The 14th annual Landscape Photographer of the Year Award opens on 13 January 2021 and entrants have until 14 April to submit their photographs of the British landscape. The competition is open to everyone, with a special class for those younger than 18. This year’s prize fund is worth £20,000, including £10,000 for the overall winner and additional special awards.

There is an Adult and a Junior title for the awards, and entries are split into four main categories.

Classic View is described as the category for landscape photography in its purest form – “sweeping views that capture the beauty and splendour of the UK in one image.”
Your View allows entrants to express what the UK landscape means to them through photography. “It is a way to comment on the way we treat our landscapes, and a chance to provide a new way of looking at the environment.”
Urban Life is a chance for the 80% of the UK population living in built-up areas to take pictures of the landscapes they connect with on a day-to-day basis.
Black and White is the category for urban and suburban landscapes, coastal shots and captures of the British classic countryside.

Chris Frost won the 2020 competition

The 2020 awards’ winner was Chris Frost, who captured a stunning image of a wooded area with mist swirling through the trees near Milborne St. Andrew in Dorset (above). He noted how “the low shooting position allowed more emphasis to be placed on the wild garlic and pathway.”

The Your View category was won by Aleks Gjika from Wales with this dramatic image of a lighthouse in a storm

The Landscape Photographer of the Year is unique in that entries are restricted to images of the UK. “One of the greatest and most rewarding pleasures is to have a deep and profound communion with the landscape and nature,” said Charlie Waite, founder of the awards (below). “The way to seal this emotional experience forever more is to photograph and fully own that human response.”

An exhibition of winning entries will premiere in November 2021 and around 150 of the best photographs from the competition will appear in the Awards book – Landscape Photographer of the Year: Collection 14 – by Octopus Publishing.

Further reading
Landscape Photographer of the Year winners named
Our best-ever landscape photography tips