Eight category winners have been announced in this year’s Australian Photography Awards (APA), which attracted a record number of entries.


Smile by Nicole Reed – the winner in the Portrait category.

APA was founded in 2015 by creative collaborators Harriet Tarbuck and Tom Goldner, both of whom work commercially and creatively within the photographic industry and feel passionately about fostering community engagement through the photographic arts.  This year’s competition attracted 5,800 entries across eight categories making it the largest and most diverse to date. APA’s categories are curated to allow space for all genres within photography, both traditional and contemporary. Along with cash prizes, APA also offers award winners camera and lighting kits from sponsors Nikon Australia, Fujifilm Australia and Kayell. Winners also receive vouchers from Momento Pro to enable them to self-publish their projects into photo books. Momento Pro also produces the APA Annual; a 76 page soft-cover magazine which features the top 20 finalists from each of the eight categories.
Winners of the other seven categories are shown below.


Broken River by Tom Putt – the winner in the Landscape category


I want to hold her hand by Christopher Hopkins – the winner in the Documentary category


Quarantined for a Dream by Claudia Messenger – the winner in the Student category


Invasion by Natalya Stone – the winner in the Animal/Wildlife category


We are Women by Cara O’Dowd – the winner in the Open/Illustrative category


In the Cloud by Pepijn Thijsse – the winner in the Travel/Street category


Surrender to the Calming Waters by Harper Allen – the winner in the Junior, under 13 category

In 2021 APA will become the Australian Photographic Collective (APC) with the aim of providing a source of creativity for Australian photography and offering an exciting educational program for both emerging artists and practicing professionals. Tom Goldner and Harriet Tarbuck are also the co-founders of Stories, a new initiative designed to celebrate long-form photographic narratives by Australian photographers. Stories 2021 will launch on 1 March 2021. Click here to visit the APA website and view the top entries in this year’s competition.