News

I write to you belatedly, but I wanted to fully understand and reflect on the issues that we have had with the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition this year. Firstly, and most importantly, I am sorry. Truly sorry. LPOTY has not delivered to its high standards this year, and I am now acutely aware of the communications breakdown with some of you during and after the judging process. There have been a number of considered responses from rightfully disappointed photographers about the status of their entries and their position within the awards and commendations. It is especially to those photographers, who missed the opportunity to be fully recognised, that I owe the most sincere apology.

There are mitigating factors that have affected this year’s competition. However, as the founder, I must not fall back on excuses, and I take full responsibility. If the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition can continue next year, I promise that I will do everything I possibly can to provide those of you that enter with the professional delivery of the competition that you deserve. Its reputation as one of the best photography competitions is built on your support and the high quality of your submissions that honour and reveal the truly wonderful, diverse landscapes of the UK to a global audience.

If I am given the opportunity to say one thing, it is this: I founded LPOTY sixteen years ago, born out of a deep reverence for landscape photography and photographers alike. My overwhelming desire was then and is now to celebrate and honour the beauty of the world in which we live and to share this passion amongst as wide an audience as possible. I have devoted my life to this endeavour. LPOTY, thanks to the wonderful support of the landscape photography community who shares this passion, has produced what I believe is a wonderful reference for celebrating Britain’s landscapes. Furthermore, in its sixteen years, I hope that it has promoted and possibly even helped to launch the careers of many talented landscape photographers, giving them the exposure and recognition they so richly deserve. I realise that, despite these achievements which stretch far beyond what I might have hoped for all those years ago, maintaining LPOTY’s reputation for the highest standard of landscape photography competitions requires greater vigilance and care than was applied this year. I now want to return the competition to where it should be with a new team and a desperate desire not to let you down again.

I hope you will consider being part of this extraordinary journey again.

Hugely disappointed with what has happened this year, I can only apologise sincerely to all of you again.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Charlie