Late last year, the writer and curator Elizabeth Avedon juried an exhibition of photographs for APA New York, opening at Soho Photo Gallery in Manhattan. While considering more than 800 submissions, she kept coming back to Brad Trent’s portrait of Patti Smith. “I chose the image as ‘Best of Show’ not because it’s of a celebrity but because it’s such a beautiful portrait—almost Renaissance-like—shot against seamless and juxtaposed with the touristy onlookers included in the frame.”
As she later discovered, the portrait was shot in the Amtrak Departure Lounge at New York’s Penn Station, making for a one-of-kind setup and an unexpected creative opportunity. When judging photography awards, jurors want to be surprised: “It may be an elusive quality that moves me visually or emotionally,” Avedon says. “Or it may have seduced me with a new point of view or drawn my attention to things I might otherwise have missed.”
We spoke with six prominent photography awards jurors to learn about what makes a winning submission stand out—and what makes others fall flat. From sequencing and editing your final entry to finding the ideal competition to further your career, here are their best tips for crafting a memorable application and making the most of every opportunity.