Five UK politicians have been announced as winners of the ninth annual Jessops All-Party Parliamentary Photographic Competition. Over 450 entries were received from MPs and Lords from across the country who were invited to submit up to ten images each. This year’s winning MPs are Peter Luff MP with “Cretan Sea”, Tim Loughton MP with “Isfahan Market” and Nick Raynesford with “Leather Seller”. Winners from the House of Lords are Lord Allenby with “Foraging” and Lord Crathorne with “Bridesmaids Bus”. The winning entries will be available for public viewing from 16th May to 20th May at the Jessops All-Party Parliamentary Photographic Exhibition in The Robing Room.

Foto8 and Host Gallery have announced that the deadline for entries to the 4th Foto8 Summershow, a photographic award, exhibition and print fair, has been pushed to 31st May. The organisers have also unveiled the names of the judges - the panel comprises Charlotte Cotton, Creative Director National Media Museum Bradford, Emma Morris, Director of Photoworks, James Reid, Director of Photography: Wallpaper, and photographer Richard Billingham. Additionally, Foto8 have confirmed that the winner of the ‘Best in Show’ prize will be awarded £2000 rather than the £1500 mentioned in their original call for entries. Note that there is an administration fee of £20 for entries submitted before 5pm on 15 May 2011, while entries submitted after that date will incur a higher fee of £30. As always, we suggest that you read the rules before entering your work.

Website: 4th Foto8 Summershow

Insight Guides are inviting every UK-based adult “whose travel photographs are a snap above the rest” to enter their 2011 travel photo contest. You may submit three images that have been taken this year and capture the essence of a destination. Photographers have until Friday 16 September 2011 to submit their entries for judging by an expert panel made up of the picture editors of the Independent on Sunday and Insight Guides, a former Trustee of the Royal Photographic Society and high profile photographer Kevin Cummins. The winner will be presented with a photo commission worth £3000 and an Olympus PEN E-PL2 compact system camera. The second prize is an Olympus XZ-1, while the third is an Olympus SZ-30. There is a separate category for under-18s, with the young photographer winning an Olympus camera of his or her own. As always we suggest that you read the terms and conditions before submitting your photographs.

The winners of the fourth International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) competition have been announced. The title winner of the £5,000 prize for the best single image is UK-based photographer, Colin Roberts for Sea Thrift Flowers, while the Best Portfolio Prize has been awarded to John Grant, from the USA, for Fairy Tales and Reveries. The Young Garden Photographer of the Year went to 15-year-old Jamie Unwin for Little Mouse on some Wild Wheat, an enchanting black and white photograph of a curious wild mouse who allowed Jamie close enough to capture it on camera (above).

Mom’s Healthy Secrets has teamed up with PeopleJar to give away an all-expense paid week-long trip for two to Rancho La Puerta, Mexico. To enter, all you have to do is upload to PeopleJar a photo of your favourite place to enjoy a sunrise or sunset. The submission deadline is 1st June. At the end of the submission period, a panel of judges will select the grand prize winner based on originality, creativity, intrigue and the number of “likes” received on the PeopleJar website. The contest is open to adult Canadian and US residents only. As with every photo competition, we recommend that you read the rules before entering any photos.

Website: PeopleJar

OK, so you’ve captured the most precious moments of Kate and William’s wedding with your digicam - now it’s time to enter your photos in Yahoo!‘s photo contest for a chance to win a £5000 ‘honeymoon’. ‘The People’s Royal Wedding Album’ aims to capture the people’s take on the event. “Whether it’s photos of celebrations down the pub, your pet in royal regalia, camped in a sleeping bag on the Mall, a fantastic knitted souvenir… Yahoo!’s ‘People’s Royal Wedding Album’ wants to capture it all, hopefully with a sense of humour,” the organisers say. You can enter the competition by uploading your photos to the The People’s Royal Wedding Album group on Flickr. Make sure to go through your snaps and select the best ones quickly though, as the deadline for entries is 6 p.m. tomorrow, UK time. Do note that while any Flickr member can upload their photos, only UK residents aged 18 and above are eligible to win. As always, we suggest that you read the rules before entering your work.

The organisers of the British Beer & Pub Association’s Pub Life photography competition are reminding interested photographers that the submission deadline is 6th May. Pub Life invites Britons to capture their favourite scenes from their local pub under six categories for the chance to win a camera from Olympus and a prestigious spot in the exclusive Pub Life Photography Exhibition. Each category winner will receive an Olympus E-PL2 single-lens kit; while six runners-up will win Olympus XZ-1 cameras. The overall winner will be awarded an Olympus E-PL2 double-lens kit as well as a host of photography accessories. To enter send images to [email protected] by midnight Friday 6th May.

The AOP Open Awards are open to everyone, with no restrictions on the subject matter. The deadline for entries is 20 May 2011, and you may submit up to twenty single images at a time. Do note that there is an entry fee of £15 per photo. As always, we suggest that you read the Terms and Conditions before entering your work.

Website: The AOP Awards Online Entries

Louis Boulet from École Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière, France, has been announced as the winner of the Student Focus Competition for the Sony World Photography Awards (WPA). The students had a month prior to the awards to complete the final challenge. The theme of the brief was, ‘Actions speak louder than words’, and students were asked to produce a series of images on the subject of actions and movement using Sony’s SLT-A55 cameras.

