With cameras being in literally every modern smartphone these days, getting into photography has become more accessible than ever.
Getting your photos out there, however, is an entirely different story altogether. Sure, there’s always Facebook and Instagram, but the exposure for that is limited to how many followers you have.
If you’ve ever wanted the chance to showcase your work on a larger platform, then the Huawei NEXT-IMAGE Awards might be exactly what you’re looking for.
Photography For All
Now in its third year, the Huawei NEXT-IMAGE Awards is a photography competition that aims to elevate mobile photography and give photographers — both budding and professional — a platform to showcase their potential.
The awards are open to pretty much anyone with a smartphone, and like previous years there are six categories to participate in: #Emotion Tag (capturing emotions in the moment), Hello Life! (everyday experiences), Faces (portraits), Going The Distance (using the phone’s zoom, wide angle or macro capabilities to discover new places) , Life Now (filming a 30-second video), and Storyboard (using a grid of 9 frames to tell a story).
And what would a world-class competition be without some world-class judges? This year the jury features some of the best in the photography scene, ranging from Magnum photographer Alec Soth to Pulitzer prize winning journalist Liu Heung Shing.
For the second year running Huawei will also be displaying winning photos at the annual Paris Photo, the world’s largest international photography fair.
The grand prize winner will receive a cool US$20,000, along with the recent released P30 Pro, winner’s medal or certificate, and a chance to attend the awards ceremony in Paris in November. The winners of the six categories will receive a smaller-but-still-significant sum of US$6,000, and everything else.
Even if you don’t make it that far, the next 50 runner-ups will receive a P30 Pro as well. Using a phone to take photos to win another phone so you can take more photos? Sounds like a worthy endeavour, if you ask us.
How To Join
Submissions can be made online at the NEXT-IMAGE Awards website from now till the 31st of July, with a maximum of 30 works per participant.
Before you start uploading your photos, however, there are a few things you should take note of — all photos must be taken with a Huawei phone (it is a Huawei-organised event, after all), and must not have appeared in a competition or publication before.
And as if US$20,000 wasn’t enticing enough, participants in Singapore who submit their photos before the 31st of May also stand a chance to attend a private mobile photography workshop with legendary celebrity photographer Russell Wong. Considering that he’s shot the likes of Robert Downey Jr. and Lee Kuan Yew, this is sure to be a meaningful experience for any budding photographer.
It’s been four days since the NEXT-IMAGE Awards officially launched, but hundreds of entries have already been uploaded to the website. To put things in perspective, over 550,000 works from 130 countries have been submitted in the last two years.
Nevertheless it doesn’t cost a thing to join, so why not give it a shot? The only tool you need is already in your pocket anyway.
