RPS Award Nominations
Nominations for the RPS Awards are open
Nominations for the Royal Photographic Society Awards are open and the closing date for nominations for the 2025 Award nominations is Friday 2nd May.
This page contains all the important information you will need to make a nomination, including the nominations form.
About the awards
The RPS Awards recognise individuals working across: both the art and science of the still and moving image; working within the promotion of photography and within photographic education; and working in furtherance of the aims and ambitions of the Royal Photographic Society.
The RPS Awards are structured under four ‘pillars’, each representing an area of RPS activity, derived from its Objects as defined in its Royal Charter
The four pillars are:
Pillar 1 The art of photography and moving image
Pillar 2 The science of photography
Pillar 3 The knowledge of photography
Pillar 4 The Royal Photographic Society Member
There are three classes of award under each pillar:
- Medal with RPS Honorary Fellowship A medal awarded together with an Honorary Fellowship except under Pillar 4 where it is awarded with Honorary Membership) for an outstanding contribution.
- RPS Honorary Fellowship An Honorary Fellowship for a significant personal achievement.
- Medal or Award An award or Medal awarded without an Honorary Fellowship for sustained excellence or a notable achievement.
Read the definitions of qualifiers for: Outstanding Contribution, Significant Personal Achievement and Sustained excellence or Notable Achievement.
Review Award Categories
To help ensure you are nominating an individual for the correct category we recommend reviewing the current award categories and definitions of the scope of the award. You may also find it useful to review previous Award winners.
Additional Information
The Society has adopted a wide definition of photography which refers to the art or science of the recording of light or other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced or from which any image may by any means be produced.
Where a team or group is put forward, the nomination should show the role of each person concerned and to what extent and in what way each contributed to the initiation, development and exploitation of the subject of the proposal.
Nominations will continue to be considered by the Awards Committee for three years after the first submission. Should further information relevant to a nomination, where an Award has not been made, become available during this period the Awards Committee would like to be informed so that it can take it into consideration. Nominators should be aware that when an Award has not been made during this three-year period a fresh nomination may be made but should realise that a further significant contribution to photography during the intervening period needs to be shown.
Nomination form
To make a nomination use the form below. In your own words provide a summary of up to 500 words on why your nominee deserves this award.
You can make multiple nominations in as many categories as you wish.
Personal data provided on this form may be held and processed on the Society's computer. A summary of the Society's Data Protection Policy, including the rights of subjects upon whom data is held, is obtainable from The Royal Photographic Society.
If you have any questions regarding RPS Awards and the nomination process please email awards@rps.org