URBAN International Photo Awards 2018, an international stage for photographers

Prize pool: € 5,000 total value and one exhibition in Porec Museum (Croatia)

After the success of the 2017 edition (4,120 photos and 253 portfolio submitted for 1,015 participants from all over the world) on February 14, 2018 submissions will be open to URBAN 2018 Photo Awards, international contest organized by Italian cultural association dotART together with media partner Photographers.it.

Now in its ninth edition, URBAN sees every year thousands of participating pictures and hundreds of participants from all over the world. It is an always growing international contest, one of the very few that goes “over the boundaries” of Internet offering to photographers real visibility through dozens of international photo exhibitions. Only in 2017 URBAN realized 36 exhibitions displaying about 800 pictures. Behind it all, there is always the pursue of enhancement of photographic talent and quality.

URBAN 2018 is divided into two sections dedicated to Urban Photography, a theme that explores the contemporary through all forms of photography based in the urban fabric. The common denominator is the City, the urban environment and humanity that populates it.

The first section is “Themed Photos”, with 7 thematic areas:

• Street Photography. The many aspects of the urban fabric and the lives that inhabit it: people, places and moments of aggregation, contrasts and contradictions, events, concerts, sports and culture.

• Architecture & Urban Geometries. Urban spaces, buildings, streets, shapes and geometries, industrial archaeology and abandoned places.

• Transport. Moving in the City.

• Urban Art. The relationship between people and art in the City: monuments, churches, exhibitions, etc.

• People. The human body, photographed posing or caught fleetingly on the road. Portraits, fashion, glam and kitch, conventional and unusual beauty. Photo editing and post-production are allowed.

• Urban Animals. The animals in the City: far from their natural habitat but incredibly at home in our houses or along the city streets.

• Creative Photography. Artistic, experimental, conceptual, visionary photos outside previous thematic areas (the main theme is always Urban Life). Photo editing and post-production are allowed.

The second section is “Projects & Portfolios” where each participant can submit a series of images oriented to show his or her idea through photographs.

Works must be submitted no later than May 31st, 2018 and will be selected by a prestigious Jury, currently being finalised. Among confirmed jurors Japanese photographer Tadashi Onishi (winner ot TPD book Award 2017), Elena Uljančić-Veki (director of Poreč Museum, Croatia), Angelo Cucchetto (founder of Photographers.it and Trieste Photo Days art director) and Fulvio Merlak (Italian photographer and critic). More jurors will be announced shortly.

Jury President will choose and award URBAN 2018 Winner at the end of October during Trieste Photo Days 2018, international photography festival organized by dotART. The festival, now in its fifth edition, has in URBAN his main “cultural container” and will host the awards ceremony, the final exhibition of the contest, and a series of exhibitions, personal and collective, of the best photos and classified projects.

The partnership with the Poreč Museum (Croatia) is confirmed for this year. The Museum will offer a prize worth € 1,000 for 3 projects classified in the “Projects & Portfolios” section. The projects will be selected by the museum curators and displayed in the summer of 2018 (a period in which the tourist resort reaches 120,000 visitors).

The total prize money is more than € 5,000 (€ 1,000 for the Winner Overall and the winning portfolio). There will also be other prizes offered by URBAN’s technical partners. The best photos will be published on URBAN unveils the city and its secrets photobook.

Other than regular prizes, URBAN gives the chance to the best ranked photographers to enter its tour of travelling photo exhibitions, the real and tangible value of this contest. Since 2011 URBAN has setup exhibitions in Poland (Krakow, Łódź and Warsaw), Hungary (Budapest, Pécs and Miskolc), Germany (Berlin), Serbia (Beograd), Cyprus (Limassol, Paphos and Nicosia), Latvia (Riga), Croatia (Poreč), Slovenia (Koper), Ukraine (Sumy), Colombia (Bucaramanga) and Italy (Trieste and Rome).