Imagine Publishing and Samsung are joining forces to launch the fourth annual Digital Photography of the Year awards. Digital Photographer magazine anticipates record a number of submissions for the competition in 2010, with the overall winner receiving a Samsung NX10, three lenses and a flashgun kit. Six category winners will each receive a Samsung EX1 camera. The six categories include The Big Picture; Strike a Pose; Wild at Heart; Location, Location; Capture the Action and Get Creative. For all the details on how to enter, look out for Digital Photographer issue 98 on sale now throughout the UK, or head online to the website below.

Website: Digital Photographer

Canon UK today announced that for the second consecutive year it is to sponsor The Times newspaper’s search for The Times Young Photographer of the Year. Now in its 9th year, the competition seeks to find the UK’s best young photographer. The eventual winner will secure a 6 month placement with The Times newspaper where they will be trained in the skills of a photojournalist.  In addition to the placement the winner will also receive an award-winning EOS 5D Mark II camera body (pictured), EF 24-70 f/2.8 lens, EF 70-200 f/2.8 IS lens and a Canon 580EX II Speedlite flash. The competition will be launched in The Times on 16th July and will run until 31st August 2010. In order to be able to enter, you need to be between 18 and 26 years of age and a legal resident of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland.

Entry for the fourth annual Take a view - Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards closes tomorrow, so now is the time to visit the website and upload your pictures to see if you can win the prestigious title ‘Landscape Photographer of the Year 2010’ and the top prize of £10,000. Unlike many other photographic competitions, ‘Take a view’ celebrates the United Kingdom only, offering photographers worldwide the opportunity to showcase their images of this richly diverse country. Entrants may submit up to 15 photographs of the UK’s landscape across four categories, Classic View, Living the View, Your View and Urban View. There is also a separate class for those under 16, with a chance to win a place on a photographic workshop with awards founder and landscape photographer, Charlie Waite. All entries must be uploaded via the competition website. Please note that entry fees apply.

Website: Take a view

Viewbook PhotoStory 2010 is now open for entries, and invites photographers from around the world to submit their best contemporary collection of images that conveys a compelling narrative. You have until 1 st October 2010 to enter your work. The submissions will be screened and the narratives with potential will appear on the Viewbookphotostory.com website for everyone to view and comment on. The submitted photo stories will also be judged by an international panel of industry professionals. The two first prize winners will win an exhibition in the Kahmann Gallery in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (including a flight to the event and accommodation), a lifetime Viewbook Pro website account, a custom-designed book by Blurb, publication of their work in GUP Magazine and several other prizes.

Website: Viewbook PhotoStory 2010

Waqas Mustafeez, a student from Stanford University, has been named winner of Hot Shot Media’s Snapshot Scholar Photo Contest. The Snapshot Scholar Photo Contest allowed students and alumni from Stanford University and the University of the California—Berkeley to submit photos and vote on other contestants’ photos. Each week, the photos with the most votes advanced to the next round. At the end of the fifth round, the top twenty photos were presented to a five-member judging panel that decided on a winner. Mustafeez will receive a $5,000 scholarship.

My Favorite Things is a new photo contest from Lowepro and Polar Bears International. Open to professional and amateur photographers, the contest is designed to promote awareness of the effects of climate change on our environment. The Grand Prize winner will receive a Frontiers North’s Tundra Buggy Adventure for two to observe polar bears in their natural habitat in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada in November of 2010. The “My Favorite Things” photo contest takes place from July 1, 2010 through August 31, 2010.

Lexar have just launched the “Take the Next Shot” sweepstakes on Facebook. One random winner will receive their choice of a Nikon D300s with 16-85mm VR lens kit or a Canon EOS 7D with EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens kit, as well as two 16GB Professional 600x CF cards and the choice of a Professional UDMA Dual-Slot Card Reader of a UDMA FireWire 800 Reader. Ten other winners will be chosen at random and review the choice of a Professional 300x 16GB CF card or a Professional 133x 16GB SDHC card.

To enter, you only need to become a fan of the Lexar Facebook page (www.facebook.com/lexarmedia), enter through the sweepstakes tab, and send your best picture to [email protected]. The sweepstakes runs from July 1 through July 31.

The inaugural Democracy Photo Challenge asks people around the world to complete the phrase “Democracy is…” through digital photos. Entries will be accepted online from July 7 through July 28. An independent jury will announce 36 finalists August 19, and the public will select 12 winners during a global online vote beginning August 19 - August 26.  The winners will be announced on the United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Democracy, September 15, with the winning photographs exhibited at the UN in New York.

Nikon has launched the 33rd edition of the Nikon Photo Contest International. This global competition provides an opportunity for photographers to showcase their work and to contribute to photographic culture. In 2008-2009 more than 18,000 photographers from 153 countries submitted over 51,000 photos. Entries will be accepted between September 1 and November 30, 2010 and the winners announced in June 2011.

