Friday 31 July, 2020

The Silver Lining Awards Conclude with a Fabulous Online Presentation Night

In a year of doing things differently the AIPP hosted its first online awards in 2020, culminating in last night’s live Presentation Night broadcast.

It was not without some trepidation that the Awards Committee set about organising this online event, an AIPP first. The budget was slim and the brief demanding: make it a night that brings members together around the nation. No pressure!

Fortunately the night was a huge success. Awards Chair, Tony Hewitt, worked for months with students and staff from North Metro TAFE in WA to pull together a show that saw many highs as the winners of the 12 competition categories were crowned.

Tony was joined in the studio by co-host Rachel Callander, AIPP General Member and renowned keynote speaker.

As a part of the show, viewers also heard from National President, Louise Bagger, and Awards Committee members Bill Bachman, Craig Wetjen, Gary Cranitch and Robyn Campbell.

Some of the major Prize Donors provided uplifting videos to add to the content as well.

Inspirational Images

The crowning highlight of the night was the slideshow featuring all 300 semi-finalist images.

Celebrating the depth of talent amongst some of Australia’s best photographers, it was both enjoyable and inspirational, and reminded everyone what an incredibly talented bunch of photographers choose to belong to the AIPP.

And the Winners Are…

Congratulations to the winners of the 12 categories:

ABSTRACT – Jackie Ranken APP GMPhotogIPB
WILD – Scott Portelli APP MPhotog
ISOLATED – Karen Waller APP MPhotog
PLACES – Kris Anderson APP MPhotogI
JOURNEYS – Brian Hodges APP
PORTRAIT – Forough Yavari APP MPhotog
CELEBRATION – Leon O’Neil APP AAIPP
GOODS & SERVICES – Mark Brierley APP AAIPP
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION – Forough Yavari APP MPhotog
LIFE – Karen Waller APP MPhotog
STUDENT – Anna Luscombe
NEWCOMER – Ruth Woodrow

Stay tuned for a further feature post on the winners coming soon!

Double Delight!

To be selected as a semi-finalist, finalist, place-getter and winner from almost 3000 entries is no mean feat. Some of our winners were quite overwhelmed, especially those who placed in more than one category.

Karen Waller (SA) took out two categories, winning both Life and Isolated, as well as placing second in Portrait, fourth in Journeys, with two Top Ten entries in Places and Life to boot.

As a result of her incredible efforts, Karen was awarded prizes valued at over $6000 from our very generous Prize Donors, including a $1500 printing voucher from Atkins and a $3,300 EIZO ColorEdge monitor.

Another Finalist to take out two categories was Forough Yavari (QLD), who won the Photo Illustration category and the most subscribed category in the competition, Portrait.

Like Karen, Forough took home a $1500 printing voucher from Atkins and was utterly delighted to be awarded an Olympus camera and lens kit to the value of $4100.

Other Finalists who achieved at least two placings include:

---

Kris Anderson – 1^st in Places and 4^th in Isolated
Joshua Holko – 2^nd and 3^rd in Wild
Julie Mullock – 3^rd and 5^th in Isolated
Steve Scalone – 2^nd in Goods & Services and 5^th in Places
Federico Rekowski – 2^nd and 3^rd in Places
Brian Hodges – 1^st in Journeys and 5^th in Celebrations
Andrew Railton – 3^rd and 4^th in Photo Illustration
Lynn Gail – 4^th and 5^th in Life
Diana Fernie – 2^nd in Journeys and 4^th in Wild

Well done to these very talented photographers!

It Couldn’t Happen Without Our Supporters

The Silver Lining Awards simply wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible generosity of the Prize Donors. Over 85 prizes were donated, with a total worth of over $45,000.

To accrue a prize pool of such magnitude in such an abnormal economic climate illustrates how strongly the AIPP is supported by generous sponsors and individuals within the wider photographic community.

It was a great thrill to be able to award such amazing prizes to our top five images in each category and we thank our Prize Donors for making this possible.

Please head to the Silver Lining Awards website to read all about the prize pool and consider supporting these brands, sponsors and individuals as they have so generously supported us.

Feedback Time

As a Committee, we love to give AND receive feedback!  

To GIVE to our members, we will be running a short series of “Stories Behind the Silver Lining” sessions in August. Stay tuned to hear more about these exciting online events, which will be free for members to attend.

To RECEIVE, we would love to hear your thoughts on your Silver Lining Awards experience.

Everything from the entry process, the Image Critique sessions, the semi-finalist and finalist announcements, the Silver Lining Awards website and the Presentation Night is up for comment – let us know what worked well and feel free to offer constructive comments about what could be changed in the future.

Random entrants have been selected to receive Google feedback survey forms – if you would like a link to this survey, please email awards@aipp.com.au.

Alternatively, you are welcome to email your feedback directly to us via the same email. We look forward to hearing from you!

The Final Word

The Silver Lining Awards were created in a hurry to fill the gap left by our cancelled state and national awards. Hundreds – maybe thousands – of volunteer hours have gone into making these awards a reality…and every hour has been worth it to bring the AIPP community together during these unusual times.

Stunning imagery lifts the spirits and ours have most certainly soared as we have watched members rise to the occasion by supporting these awards with such gusto.

Thank you for your enthusiasm, positivity and talent. We look forward to the next awards event – until then, keep shooting!

– The AIPP Awards Committee