Featured Image © Katherine Williams
A series-based award designed to celebrate the best in photographic narrative
Now in its third edition, Stories is a series-based award designed to celebrate the best in photographic narrative. In 2022, along with our existing awards focused on Australian photography, we are excited to launch a new Stories category open to photographers world-wide. We see this as an opportunity to further celebrate Australian photography on an international stage.
Operated by Photo Collective and supported by Picter, Momento Pro, Nikon Australia and PPIB, Stories seeks traditional, artful and new modes of storytelling which reflect our current times.
PLEASE NOTE:
The Australian Category is for Australian residents and Australians living abroad. Themes and content do not need to be Australian and can be made anywhere in the world.
The International Category is open to all photographers residing outside of Australia. Themes and content can be made anywhere in the world.
Initial Judging
Once entries close, our in-house committee will consider all Stories through a scoring system. During scoring the panel is free to discuss anything that may aid in judging the Stories. For example this may include explaining an uncommon technique used or identifying subject matter.
The highest scoring 20 submissions from the Australian Category and 20 submissions from the International Category will then be shortlisted for the next round of judging. In the event of multiple Stories being tied, the panel may re-score the submissions in the tie, and discuss the merits of each body of work to come to a final decision. Once they have selected the top 20 submissions across both categories they will manually review all entries to ensure nothing was overlooked. If they feel there are more than 20 submissions in either category which are serious contenders they will bring them in for the next round.
All 40 shortlisted entrants will then be contacted by email and a public announcement will be made via email, social channels and through our website.
Final Judging
Following initial judging, the Australian Category committee members will discuss and review each of the 20 finalist Stories. The committee will have the opportunity to preview all submissions before judging commences. Each entry is then scored and deliberated over to determine the final outcome. In the event of multiple entries being tied, the judging committee will discuss the merits of each of the entries to come to a final decision. All 20 finalists in the Australian Category will be included in the Stories Publication and Event.
The International Category committee members will also discuss and review each of the 20 shortlisted Stories, before selecting 10 finalists to be included in the 2022 Stories Publication and Event. The committee will have the opportunity to preview all submissions before judging commences. Each entry is then scored and deliberated over to determine the final outcome. In the event of multiple entries being tied, the judging committee will discuss the merits of each of the entries to come to a final decision.
We believe this discussion and deliberation allows the judging committee to work together to deliver the best possible outcome for the entrants.
Winners Announcements
The three winning Stories (2x Australian, 1x International) will be announced at the Stories 2022 Event and through our social media platforms, email database and website. The 20 Australian Category and 10 International Category finalists will also be published in the Stories 2022 Annual and will continue to be profiled, shared and featured through our channels throughout the year.
Other judging considerations
Administrators and employees of Photo Collective are not allowed to enter Stories. Neither is the judging committee for Stories allowed to enter. We are committed to ensuring that all entrants are treated equally regardless of their background or notoriety. We ensure our committee is held to the highest standard of ethics and every submission is treated with the same amount of time and respect. When discussing the finalists, if committee members know the image or creator, they will acknowledge this briefly before presenting their ideas and thoughts so that this can be taking into consideration.
