Deadline: 1-May-23

Applications are now open for the Mountain Photo Essay Competition, a program of Mountain Culture at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity to promote understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain places by creating opportunities for people to share and find inspiration in mountain experiences, ideas, and visions.

Other Mountain Culture programs include the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival and World Tour, a world renowned Adventure Filmmakers Workshop and other programs.

Prize

• $3000 CAD Grand prize

Format Guidelines

• 1024 x 768 pixels; 72ppi
• JPG image files no larger than 1MB each. NB: Digital files larger than 1MB will be discarded – high resolution images are not required at the preliminary stage.
• Embedded sRGB colour space.
• No watermarking or digital mattes, frames, or borders.
• Photographer’s name should not be visible on images (every effort is made to judge entries based solely on the image without distractions).
• A short synopsis should be provided to describe your photo essay.

Essay Requirements

• Submissions will be accepted in the form of photographic essays only.
• Images can depict any mountain story consisting of culture, adventure, wildlife, sport, environment or natural history.
• The competition is open to amateur and professional photographers.
  • Only digital image files will be accepted.
  • You must be the author and sole owner of the copyright for all images you enter.
  • Images must have been taken within the last two years (2022 – 2023).
  • Each photographic essay of up to five (5) images constitutes one entry.
  • Entries will be judged on the basis of effectiveness in conveying the mountain story through composition, technique, content, and originality of well-edited images. They suggest you include only those images required to tell your story – unnecessary images may reduce the overall impact of your submission.

Selection Process

• All entries will be viewed by a selection committee chaired by the Festival Director
• Finalists chosen by this committee will be viewed by an international jury
• The Grand Prize winner will be announced in June 2023
• The competition’s goal is to showcase the best in mountain-themed photo essays – to recognize the best stories told through a series of still images. They invite photographers to submit photos to illustrate their mountain related stories whether culture, adventure, wildlife, sport, environment, or natural history. The jury is seeking a sequence of images that conveys a compelling story or message – with each image strong enough to stand on its own while conveying a greater narrative when viewed in the photographer’s desired sequence.

For more information, visit Banff Centre.