'Make the judges think, make them look again and sometimes even make them smile' – how to win Travel Photographer of the Year

One day, 23 years ago, whilst returning from a day showing my work to picture editors in London, England, the idea of the Travel Photographer of the Year awards was born.

Listening to a photographer being interviewed on the radio as I drove home, I heard travel photography dismissed as 'just needing a camera and a ticket to somewhere'.

Working in this area and knowing so many good photographers who were struggling to get their travel images published, I decided to create a showcase for them.

TPOTY launched at the Focus on Imaging show at the NEC Birmingham the following February, supported by Fujifilm, Adobe and Plastic Sandwich.

Travel photography is a collection of genres and anyone who has worked as a travel photographer will know that they are required to shoot many different things – people, cultures and destinations, of course, but also landscapes, wildlife, food, architecture (both ancient and modern), adventure, lifestyle… the list goes on.

A good travel photographer will be able to shoot in all lights, photograph people but also the natural and man-made worlds, shoot action, macro and so on.

It requires versatility and a broad spectrum of skills beyond those required to photograph any one single genre. And you have to be equally adept at all of them.

For me, if you understand light and how it changes, you can work and communicate well with people, but can also be motivated to work alone, then you have the attributes needed to succeed in travel photography.

TPOTY is open to everyone, regardless of age, wherever you come from or whether you’re amateur or professional.

The competition's judges don't know who shot any of the images and if a judge recognizes an image – as happens sometimes, especially in a social media-driven world – they withdraw from judging those images.

They don't know if the images they are judging were shot by an amateur or a professional, man or woman, until all judging is complete.

From the second year in 2004, we have had both amateur and professional winners of both the main award and across the categories.

Being professional doesn’t make you a better photographer – it often means you have less time to get the best shots.

I also have a keen interest in women's photography, so I've been trying to encourage more female entrants.

In Young TPOTY – the competition for photographers aged 18 years and under – there have always been as many female winners as male, perhaps even more, but I was especially pleased to see so many female winners in the main awards last year.

TPOTY 2025 opened for entries in May, with a closing date of early October. The categories change every year – this is important to keep things fresh and evolving.

However, there are always travel-themed categories that revolve around people and culture, landscapes and our changing planet, wildlife and the natural world, and adventure.

Travel Image of the Year, for single images, is new for 2025 and we have brought back the HD Video category, this time with a twist.

Yes, this is a fun opportunity for the broader general public to get involved and the photographer entrants also like it.

Interestingly, it also makes people aware of how hard it is to judge a photo competition.

The impact for the winners is huge and even being a finalist is considered a prestigious honor.

The exposure of their photography, through media coverage and exhibitions, is worldwide and gives both visibility and a lift to their photography.

Depending on whether they are amateur or pro, this could mean more commissions and stock image sales, workshops selling out, print sales, magazine features and book deals, requests to give talks… and more.

I spoke to the 2022 winner, Matjaz Krivic, at the end of last year and he told me that coverage of his winning images is still appearing nearly two years later!

I also recently met a category winner from 2023 and he told me he couldn't believe the coverage and exposure he'd received. At that point, he'd found his name and his images in 111 features around the world.

After we announced the winners last year, a Japanese photographer contacted me to say that he'd struggled to get his photography noticed. That all changed after he was placed in a category in TPOTY 2024 and his pictures were shown on CNN Japan.

There are 16 judges for the 2025 awards, drawn from North America, the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia.

In the past, we have also had judges from Central America and Africa. Some judges have been involved for several years but there are some fresh faces every year.

The judges love being involved and I'm particularly grateful to them for their support.

This year TPOTY welcomes two new judges to the panel, both from the USA, who are each internationally acclaimed: the multi-award winning documentary and travel photographer Mark Edward Harris and photojournalist and UNICEF Ambassador Krystal Chryssomallis.

We have some sponsors but we're always looking for visionary brands and even philanthropic individuals who'd like to partner with us. The exposure that we generate for them is huge for a relatively small investment.

Most sponsors stay with us for many years (Adobe and Fujifilm both worked with us for around 10 years, for example).

Almost all of last year's sponsors are continuing but I hope to also confirm a couple of new ones this year.

The sponsors are not directly involved in the judging or the running of the awards, but the exposure they generate for TPOTY in supporting us is a crucial part of creating awareness.

The common threads that run across all the categories are – most importantly, of course – a travel connection, meeting the category theme, originality and creativity.

Our judges are highly image-literate. They all see thousands of images each year in the course of their work so they want to see images that catch their eye, make them think, make them look again and sometimes even make them smile.

This is a tricky area, especially with the rise of AI. Perhaps it's best to start by saying that this competition is about photography, what you can do with and in a camera, not about how skilled you are on a computer.

Some AI tools in Photoshop or similar are permissible but absolutely not generative AI. A good benchmark is to think about what you could do in the darkroom and this will give you a good idea.

We allow stitched panoramic images, provided they are declared on entry, multiple exposures in-camera but not a photomontage of different images.

Images can be cleaned up but the main subject shouldn't be altered or moved. Image stacking is permissible (again, declared on entry) but I would urge photographers to think carefully about the use of HDR photography, because these images often look unnatural and, personally, I like to see shadows and highlights.

The key word here is 'best'. So often photographers choose their favorite images rather than their best ones.

I always advise people entering to ask a friend when they have selected their entries. It doesn't have to be a photographer, just someone to give an honest opinion on the image and how it fits the category theme.

Over the years, I have heard many stories of photographers who just entered their favorite images, even if they didn't fit the theme, or they asked someone else for their opinion but didn't listen to the answer.

They didn't win because of this when, perhaps, they might well have done if they had taken the advice.