Intel is running a photo-video contest on Facebook as part of its Visual Life campaign. The orgainsers are looking for submissions of original photographs and movie clips in six categories including Things, Moments, Northern Lights, Remastered, Places and People. Facebook members can either upload a file from their hard drive or select a photo from their Facebook albums. Please note that this competition is open to UK residents aged 18 or above only. As always, we suggest that you read the rules before entering your work.

Website: Intel Visual Life Photo-Video Contest on Facebook

International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) is reminding interested photographers that the deadline for entries for its 4Seasons competition is 31st March. This year’s theme is Monochrome, and the winner will receive a cash prize of £500 and a copy of the latest IGPOTY book, ‘International Garden Photographer of the Year Collection 04’ (to be published in May 2011). Entries cost £10 for 4 images and can be made online at the website below.

FotoDC has partnered with the US National Cherry Blossom Festival to produce the National Cherry Blossom Photo Contest. The submission deadline has been set for 9th April 9. The contest, is accepting entries in three categories: Landscape, People, and Festivities, taken during this year’s festival (26th March – 10th April), or taken within the previous two years. For each category, first place winners will receive a $500 cash prize, second place winners will receive a weekend stay at the Renaissance Washington, DC Dupont Circle Hotel, and third place winners will receive a Nikon Coolpix S3000 camera.

Website: National Cherry Blossom Photo Competition

Twenty-two images of popular protests, elections, political campaigns and civic action have been named winners and finalists in the 2011 Photography Contest sponsored by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). The winning photograph in the public category was “The Egyptian Revolution” by Jonathan Rashad, an image of a man holding an Egyptian flag during a demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in February. The IFES’ Choice category was won by Matthew Parry’s photograph “Issuing Referendum Ballot,” which depicts a southern Sudanese woman receiving her ballot paper during the region’s referendum on self-determination in January. The winners each will receive a $600 cash prize.

Shicon, a a social network of international graphic designers, photographers, illustrators and designers, is hosting an international photography competition called the BMW StillFilmFestival. Coinciding with the official launch of the new BMW Series1, the contest invites photographers to submit a series of four images that tell viewers a story that links them to their car, much like a short film of four frames. Create a single image made of the four consecutive shots and post it on Shicon. The photographs may feature any car from any brand. The first prize is €2,000, the second prize is €1,000, whilst the third prize is €500. The contest ends on 29th April.

Sony has announced the winners of the Sony World Photography Awards Open contest. Beating competition from over 51,000 submissions from 148 counties, the ten category winners are Edina Csoboth from Hungary, Marek Troszczynski from Poland, Wolfgang Weinhardt from Germany, Raghuranjan Sarkar from India, Chumlong Nilkon from Thailand, Chan Kwok Hung from Hong Kong, Andiyan Lutfi and Hubert Januar from Indonesia, James Chong from Singapore, and Carlos Henrique Reinesch from Brazil. Featured above is Edina Csoboth’s entry, which finished first in the Fashion category.

Peterman’s Eye Publishing has recently kicked off its third annual travel photography photo competition. “Whether your travel is up the Irrawaddy River, or simply down to your local farmer’s market, we like to think of Peterman’s Eye as a place to discover, share, and preserve those memories,” the organisers say. The first prize is $1,500; the second is $1,000; and the second is $500. Entries must be uploaded before 15th April through the Peterman’s Eye website.

Website: Peterman’s Eye

Phoozl has announced the winners of its first “Alphabetography” photo challenge. Hannah-Felicity Copely from Leicester, England, has emerged as the overall winner, trailed by Christina Bording from Oslo, Norway, and Ove Alexander from Manchester, England. Jon Canfield’s image, “Winter in Spokane 2” (see above), won the Best Letter prize in the “W” Letter category. Other category winners include Christina Bording, Hannah-Felicity Copely (twice) and Ove Alexander (again, twice). Marcus Haywood-Alexander’s “Earthly Struggle” received the greatest number of public votes, while the four Phoozl Awards went to Sergey Timchuk, Ansgard Thomson, Teri Brudnak and Sue Williams. The next contest is scheduled to start on 4th April.

Website: PhoozNews Blog

Win an all expenses paid trip to TRYX OUT: NYC 2011, or one of 12 TRYX cameras. Simply register for a free account with Casio’s new Imaging Square network service to enter the sweepstake. The official launch party for Casio’s much anticipated and groundbreaking TRYX digital camera, TRYX OUT: NYC 2011 takes place April 7th and will feature the Grammy award-winning Roots with a special guest performance by Nicki Minaj, one of hip-hop’s hottest female artists.

Sigma announced that 167 students have submitted images to the second annual Sigma Scholarship Contest. The contest has just entered the voting phase, with a crucial online, public vote now underway to narrow down the field of scholarship candidates to five finalists. Voting will last until 5pm ET, on 1 April 2011. From the five finalists, a judging panel of Sigma executives will then choose the scholarship winner, who will receive $5,000 in cash, and $1,000 toward Sigma products. Sigma will announce the winner on 18 April 2011. o view the students’ submissions and cast a vote, visit the website below.

