Budding photographers of all ages and abilities are invited to enter the 2023 Boroondara Photograph Competition. Enter for the chance to win great prizes and have your photo showcased in a public photography exhibition at the Town Hall Gallery!
This year’s competition theme is 'Celebrate Boroondara'. Share your photos that celebrate the diversity and heritage of Boroondara’s places, spaces, and people. Photos submitted as part of the competition must have been taken in Boroondara. Dig up some old pictures from the past, or take new shots that celebrate Boroondara as you see it now.
The two competition categories you can enter under are:
- Young photographers’ competition – for young photographers of school age (up to 18 years old on 1 January 2023) who live, study or work in Boroondara from 2020 to 2023
- Open photographers' competition – open to individuals of all ages.
There is no limit on the number of entries you can submit, however you need to fill in an entry form for each photograph submitted. You can read all the competition details on our Boroondara Photograph Competition terms and conditions page.
All eligible competition entries will be added to our Local History Photograph collection available on the Library catalogue website and our winners will be announced at the awards night in July 2023.
Winners will be exhibited at the ‘Celebrate Boroondara’ exhibition at the Town Hall Gallery in the Hawthorn Arts Centre from Wednesday 12 July to Saturday 26 August.
There will be a People’s Choice award and a Best in Competition award chosen from the winning and highly-commended entries. The winner of the People’s Choice award will get a $100 prize, and the winner of the Best in Competition award will get a one-on-one masterclass with artist Cyrus Tang. You will be able to see Cyrus Tang’s artwork in the major solo exhibition ‘The Memory Palace: Cyrus Tang’ at the Town Hall Gallery from Wednesday 26 July to Saturday 30 September this year.
Young photographers’ competition
This category is open to photographs taken in Boroondara between 2020 and 2023, by young photographers of school age (up to 18 years old on 1 January 2023) who live, study or work in Boroondara. We encourage you to submit photographs on the theme ‘Celebrate Boroondara’.
This category is divided into two sections:
- Primary school photographers
- Secondary school photographers (students in years 7 to 12, and young people not in secondary school aged 15 to 18 years as of 1 January 2023).
All photographs taken after 1993 featuring identifiable living people need a photograph permission form filled in by the identifiable person or a parent of a young person under 18. This form is available in the downloads section on this page, and you will need to provide this filled and signed form with your entry submission.
We will award the following prizes and incentives in each age section:
- 1st prize – $100 and the exhibition print of the award-winning photograph (unframed, size up to 73 x 58 cm)
- 2nd prize – the exhibition print of the award-winning photograph (unframed, size up to 73 x 58 cm)
- 3rd prize – the exhibition print of the award-winning photograph (unframed, size up to 58 x 43 cm)
- Highly commended entries – the exhibition print of the highly commended photograph (unframed, size up to 58 x 43 cm).
In addition, all winning and highly-commended photos will be:
- entered into the running for the People’s Choice award – $100 prize for the selected winner
- entered into the running for the Best in Competition award – a prize of a one-on-one masterclass with artist Cyrus Tang for the selected winner
- included in the ‘Celebrate Boroondara’ exhibition at the Town Hall Gallery.
Open photographers' competition
This category is open to photographs taken in Boroondara by individuals of all ages. We encourage you to submit photographs on the theme ‘Celebrate Boroondara’. If a photograph was taken prior to 1993, it can be entered by family members of the photographer.
When you submit your entry, you will need to choose one of 2 subcategories to enter into. This is based on the year your photograph was taken. The subcategories are:
- Historical category – photographs taken in Boroondara from the 1860s to 2019
- Boroondara Today category – photographs taken in Boroondara from 2020 to 2023.
All photographs taken after 1993 featuring identifiable living people need a photograph permission form filled in by the identifiable person or a parent of a young person under 18. This form is available in the downloads section on this page, and you will need to provide this filled and signed form with your entry submission.
We will award the following prizes and incentives for each subcategory:
- 1st prize – $100 and the exhibition print of the award-winning photograph (unframed, size up to 73 x 58 cm)
- 2nd prize – the exhibition print of the award-winning photograph (unframed, size up to 73 x 58 cm)
- 3rd prize – the exhibition print of the award-winning photograph (unframed, size up to 58 x 43 cm)
- Highly commended entries – the exhibition print of the highly commended photograph (unframed, size up to 58 x 43 cm).
In addition, all winning and highly-commended photos will be:
- entered into the running for the People’s Choice award – $100 prize for the selected winner
- entered into the running for the Best in Competition award – a prize of a one-on-one masterclass with artist Cyrus Tang for the selected winner
- included in the ‘Celebrate Boroondara’ exhibition at the Town Hall Gallery.
Download our Permission form for photographs featuring identifiable living people
More information
For more information, you can email [email protected] to contact the Boroondara Photograph Competition team.