Get in close with your camera to win a £2,500 top prize

By Niall Hampton
published

The Close-up Photographer of the Year competition for micro, macro & close-up photographers is back and open for entries

Namib’s Gaze image (CUPotY Animals winner & Overall winner)
Emanuele Biggi was crowned Close-Up Photographer of the Year 2019 for this amazing shot of a Peringuey’s adder (Image credit: Emanuele Biggi / CUPOTY)

Close-up Photographer of the Year is back – with a bigger cash prize, an additional category and a new judge.  

Launched last year, the competition marks excellence in macro, micro and close-up photography. The overall winner will receive £2,500 in cash, with each category winner winning £300. 

Entrants to Close-Up Photographer of the Year, in association with Affinity Photo, have until 17 May to enter images in up to seven categories. 

So if macro, micro or close-up photography is your main focus, then this is one competition you won't want to miss.  

What are the Close-up Photographer of the Year categories? 

  • Animals (supported by MPB) 
  • Insects – NEW (supported by Greenwings Wildlife Holidays) 
  • Plants & Fungi (supported by Affinity Photo) 
  • Intimate Landscape 
  • Manmade World 
  • Micro (for images taken with a microscope; supported by Zerene Stacker) 

In addition, Young Close-Up Photographer of the Year (supported by Sigma) is open to entrants aged 17 or under. 

The winner will receive two lenses from the leading imaging manufacturer: a Sigma 70mm F2.8 DG Macro Art lens and a Sigma 18–300mm F3.5–6.3 DC Macro OS HSM lens with a close-up filter. 

The reigning Young Close-Up Photographer of the Year is Josiah Launstein from Canada, who won for his shot of a monkey-moth caterpillar. 

Monkey-moth caterpillar, by Josiah Launstein  (Image credit: Josiah Launstein / www.cupoty.com)
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Entrants to Close-Up Photographer of the Year 2020 can use any type of camera – including a microscope or mobile phone – and there are no restrictions on the subject matter entered. 

Last year's inaugural competition attracted more than 3,000 entries, from 42 different countries. Click here (opens in new tab) to see all the shortlisted and winning entries. 

Joining the judging panel this year will be macro photographer Matt Doogue. He will sit alongside award-winning photographers David Maitland, Sue Bishop, Ross Hoddinott and Robert Thompson, plus Tracy Calder and Keith Wilson. 

Judging will take place in June, and the results will be announced soon afterwards. 

A single-image entry to Close-Up Photographer of the Year 2020 will cost £10/$13. For more information, how to enter and for full Ts&Cs, visit the CUPOTY website (opens in new tab). 

Close-up of a flower by Tracy Calder, co-organiser of Close-Up Photographer of the Year  (Image credit: Tracy Calder )
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Niall Hampton
Niall Hampton
Editor

Niall is the editor of Digital Camera Magazine (opens in new tab), and has been shooting on interchangeable lens cameras for over 20 years, and on various point-and-shoot models for years before that. 


Working alongside professional photographers for many years as a jobbing journalist gave Niall the curiosity to also start working on the other side of the lens. These days his favored shooting subjects include wildlife, travel and street photography, and he also enjoys dabbling with studio still life. 


On the site you will see him writing photographer profiles, asking questions for Q&As and interviews, reporting on the latest and most noteworthy photography competitions, and sharing his knowledge on website building. 

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