For three years, I entered my very best photographs into competitions. Three years of putting my work in front of judges, convinced I had something special, only to be told otherwise.

I won absolutely nothing. Not a single thing.

Fast forward to today, and I’m travelling around the world judging international photography competitions myself. So, what changed? Did I suddenly become a better photographer overnight? Did the judges finally realise they’d been wrong all along?

No. I did something far more important. I learned to listen. And that one decision completely changed my photography career. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to where it all started.

It All Started with a Shiny Trophy (and a Free Monopod)

When I first got into photography in 2003, I didn’t give competitions, qualifications or degrees a second thought. In fact, I didn’t even realise they existed!

That changed when a good friend won a major photography award here in the UK. He belonged to a photographic society, another thing I knew nothing about. When I saw him holding that shiny trophy, I had just one thought:

"How can I get one of those?!"

For the record, I’ve always been ridiculously competitive.  When I was nine, a friend earned his black belt in karate. My reaction? “I want one of those!” Four years later, I had my own. Job done.

And, it’s not just the big things. I’ll get competitive over absolutely anything. How many beer mats can I flip in one go? Who can throw a sandbag closest to a stone? At a recent pub quiz, I named 38 US states. Not bad for a Brit!

So naturally, when I discovered photography competitions, I wanted in. I joined that same photographic society in 2010, although not for the reason you’d expect. I was at a photography trade show, and they were offering a free monopod with every new membership. I needed a monopod. Easy decision!  

Not long afterwards, I started entering competitions. And I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. My thinking was simple. Take a nice photograph, enter it into a competition, and hopefully win something.

How wrong I was.

For the next three years, I entered what I considered my very best work. Images my clients loved. Photographs I was incredibly proud of. Yet time after time, the response was effectively the same.

“Nice, but no.”

This is where photographers tend to go in one of two directions. They either decide competitions are pointless, determine the judges don't know what they're talking about, and stop entering. Or they dig their heels in and think, “Right, I’m going to prove you wrong.”

I’ll give you one guess which camp I fell into.

The Moment Everything Changed

Here’s the thing, though. I didn’t improve by becoming more stubborn or simply entering more photographs. I improved because I started paying attention to the judges’ feedback, even when I didn’t particularly want to hear it.

Rather than letting my ego tell me, “They're wrong, my clients love these photographs,” I started asking why the judges were making those comments.

Could my composition be stronger? Was something distracting in the frame? Was my editing too heavy? Could the lighting be improved? Was the story I was trying to tell coming across?

And slowly, things began to change.

Not because I was learning how to take the kinds of photographs judges wanted to see, but because I was becoming a better photographer.  And that, for me, is the entire point.

There's a huge difference between creating images simply to win awards and using competitions to improve your photography. The former might get you a trophy. The latter can genuinely change your career.

Your Clients Don't Care About Your Trophies

Let’s be realistic. Most clients couldn’t care less how many awards you’ve won. Yes, some will be impressed, and those accolades might even influence their decision to book you.

But have a look around social media. It seems EVERY photographer is an “award-winning photographer” these days! Here’s the biggest thing I’ve learned from my competition journey.

Your clients might not always care how many awards you’ve won, but they'll absolutely benefit from how much better you’ve become because you entered them.

Think about that.

Your composition improves. Your lighting becomes more intentional. Your editing gets cleaner. Your storytelling becomes stronger, and the narrative within your images becomes easier to understand. All those little details a competition judge might notice, comment on, and score are exactly what elevates your everyday photography.

Your clients won’t necessarily understand why a photograph works. They won’t talk about leading lines, tonal separation, or visual balance.

They’ll just look at it and think, “That's beautiful.”

And that's what really matters.

The trophies are lovely. Trust me, I know! But becoming a better photographer and delivering better work to the people who trust you to capture their memories is worth considerably more.

My Five Biggest Competition Tips  

Having spent years on both sides of the judging table, here are the five things I’d encourage any photographer to consider.

1. Seek advice from the right people.     

Find photographers who’ve been successful in competitions and ask for honest feedback. Better still, find someone who understands the competition you’re entering. Don’t just ask your friends, as they’ll probably tell you how amazing your photographs are. This is lovely for your confidence, but won’t necessarily help you improve. Sometimes you need someone willing to tell you that your favourite image isn’t quite as good as you think it is.

2. Read the rules. Then read them again.

It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many photographers don’t read the rules carefully. Although competitions often have similar requirements, some differ enormously in categories, editing restrictions, and image preparation.  The last thing you want is to spend time and money preparing a fantastic image only to be disqualified because you’ve overlooked something.

3. Don’t leave everything until the last minute.

Photography competitions can be expensive, particularly when entering multiple images or international awards.  Give yourself time to select your photographs, seek feedback, adjust and check that everything meets the requirements. Rushing an entry is a fantastic way to waste money and miss something you could have easily fixed.     

     4. Take the feedback. ALL of it.  

This is probably the most important advice I can give you.

Listen carefully to feedback on images that don’t perform well, but just as importantly, pay attention to the photographs that score highly. Understanding why an image succeeded is every bit as valuable as understanding why another didn’t.

Remember, judges are human. They have opinions, preferences, and different experiences. You won’t always agree with every comment, and that’s fine. But if you’re hearing the same criticism repeatedly, it’s probably worth listening.      

 5. Don't take it personally.

It’s incredibly disheartening when a photograph you’re proud of doesn’t achieve the score you’d hoped for. A disappointing result doesn’t make you a bad photographer, just as winning an award doesn’t automatically make you a great one. What matters is what you do next. You can let that disappointment stop you or use it to motivate you to improve.

I know which I’d recommend. 

From Entering Competitions to Judging Them   

Photography competitions aren’t for everyone, and I completely understand that. They can become costly and occasionally leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about photography! But they can also take you on an incredible journey.

In early October 2026, I travelled to Finland to judge their national photography awards. Sitting alongside other experienced international judges, I couldn’t help thinking about how far I’d come.

Back in 2010, I was the photographer who joined a society for a free monopod, spent three years entering competitions without winning anything, and wondered whether I’d ever get anywhere. Fast forward to today, and I’m now judging more competitions than I’m entering.

It’s quite surreal to think about.

Those competitions have opened doors I never knew existed. They’ve taken me around the world, introduced me to extraordinary photographers, and allowed me to learn from some of the best judges in the industry. Now I get to give back to the very competitions that helped shape my career.

The learning hasn’t stopped, either. Sitting alongside other judges, hearing different perspectives, and challenging my own opinions keeps me growing as a photographer.

No matter how many awards you've won or competitions you’ve judged, there’s always something new to learn. 

It’s About More Than a Shiny Trophy

If you’re thinking about entering photography competitions, I’d encourage you to give it a go. Not because you’re guaranteed to win. You’re not. Not because collecting trophies automatically makes you a better photographer. It doesn’t. But because the process of entering, receiving feedback, making mistakes, learning, and pushing yourself to improve genuinely can.

And when your photography improves, everyone benefits.

Your clients receive stronger photographs and a better experience. Your confidence grows, and you develop a clearer understanding of your work’s value. That gives you the confidence to charge more and, crucially, the quality to justify those prices.

The awards, if they come, are a wonderful bonus, but they shouldn’t define you. To quote John Candy in the film Cool Runnings:

“A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you’re not enough with it, you’ll never be enough without it.” 

But the real reward is looking back at the photographer you were five or ten years ago and realising just how far you've come.

And to think, for me, it all started with a shiny trophy and a free monopod.

Oh, and for the record, it’s 28 beer mats.