Documentary Photography Awards 2023
Our popular awards open to our international audience with Open, Student and Member categories
Our Awards
The Documentary Photography Awards (DPA) is organised by the Royal Photographic Society's Documentary Group. It runs every two years. The previous editions (as DPOTY) have been running since 2012 and provide an opportunity to showcase documentary work and visual storytelling.
The Award categories are: Open, Student and RPS Members.
The selected projects will feature in a UK touring exhibition. Bursaries and support will also be offered to selected projects.
All selected projects will also have opportunities for publication in the Decisive Moment and The RPS Journal and selected photographers will be invited to present at our Engagement Talk series.
Specifically for each category:
Open Category - in addition to the exhibition, one of the selected projects will be awarded a £500 bursary, and a selected photographer will receive development support from a leading photographer.
Student Category - in addition to the exhibition, one of the selected projects will be awarded a £300 bursary, and a selected photographer will receive development support from a leading photographer.
RPS Member Category - in addition to the exhibition, one photographer will be offered professional development support from a leading photographer.
We also have other prizes including free Supporter Membership of the Martin Parr Foundation and three one-year RPS memberships to award.
Our Awardees 2023
Congratulations to the following who were selected for exhibition and awards in each category.
Selected for Exhibition - Member
| Ruth Toda-Nation | Love is a Life Story |
| Brian Morgan | No Safety Net |
| Michael Knapstein | Midwest Memoir |
Selected for Exhibition - Student
| Julian Cabral | Lito |
| Sefa Eyol | The Costs of Freedom |
| Tamsyn Warde | On These Magic Shores |
Selected for Exhibition - Open
| Byron Smith | Testament '22 |
| Alisa Martynova | Nowhere Near |
| Gerard Saitner | Portraits of artists of condition-related art |
DPA23 Touring Exhibition
In 2024 we will take the DPA 2023 Exhibition on Tour in the UK. The exhibition will combine curated images from all nine Awardees..
Dates will appear in the Events page our current plans are (subject to confirmation):
- London - Nunnery Gallery Bow 7th – 21st May
- Inverness - Eden Centre 1st to 27th June
- Stirling – The Stables Gallery 1st to 31st July
- North Wales - Oriel Colwyn 3rd to 30th August
- Newcastle – Newcastle Arts Centre 5th to 30th September
- Oxford - St. John's College 7th to 28th Oct
- Bristol - RPS House - 17th Jan to 9th March 2025.
Our Awardee Advisors
For each Category one photographer is awarded support from an Advisor, to help with the development of their project or practice.
We are please to announce that our Advisors in each category for DPA 2023 are:
Open - Mimi Mollica
Student - Laura Pannack
Member - Liz Hingley
Our Shortlisted Photographers and projects
From hundreds of entries across the world and around 3500 images in the submitted projects, the Selectors have now shortlisted entries in each category.
These will be taken forward to a final review to select those exhibiting and the Awards. The shortlisted entries are posted below.
Shortlist - Member
Shortlist - Member Category
| Alice | Chapman |
| Sofia | Conti |
| Philip | Joyce |
| Michael | Knapstein |
| Anneleen | Lindsay |
| Robert | McKenzie |
| Brian | Morgan |
| Roland | Ramanan |
| Ruth | Toda-Nation |
Shortlist - Student
Shortlist - Student Category
| Jubair Ahmed | Arnob |
| Julian | Cabral |
| Sefa | Eyol |
| Giovanna | Laiso |
| Mosfiqur Rahman | Johan |
| Mirja | Kuberka |
| Anna | Poloneeva |
| Tamsyn | Warde |
Shortlist - Open
Shortlist - Open Category
| Mauro | Curti |
| Yan | Jiacheng |
| Alisa | Martynova |
| Stefanos | Paikos |
| Gerard | Saitner |
| ChinHo | Shin |
| Michal | Siarek |
| Byron | Smith |
| Amadeusz | Swierk |
| Anya | Tsaruk |
Key Dates
Submission period:
Submissions opened on 1 June 2023. All submissions were made via the online portal. Entries closed at 23:59 BST on Monday 31 July 2023
Awards Event: took place on 30 November (online)
Exhibition: during 2024, the UK touring Exhibition will include:
-London - Nunnery Gallery Bow 7th – 21st May
-Inverness - Eden Court 1st to 27th June
-Stirling – The Stables Gallery 1st to 31st July
-North Wales - Oriel Colwyn 3rd to 30th August
-Newcastle – Newcastle Arts Centre 5th to 30th September
-Oxford - St. John's College 7th to 28th Oct
-Bristol - RPS House 17th Jan to 9th March
Our Selection Panel
Our international panel of experts and selectors was:
Alejandro Chaskielberg, photographer and curator, Buenos Aires
Liz Hingley, photographer, curator and anthropologist, London
Roy Mehta, Photographer and Lecturer, London
Rosy Santella, picture editor, Internazionale, Rome
Roger Tooth, former head of photography, The Guardian
Thank you for giving your time!!
Information on Entering our Awards
Each entry required a title, a statement and 10-15 images. Entrants could make than one entry and enter more than one category, provided they met the eligibility criteria.
Entries for Students and Members were FREE.
Selection was completed 'blind' in that the selectors only had access to the statements, captions and images.
Please see the link below for more information on the entry process and our terms and conditions.
Sponsors and Friends
We are grateful for the support of the Martin Parr Foundation and its commitment to the photo community.
We are listed on Photo Contest Deadlines - Photography Competitions Directory
We are listed on PhotoContestCalendar.com – Online List of Photo Contests
Previous Years: Commended entries and Winners in 2021
RPS Members - Commended and Winner
Winner: All in a Day’s Work by David Collyer
Commended entries:
• Within/Without by Neil Johansson
• The Across Roads Project by Quentin Ball
• Y Garreg Olaf (The Last Stone) by Gareth Jenkins
Students - Commended and Winner
Winner: ka Dingiei by Aishwarya Arumbakkan
Commended entries:
• North with the Spring by Nicole Mullan
• South of the River by Nico Froelich
• Tiramisu by Alexander Komenda
Open - Commended and Winner
Winner: Belonging by Debsuddha
Commended entries:
• Donde los niños no sueñan by Stefano Sbrulli
• You Can’t Step Into The Same River Twice by Hari Katragadda
• Nothing Left to Call home by Taniya Sarkar