Fujifilm Professional has announced the winner of its 2010 Student Awards. The winner is Anne-Marie Atkinson from Leeds College of Art. Her photo, which was taken on Fujicolor Superia Reala 100, will feature on the cover of the next edition of Flann O’Brien’s novel, At Swim-Two-Birds. She will also receive £250 worth of Fujifilm Professional film and 25 Penguin Classics titles of her choice. Additionally, exhibition sponsors Genesis Imaging are providing Anne-Marie with a professional quality portfolio. The portfolio prize will contain up to fifteen 20"x16” prints together with a 20"x16” Clamshell Portfolio box.

The 2010 FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year Awards are open for entries. The main competition - which is broken down to six categories including commercial, reportage, portraits, wedding, landscape and illustrative - is open to European photographers only, but non-Europeans can participate in a special international section. Category winners will be awarded a “Golden Camera Award” – and the overall winner will be named FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year 2010. The competition will close for entries on 15th July 2010. Entry fees apply.

Website: Federation of European Photographers

Boingo’s “Hotspots and Snapshots” digital photo contest could land you a new Wi-Fi enabled Samsung digital camera. There are four categories including Travel, Happingess, Technology and Boingo Hotspots - and each category winner will receive a Samsung ST5500 / CL80 digital camera. The competition is open to amateur photographers all over the world. You have until 22 July to submit your work.

Website: Boingo Blog

Pixum has launched its annual SummerZoom photo competition. Amateur photographers across 10 European countries - including Germany, Austria, France, Denmark, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Norway - can enter their favourite holiday pictures and travel stories to win a waterproof Pentax Optio W90 digital camera, a big Pixum Acrylic Print or a Pixum Photo Book Large with hard cover. Additioally, all entrants will get a voucher for 25 free 6”x4” photo prints. Residents of the ten countries listed above have until the end of September to upload their photos and enter their travel stories via the website below.

Website: Pixum SummerZoom 2010

The United Nations Development Programme have teamed up with Olympus and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Foundation for the second annual ‘Picture This’ photo contest. Aimed at showing the world the inspirational work that is being done in many countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the contest, titled Picture This: We Can End Poverty, is open to amateur and professional photographers worldwide. Entrants may submit up to three different photographs, focusing on progress towards one of the MDGs, preferably in a developing country. The deadline for entries is midnight EST 16 July 2010. The first prize winners in the professional and amateur categories and the “People’s Choice” winner will be flown to an awards ceremony and launch of an exhibition in September in New York. Prizes to be won include various Olympus digital cameras and kits, from the Olympus Mju Tough-8000 to the E-P2.

Website: Picture This

To celebrate its tenth birthday, PhotoBox has launched a photography contest called ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. The company is asking photo enthusiasts across the UK to submit their best holiday snapshots and travel photographs from their favourite countries. In the first two weeks, you can submit photos taken in African countries - then the competition moves on to the Americas, Antarctica, Europe, Asia and, finally, Oceania. 6 winning photos from 6 continents will be selected from the entries, with the winners receiving the holiday of their lives to each of the continents featured in the contest.

Website: Around the World in 80 Days

The Master Photographers Association (MPA) has announced the winners in the first round judging of the 2010 Kodak/MPA Wedding and Portrait Awards. The prizes in the wedding category go to Stephen Yates (who won three awards), Steven Taylor and Scott Hogg. In the portrait section the winners are Nicholas Frost, Gary Patterson with two awards, Lindsey Brooker and Tony Marsh. They now go forward to the final judging in September 2010.

International Garden Photographer of the Year has announced the winner of its ‘Spring into Life’ contest, which was organised as part of its ‘4- Seasons’ photography competition series. The overall winner is Colin Varndell, who will receive a £500 cash prize and a copy of ‘International Garden Photographer of the Year Collection 03’ published by David and Charles. The other finalsists are awarded a copy of the book, plus points that will be taken through to the judging of the main competition, deadline 30th November 2010.

Website: Winners’ Gallery

Sigma Corporation of America is set to launch its first “Momtographers’ Photo Contest”. The company defines a “momtographer” as a mom who loves capturing and saving images of her family’s happiest, funniest and most memorable moments together. In keeping with that definition, Sigma is inviting parents to submit images to compete for a grand prize of $2,500 in cash. Photo submissions will be accepted from 29 June through 16 August 2010. We will keep you updated as further details are unveiled.

Project AWARE Foundation and SeaWeb’s Marine Photobank are calling for entries for the third “Ocean in Focus” Conservation Photography Contest that feature species in need of protection, the human impacts upon them and their environments, and the importance of conserving biodiversity. The Grand Prize package includes US$500 cash as well as many marine-conservation related gifts. Four additional prize packages will be available: three for honourable mentions and a “Biodiversity Award” package that will be bestowed upon a submission that particularly highlights the need for biodiversity or biodiversity protection. Entrants are asked to submit their most captivating contest photos at the website below before August 31.

Website: Marine Photobank

From June 9 to July 2, Craftsman Tools is encouraging DIY enthusiasts and budding photographers to submit their photographic interpretation of the phrase “Trust in Your Hands.” The competition is hosted on Twitter. Entry tweets should read “@CraftsmanClub: Look how I put #trust in my hands,” followed by a URL link to the photo. At the end of the contest, 10 winning submissions will receive a Craftsman C3 tool package valued at $750 each. The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, 18 years or older. For official rules, visit the website below.

Website: Craftsman Photo Contest