Argentinean photographer Alejandro Chaskielberg has been announced as this year’s winner of the illustrious L’Iris D’Or, the 2011 Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year. Beginning his career at the age of 18 as a photojournalist for a local newspaper, 34 year old Buenos Aires born Chaskielberg has spent 16 years developing a highly successful career as a photographer. His winning photographs offer a rare and insightful look into the lives of a community of islanders who live on the Parana River Delta. Devoting himself entirely to his ‘High Tide’ project, Chaskielberg lived with the islanders for two years, immersing himself in their daily life in order to document the way they live and work. Chaskielberg said of his series of striking night time portraits, “Using photography I have been able to present another version of the Parana River Delta and its community that has been photographically ignored throughout the years.”

The US National Park Service (NPS) has announced that the twelfth National Historic Landmarks Photo Contest is open for entries. The contest invites photographers to submit up to ten entries - one per landmark - by 31 July 2011.(National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.) As always, we suggest that you read the rules before entering your work.

The Art of Photography Show, an international photo exhibition which will take place 13 August through 16 October 2011, is now open for entries. According to the rules, anyone in the world may submit images for consideration. You may submit photographs taken digitally or on film, as well as montages, photograms and mixed media, as long as they are in JPEG format and are at least 1500 pixels wide (but no larger than 3000 pixels on the longer side). The deadline for entries is 11:59pm PDT on 17th May. Note that entry fees apply. A total of $10,000.00 in awards will be provided to the top-rung artists, with the overall winner receiving $2,000. Interested readers can register at the website below.

In celebration of 50 years of conservation history, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has announced its first-ever photo contest. Starting on Earth Day, 22 April 2011, the competition allows you to enter up to 15 photos of wildlife, wild places and people connecting with nature for a chance to win a trip for two on Natural Habitat Adventures’ Classic Polar Bear Photo Adventure and have your photo published by WWF. The submission deadline is 17 June 2011. Note that this competition is open to adult residents of the US only. As always we recommend that you read the rules before entering your work.

Blurb has just announced that the 2011 Photography Book Now (PBN) competition is open for entries. Now in its fourth year and featuring a $25,000 grand prize, this international-juried competition celebrates the very best in self-published photography books and the photographers behind them. There are 3 main categories, including Documentary, Fine Art and Travel, plus a Student category for up-and-coming photographers. Entries will be accepted through 3pm PDT (10pm GMT) on 14 July 2011, at the website below.

Photo-games site Phoozl.com has launched the Spring edition of the “Alphabetography Photo Challenge: the Four Seasons” contest on Facebook. The challenge runs for approximately 45 days to its conclusion on May 22. The concept is the following: photo enthusiasts submit photos that apply or relate to the current letter that’s in play. So during the “S” letter period, for instance, participants upload photos that are associated with a word starting with the letter “S”. When the gameplay moves to “P”, “P” photos are submitted. And so on through the six letters of the word “Spring”. Contest participants need only a Facebook account to enter, and they must be at least 18 years old. Photo submissions are acceptable from anywhere in the world, and there are no restrictions on when photos are taken or if they have been manipulated.

The 2011 FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year competition is now open for entries. There are six categories, including wedding; commercial; portrait; reportage; landscape and illustrative, plus there are separate sections for non-European photographers and students. The submission deadline is 31 July 2011. The competition is sponsored by Hahnemühle.

Website: Federation of European Professional Photographers

This year’s judges have chosen Hungarian photographer Tamás Dezs? as the overall winner of The Center Awards. The awards, now in their 16th year, offer support and exposure via a photographic career hallmark, an exhibition at the New Mexico Museum of Art, $5,000 cash award, publication in Fraction magazine, tuition to the Santa Fe Workshops, printing services from Singer Editions and more. Tamás’ project, “Here, Anywhere”, which documents a slowly changing country in the heart of Europe, has convinced the jury with its clear concept and unique style. For more work by the winning photographer, visit his website by following the link below.

Foto8 and HOST Gallery have announced the call for entries for the fourth-annual Foto8 Summershow, a photographic award, exhibition and print fair. A panel of judges will choose over 150 images to be displayed at HOST from 8 July – 12 August All works included in the show will be available for sale. Once the show is up, an expert team of judges will choose their favourite photograph to be named “Best in Show”. This will be announced during the fourth week of the show and the winner will be awarded £1500. A second award, “The People’s Choice” will be decided from the votes received in the gallery during the show, and presented with a photographic kit. The deadline for all entries is 15 May 2011. For more information, visit the website below.

Galerie Huit Open Salon 2011 is an open international photography competition designed to promote new work by talented artists, enabling them to exhibit during the ‘Les Rencontres d’Arles’ festival. The closing date for submissions is 1 May 2011; the festival will take place from 4th July until 18th September. The theme of the competition and exhibition is Transience. Note that entry fees apply, as outlined in the announcement below.

O2 Stories is a collaborative photography-based storytelling project and photo competition. O2 has commissioned Alexis Kennedy of Failbetter Games to write two stories, inspired by photos taken by the public. One story is a journey in sunlight, a happy tale of a far off land, while the other is a dark and hard-boiled thriller, set in shadows. Each tale begins with a single picture and from there, it’s up to the audience how the stories twist and turn over the next eleven chapters. To become part of the story, all you have to do is read what has been written so far, take a photo that you think could tell the next part, and then tweet it via twitpic, yfrog, plixi, or twitgoo with the hashtag for the story (either #o2sunlight or #o2shadows). Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening, the author will choose a photo that inspires him to write the next chapter for each story. If your picture is chosen, you will win a printed book of the complete story, featuring your photograph.

Website: O2 Stories