Photographer of the Year
Congratulations to Craig Easton (United Kingdom) for receiving this year's coveted Photographer of the Year for his series Bank Top. He wins $25,000 (cash prize) plus a range of Sony digital imaging kit and global online coverage. Easton's series was chosen out of thousands of entries by a panel of expert judges. Speaking about the project, Mike Trow, Chair of the 2021 Professional competition says: “What is so impressive about this project is the intent, dedication and understanding Craig brings to it...It is the moral weight behind this work that makes it so important and deserving of this prize.”
Bank Top by Craig Easton
Bank Top, a collaboration with writer and academic Abdul Aziz Hafiz, examines the representation and misrepresentation of communities in northern England, and focuses on a tight-knit neighbourhood in Blackburn. Craig Easton notes that Blackburn has become synonymous with the use of words such as segregation (BBC Panorama) and integration (The Casey Review) by the media and policy makers – terms which he believes are too simplistic to explain the challenges faced by such neighbourhoods and towns. His aim with Bank Top is to confront what he sees as dominant discourses in the media which fail to acknowledge the historical legacy and social costs of industrial expansion and colonialism. This long-form collaboration uses the stories and experiences in Bank Top to address wider issues around social deprivation, housing, unemployment, immigration and representation, as well as the impact of past and present foreign policy.
Category Winners
This year's category winners represent the importance of the series and breaking new ground in the photographic medium. Asking artists to submit a body of work interpreting one of the ten categories, each submission entered into the Professional competition was rigorously judged in its narrative excellence, technical skill and ability in exploring creativity in new and exciting ways. The ten series were chosen out of thousands of entries by a panel of expert judges. Each category winner receives Sony digital imaging kit and global online coverage.
Architecture & Design
Creative
Documentary Projects
Environment
Landscape
Portfolio
Portraiture
Sport
Still Life
Wildlife & Nature
