The Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPA) is the most prestigious collection of photography works by Australian and overseas photographers. Over 40 years, the APPA’s celebrate the rich heritage of photography, where it’s at today as well as where it’s moving as an artform.
David Edmonson Wins Big In Australia
For the 2nd year in a row and the third time overall, an Edmonson holds the title of Overseas Photographer of the Year from the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). Previously, Luke Edmonson won in 2014. This year’s competition held in Melbourne in conjunction with Nikon’s The Event & Incite conferences at the Pullman’s Albert Park Hotel saw the winners honored at a grand gala with over 460 in attendance.
I’m almost speechless but want to say this. We admire so greatly the talented artists from Australia. You inspire us with your creativity and dedication to the craft of photography. I believe in many ways; Australian photographers set the Gold Standard for excellence.
An annual event, the APPA print competition is considered a bastion of creativity, integrity and quality regarding it’s judging and entries. Many of the other major competitions around the globe use the system developed by the AIPP to shape their judging and awards procedures. It is a fierce competition requiring the entrant first to become seeded at the State level to have an invitation for the main event. Even with the vetting process, almost half of the entries did not reach a score of over 80 or above.
Gold With Distinction
Based on the score, which is determined either by an average of the 5 judges scores or the majority of judges scoring in a particular range, the initial awards range from Silver to Gold Distinction. Prints scoring 95-99 earn Gold Distinction and this year .9% or only 20 out of all the entries received this accolade. For comparison, 36.9% won Silver and 11.5% earned Silver Distinction and the remaining 3.8% earned Gold. This year, David received his 2nd Gold Distinction with a score of 95.
Category Winner
As international members, we compete against all the other overseas members who enter. At the end of the judging, the top 3 scoring sets of prints are re-assessed in each category by a panel of jurors. This process makes sure that there is a fair outcome as the judges can look at the entire body of 4 prints as a whole against two other collections to make their final decisions.
Read more and see all of the category winners in The Working Pro Magazine.
Awards Night
This year’s AIPP Overseas Photographer Award was presented by Kylie Lyons and sponsored by the AIPP. In his speech, David thanked the organization for being such an excellent host and family and shared with them how special it was to be there in person finally. He dedicated the award to his son Luke and to Martin Schembri who recently passed away and would have been celebrating his birthday. Martin was instrumental in not only growing professional photography and the AIPP but around the world as a leading photographer, educator, and beloved by all who had the privilege of meeting him.
Learn More About Australian Institute of Professional Photography
The AIPP is located at Suite G.03 171 Union Road, Surrey Hills Victoria 3127. Become a member by visiting http://www.aipp.com.au/join or connect with their vibrant community through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or the AIPP Journal photography blog.
