The Scottish Landscape Photography Awards are a not for profit photography competition founded in 2014 by landscape photographer Stuart Low. The awards were set up to promote photographers, to encourage new people to take up photography, to promote Scotland’s scenery, to raise awareness of our natural heritage and to promote conservation of our landscape.
Promoting photographers
The awards provide exposure for photographers through its annual books, its exhibitions and in the media.
Books – the competition produces an annual book of the winning and commended photographers. It is finished to the highest quality and is casebound.
Exhibitions – The competition sets a standard of producing 150+ mounted prints ranging in size from A3 -A1. The competition hosts an exhibition in 1 large venue and up to 5 smaller venues to gain maximum exposure for the winners. The exhibitions also support local businesses.
Media – whilst media coverage is never guaranteed, media coverage of the awards is nevertheless extensive and worldwide. The awards are regularly featured in newspapers, magazines and on TV
Income & expenditure
SLPOTY makes income from a combination of entry fees, book sales and sponsorship. The founder meets any shortfall to keep the awards running. The amount of money the competition makes varies from year.
Depending on the income from fees and the previous year’s book sales, the competition uses this to purchase between 500-1000 books and fund the exhibitions. The books cost between £6000-£8000 to print and are sold at a RRP of £25-30
The exhibitions are the competition’s biggest cost. Prints range in cost from £70 – £250. The average cost to produce an exhibition is in the range of £12-14,000.
The simplified income and expenditure is as follows:
Income
entry fees – £3-4000
book sales – £5000 – £9000
Total income £8,000 – £13,000
Expenditure
Prizes/money – £2-3000
Exhibition – £10,000 – 14,000
Total expenditure – £12,000 -£17,000
Sale of books and prints
Books – The competition’s main income is from the sale of books. The competition sells its books online via this website but the majority of books are sold at exhibition venues. Exhibition venues account for up to 70% of the book sales. Each exhibition venue takes a 30% commission on the sale of each book. The exhibitions attract visitors who in turn buy the books at the venues.
Prints – the competition sells prints on behalf of the photographers – but the competition does not make any money from the sale of prints. The competition produces the prints and the prints are at cost price to the photographer. The photographer sets the sale price or chooses a price band. After costs, the galleries take a commission on each sale. The photographers (after costs) retain the remaining profits. See the example below:
A3 print selling at £100
Cost of print = £25
Sub total Profit = £75
Gallery commission 20% = £15
Photographer profit = £60
Payments
No one takes a wage, profit share or fee. All those involved from judges to organisers provide their services do so on a voluntary basis. Where any costs are incurred, people are reimbursed.