Ilford Photo Press Release

Introducing a new, major event on the photography student calendar, ILFORD Photo confirms its support for extending the beauty and artistry of black-and-white photography. Reviving ILFORD Photo’s long-standing support of students of photography, the company has launched what will be an annual Student of the Year competition. More than simply judging Student work (a print judgement), this event offers students the opportunity to not only set up the basis of their equipment with a leading camera system, but also to benefit from working alongside leading professional photographers.

There are two stages to the competition: Firstly, students need to submit a portfolio of six black-and-white prints depicting the theme ‘The rebirth of black-and-white photography and of ILFORD Photo’.

The images should reflect the innate beauty of black-and-white photography, thereby encouraging more professional photographers to make it an integral aspect of their work. Obviously, the submissions need to have used ILFORD Photo materials to ensure the best results, and need to be submitted by 30 June 2006.

The three students who submit what are judged to be the best representations of the theme, and demonstrate sound photographic style and printing techniques, will each receive a £350 cash prize and £250 of ILFORD Photo materials, while their colleges or universities will each receive ILFORD Photo material worth £500. Six runners up will also each receive £250 of ILFORD Photo materials.

These three winners will then move onto stage two of the competition. They will spend two weeks working alongside professional photographers on a one-to-one basis with unlimited supplies of ILFORD materials to complete an assignment set by the photographer. This will include all darkroom facilities as well as film, paper and photochemistry as required.

The three professionals assisting the students in this stage will be award-winning celebrity photographer Hamish Brown, Klaus Thymann, who is noted for his advertising work with Nike and Sony PlayStation, and leading edge fashion specialist Mariano Vivenco.

The work from all three assignments will feature in the Autumn 2006 issue of the Independent student magazine ‘Fresh’, and will form an exhibition touring colleges and universities throughout the UK. It will also be featured on the ILFORD Photo website gallery and be shown at the Photokina exhibition - the world’s largest photography and digital imaging event - in Cologne in September 2006.

The student submitting the best assignment will receive the grand prize of a Mamiya 711 kit with a retail value of £1800.

Further information and submission details are on the ILFORD Photo website (www.ilfordphoto.com ) and available by telephoning 01565 650 000 or emailing [email protected]