APOY Round Five, Best of British, is now open!

Round Five of our Amateur Photographer of the Year competition is now open! The theme is Best of British

This is the round where you can go all out and have fun. There are so many fantastic things that make Britain British, the biggest problem you’ll have is deciding what to photograph. You might choose to capture one of our stunning landscapes, or our native wildlife. Or there are the characterful people that make up the population, not to mention iconic landmarks that visitors the world over come to see. You might choose to photograph something more local, such as a quirky festival or tradition that’s part of the fabric of where you live. The possibilities are enormous, and we want to see vibrant, distinctive images that capture the uniqueness of these islands.

Your guest judge for Round Five, Best of British

Peter Dench

Your guest judge for Round Five, Best of British, is Peter Dench. A regular contributor to AP, Peter is a UK-based photographer, writer, presenter, educator and curator. His accolades include a World Press Photo award for his reportage, Drinking of England. Solo books include Alcohol & England and The British Abroad. He has also been commissioned to write by the New Yorker, Telegraph magazine and a number of photography journals.

ENTER AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR ROUND FIVE HERE

Round Five closes Friday 17th June.

This iconic architectural skyline by Robert James was commended in our 2021 competition

See some of our tips here: Ten easy ways to get great shots of UK landmarks

Featured image: Kayden Borthwick. Third place in Street round of Young APOY 2021

Young Amateur Photographer of the Year

For the second time, we have added a Young Photographer of the Year category to APOY, in order to encourage our up-and-coming snappers. Entrants should be 21 years old or younger by the competition’s final closing date of 4 November 2022. All the categories are the same as for the main competition – simply select the Young APOY option on Photocrowd when you upload your images. This category is free to enter; each category winner receives a £250 voucher, and the overall winner receives a voucher for £500 to spend at MPB.

ENTER YOUNG AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR ROUND FIVE HERE

Camera Club award

Do you belong to a camera club? You can accumulate points for your society when you enter APOY, and after all the ten rounds are complete, the one with the most points will win a voucher for £500 to spend at MPB. The club might want to spend it on gear for use by members, or even run its own in-house competition with the prize going to the most successful photographer. It’s entirely up to the winning group to decide.

See the current leaderboards here: APOY 2022 Leaderboard

Matt Armett, shortlisted in the Landscape round of Young APOY 2021 with this image taken at Solomon’s Temple.

Plan your APOY Year

Below is a list of all this year’s rounds, including when they open, when they close and the dates the results will be announced in AP

What you could win

The winner of each round of APOY 2022 receives a £500 voucher to spend on anything at MPB. You could choose to put it towards a Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens. This compact zoom lens is compatible with the Nikon Z range of mirrorless camera bodies, and has a constant aperture of f/4, making it suitable for a range of applications, including low-light photography. It also features a 30cm minimum focusing distance and in-camera Vibration Reduction that allows better handheld shooting. Find this excellent lens at MPB for between £379 and £439.

The full-frame mirrorless Canon EOS R features a 30.3MP CMOS sensor and a DIGIC 8 image processor, and has an ISO range of 100-40,000 (expandable to 50-102,400). Its review in AP said it ‘delivers stunning images’ and ‘offers the best EVF we’ve used on a Canon camera’. This model can be bought at MPB for between £1,119 and £1,349.

Sony fans might want to consider the A9, which features a 24.2MP full-frame stacked CMOS sensor, high-speed continuous shooting of up to 20fps and 5-axis image stabilisation. It was described in AP as having ‘Superb autofocus tracking, excellent handling and controls, and impressive battery life,’ as well as ‘pushing the boundaries for full-frame sports and action cameras.’ It’s available at MPB in like-new condition for £2,039.

There are vouchers for second and third places in each round, too, of £100 and £50 respectively, while the winner of the Youth category wins a voucher for £250.

Check out the website at www.mpb.com to take your pick from thousands of items of second-hand gear.