Carl Zeiss has announced the winner of its photography competition, “Light is my language”. Under the theme “Light is my language”, Carl Zeiss encouraged photographers from around the world to illustrate and capture their ideas in exciting images between 15 December 2010 and 16 January 2011. Anyone could participate provided the image was taken with a Zeiss lens. The winning photo, A Pier Too Far  (above) was taken by Australian photographer Timothy Poulton at the Bellinger and Kalang rivers in Urunga in New South Wales, Australia. Poulton will receive a Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF.2.

Habitat for Humanity’s quarterly magazine, Habitat World, has opened its annual photo contest. Habitat for Humanity International is a non-profit organisation that seeks to eliminate housing issues and homelessness from the world. The Habitat World annual photo contest encourages photographers to submit photos that demonstrate the deep need for housing solutions and illustrate Habitat’s work around the world. The contest winner will be awarded a spot as a volunteer in Haiti this fall. Habitat World will pay the winner’s air transportation and trip fees, which include modest daily accommodations and meals. Additionally, photos and statements from the contest winner and top four finalists will be published in the December 2011 issue of Habitat World, which has a readership of 1 million.

The Photographers’ Gallery today named the four shortlisted artists nominated for its annual Deutsche Börse Photography Prize (DBPP). The annual award of £30,000 rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution, in exhibition or publication format, to the medium of photography in Europe between 1 October 2009 and 30 September 2010. The four shortlisted artists are Thomas Demand, Roe Ethridge, Jim Goldberg, and Elad Lassry. The winner will be announced at a special ceremony at Ambika P3, University of Westminster, London, on 26 April 2011.

The finalists of the fourth International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) competition have been announced. All of the photographs have been reviewed over a 10 week period by some of the leading garden photographers in the world, as well as representatives of Kew Gardens, the National Trust and the Royal Photographic Society. The winners will be announced on 3 May 2011. The finalists can be viewed at the website below.

Building on the Ten Golden Rules of Lomography, the Lomographic Society has announced its Ten Prophecies for the Analogue Future. In line with the Society’s slogan, “The Future is Analogue”, the ten “prophecies” - some of which sound more like light-hearted advices to new and old Lomography fans - form the basis of a new Lomography competition / promotion.

Burrard-Lucas Photography has launched a new pet photo contest. This competition is open to participants worldwide and the submission deadline is 11 May 2011.There is no entry fee, and each entrant can submit a maximum of three images. Entrants will retain copyright of their entries at all times and will always be credited alongside their pictures. Prizes to win include a Canon EOS 60D, a Lensbaby Composer portrait kit and one of two Lensbaby Muses.

Website: Pet Portraits Competition

The shortlist for the 2011 Sony World Photography Awards Student Focus contest has been announced. Open to universities worldwide that hold a photography programme, Student Focus has attracted entries from over 200 institutions in 2011. Ten burgeoning photographers from each of the shortlisted institutions have now been chosen to take part in the final competition. They include Linda Varoma, Juliette Martin, Louis Boulet, Nicol Vizioli, Nady Gorodetskaya, Rory Gardiner, Jonno Rattman, Frank Marshall, Tushikur Rahman and Juan Troncoso (whose picture you can see above). The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on 27 April 2011.

iExplore has kicked off a new contest for those who love to document their travels with photographs. The “Photo Safari Contest” winner, as judged by nine award-winning travel photographers, media writers, and popular vote, receives a $9,000 “Classic Kenya Safari” for two. You can enter the contest by submitting your best shot to the website below. The deadline for submissions is 22nd April. as always we suggest that you read the rules and regulations before entering your work.

Canon has issued a statement in which the Japanese giant congratulates Jodi Bieber for winning the World Press Photo of the Year award with her portrait of Bibi Aisha, a brutally mutilated Afghan girl. For her winning image, Jodi Bieber will receive a cash prize of €10,000 and a Canon EOS body and lens kit. Ms. Bieber’s photo also took the first place in the Portraits category, while the first prize in the Spot News category went to Hungary’s Péter Lakatos for his entry, “Suicide Jump”.

International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) has announced a photographic partnership with the National Trust. In conjunction with this, the 2011 competition sees the introduction of a new category, called ‘Breathing Spaces’ - intended to be a “celebration of the natural world as a place for people to relax, have fun and find inspiration”. Chris Lacey, the National Trust’s Photographic Manager, said. “International Garden Photographer of the Year is a great success story and the National Trust is delighted to be working together with the organisers. We are always trying to encourage our visitors to enjoy what our gardens and landscapes can offer and photography can be a huge part of that for most people. I hope that everyone who takes part has a truly inspired experience and I very much look forward to seeing the resulting imagery!” The 2011 competition launches on 1st March.