries at 1920 pixels [longest side] at 72 ppi in sRGB colourspace.

Entries uploaded larger than this may not be accepted.

If shortlisted, you will then be asked for your largest (high-res) version.

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

Key Dates

The Main Competition categories + Portfolios Competition normally open in January-February and close for entries each year on October 31st at 12 Midday (GMT). Photo Projects and Special Awards have their own Start and End dates.

For more information on any main category, Photo Project or Special Award entry dates please visit the individual category pages accessed via the ENTER NOW menu button. Any competition entry dates may change prior to opening for entries.