This year’s Royal Commonwealth Society Photographic Awards gave photographers the perfect opportunity to showcase their unique point of view and the cross-cultural nature of the Commonwealth – as well as become part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Time Capsule.
With over 230 entries from 33 countries, competition was strong for the 2012 Commonwealth Photographic Awards. Exploring this year’s Commonwealth theme of ‘Connecting Cultures’, young photographers impressed the judges with their diverse and varied interpretation of the topic.
The aim of this annual photographic competition run by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) is to enable young people to explore themes of international importance in a creative and engaging way, sharing with and learning from their peers around the world. Their images bring to life the commonalities and remarkable diversity of the modern Commonwealth.
The competition was open to amateur photographers under the age of 30 who are citizens of or a resident in a Commonwealth country, and entries could be submitted on digital, analogue, disposable or mobile phone cameras. For 2012, the year of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, all entries were added to the RCS’s digital Diamond Jubilee project, the Jubilee Time Capsule.
In addition to this year’s annual awards, young Commonwealth photographers were given the opportunity to enter a special competition organised to mark the Queen’s 60 years as Head of the Commonwealth. The RCS has partnered with the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) to run the Royal Photographic Society Jubilee Award. Participants were asked to submit a photo related to a day or special moment in the last 60 years that was important to them, their family or community. Entrants had a chance to win a trip to London and mentoring by RPS photographers.
Competition was again fierce and, with the winning images from the Commonwealth Photographic Awards now chosen and the winner of the Jubilee Award still to be announced later this year, it looks as though photographers have produced a diamond crop for 2012.
The winning entries can be viewed online at: www.thercs.org/youth
