Annual International Photography Contest for Amateurs in 2025, Offering Over $35,000 / £26,000 in Prizes
Amateur Photographer of the Year 2025: £17,500 in Prizes Up for Grabs
The annual Amateur Photographer of the Year (APOY) competition is now open for entries, offering a prize pool of over £17,500 from sponsors such as Camera Centre UK, Adobe, and Viewsonic. This points-based contest consists of ten rounds, each with its own theme, and concludes with a top overall winner.
For the Amateur Photographer of the Year, the grand prize includes a £1,000 voucher to spend at Camera Centre UK and a £100 voucher for Bob Books. Each round winner will receive a £500 voucher for Camera Centre UK, free DxO PhotoLab and FilmPack licences worth £340, a £50 voucher for Bob Books, and an annual subscription to The School of Photography worth £120.
The competition is also open to young photographers aged 21 and under, who can participate in the Young Photographer of the Year competition free of charge. The winner of each round in the Young APOY receives the same prizes as their older counterparts, with the added bonus of free DxO software (DxO PhotoLab 8 and DxO FilmPack 7) worth £340. The overall winner of the Young APOY will receive a £500 voucher for Camera Centre UK and a £100 voucher for Bob Books.
The main judging panel for APOY 2025 includes AP's Nigel Atherton, Geoff Harris, Jessica Miller, APOY Project Manager Ailsa McWhinnie, photographer and writer Peter Dench, Rod Wheelans from the PAGB, Tyler George from Camera Centre UK, and photographer and curator Dominique Nok. Quintin Lake has been announced as the guest judge for Round Four, Landscapes.
Entrants can submit up to 5 images in each of the 10 rounds, while young photographers can enter up to 4 free images per round. Entries can be bought in advance and used at any time before the competition's final closing date of 2nd February 2026. A free entry per round can be obtained via a unique code published in Amateur Photographer magazine.
The fourth round, Landscapes, is now open and will close on 18th August 2025. The theme for this round is, as the name suggests, landscapes.
The winning camera club in APOY 2025 will receive £2,600 of ViewSonic prizing, including a 4k ViewSonic projector worth £1,600 and a ViewSonic monitor worth £1,000.
Camera Centre UK is the headline sponsor of Amateur Photographer of the Year 2025, with Adobe, Viewsonic, DxO, Bob Books, and The School of Photography also providing generous sponsorship.
The competition is open to amateur photographers from all over the world. However, entrants under 18 for the Young Photographer of the Year competition must gain the permission of a parent or guardian to enter. Unfortunately, people under the age of 13 are not permitted to register on the Photocrowd platform.
In addition to the APOY and Young APOY competitions, there are other photography awards mentioned, such as the AOP Student Award and Comedy Wildlife Awards, but these are unrelated to the APOY competitions.
So, grab your cameras and start snapping! The Amateur Photographer of the Year 2025 competition promises exciting opportunities for amateur photographers and young photographers alike.
In the Amateur Photographer of the Year 2025 competition, the overall winner will not only receive a £1,000 voucher from Camera Centre UK but also have a chance to showcase their skills in home-and-garden photography, as each round winner will receive free DxO PhotoLab and FilmPack licences.
Young photographers can participate in the Young Photographer of the Year competition and stand a chance to win a £500 voucher for Camera Centre UK, even in the home-and-garden themed round, such as the fourth round, Landscapes.
