Earth Photo is an innovative new competition and exhibition developed jointly by Forestry Commission England and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) which reflects the organisations’ common interest in enabling a better understanding of the world around us through our complementary disciplines of the Environment and Geography. Earth Photo will focus on People, Nature, Place and Change and award categories will celebrate the best in each subject, as well as recognising emerging talent through a Next Generation Award.

We believe that photography has a profound national and international influence and that a picture is worth a thousand words; images continue to influence public understanding of the world around us and convey meaning and emotion beyond the barriers of language.

Earth Photo’s main objective is to reveal the story behind the pictures: informing, entertaining and engaging audiences of all kinds and encouraging conversations to begin about their subjects. Earth Photo will enable the viewer not only to appreciate a single or group sequence of images, but also to understand the ‘back story’ to a picture.

The Earth Photo exhibition will be a free exhibition presented to audiences at the Royal Geographical Society, London from July to September 2018 and on a national tour to Forestry Commission England forests including at Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest in Kent, Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and Grizedale Forest in the heart of the Lake District, Cumbria.

Earth Photo will award a range of prizes including opportunities with the Forestry Commission England, Discovery Passes, editorial feature and inclusion in the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Picture Library* as well as many more.

Winners will be selected for each of the categories:

• People
• Nature
• Place
• Change

Prizes will also be awarded to a Next Generation Award and a Short Film Award.

The overall Earth Photo 2018 Winner and all the other prize winners will be announced during the exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society, London.

* One of the world’s finest collections of photography, artwork and mapping which records over 500 years of travel, people, place and geographical discovery from the 1480’s to the present day.

The exhibition and awards will be selected by an expert panel of selectors from the fields of Photography, Film, Geography and Environment.  The selection panel of distinguished photographers, curators, geographers, environmentalists, and writers will include:

• Levon Biss – Photographer
• Marissa Roth – Photographer
• Yvonne Barmettler – Natural History Museum Basel, Switzerland
• Ian Gambles – Director England, Forestry Commission England
• Clare Grafik – Head of Exhibitions, Photographers Gallery, London, UK
• Harry Hook – Photographer
• Deborah Ireland – Author and Curator
• Simon Norfolk – Photographer
• Paul Presley – Editor, Geographical Magazine
• Lisa Rebori – Vice President of Collections, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, USA

The competition is open to all professional and amateur, national and international photographers of all ages. Entrants are invited to submit up to 10 still photographs or films. All photographs and films entered must have been completed since 1 January 2016.  All entrants must ensure that the quality of their entries meets the competition’s criteria as stated in the Rules and Guidelines.

Entry is by online submission through this website, and deadline for entry is by 5pm (BST) on Monday 18 June. All entrants are asked to ensure they have read all Rules and Guidelines before entering.

The competition’s overall themes and categories are People, Nature, Place and Change.

This could include but not exclusively images representing:

• Human connection to the natural world
• Sustainable environmental and economic development
• Natural and social value of the environment
• Biodiversity
• Health and well-being connected to the environment
• Extreme events and environmental destruction – flooding, drought, deforestation and other weather extremes
• Adapting to the effects of a changing climate
• Resilience and Innovative solutions
• Natural resources – security and conservation
• Human resilience and facing adversity

In addition to the photography categories there is also a prize for short films between 5 seconds and 5 minutes long. Please see Help & FAQs section for further guidance.

Please give a short statement about yourself and your submitted images/films. If selected for exhibition, the organisers will ask you for a more detailed description for the catalogue and publicity purposes.

An Entry Fee of £20 will be charged to each entrant.

At the first stage, entrants are asked to submit up to 10 still photographs or films and a fully completed entry form. All entries must be in line with the Digital Specifications as detailed in the Rules and Guidelines. The judges are looking in particular for pictures that show the dynamic link between environmental and social issues in a way that makes us think differently about the world around us. The categories are People, Nature, Place and Change.  Individual entries will be judged anonymously, and the judges will concentrate on looking for the following five qualities in submitted entries:

• Impact – does it illustrate immediate, subtle or resonant messages?
• Creativity – is it unusual, thoughtful, beautiful, subversive or ironic?
• Originality – is the subject treated differently and is the subject matter new?
• Composition – consider the perspective, balance, clarity of meaning and focus of statement
• Relevance – consider current environmental issues
• Technical quality – consider clarity, focus, lighting, exposure and colour

All entrants will be informed if they have been selected for exhibition by Friday 29 June, by email. All finalists will be contacted by the exhibition organisers regarding further details for providing final exhibition quality image or film files, and further details about the exhibition dates and events. See Digital Specifications section of Rules and Guidelines for further information. Stills images will be checked for proof of authenticity.