URBAN International Photo Awards is a world wide photo contest that has come to its 12th edition. URBAN looks for talent and quality both among professional and amateur photographers, offering them an international platform from which to get noticed.
Promoted by dotART, a Trieste (Italy) based cultural association with years of experience working in the field of artistic photography and the visual arts, URBAN sees every year thousand of partecipating pictures and hundreds of participants from all over the world. It is an always growing international contest, one of the very few that goes “over the boundaries” of Internet offering to photographers real visibility through dozens of international photo exhibitions. Only in 2019 URBAN realized 50 exhibitions displaying about 1.700 pictures. Behind it all, there is always the pursue of enhancement of photographic talent and quality.
URBAN is divided into two sections: one is dedicated to “Themed Photos”, with its main theme about Street Photography, which has formerly given the name to the contest since its first edition. Real, instant images capable of telling stories woven into the urban fabric. URBAN unveils the city and its secrets. The other section is “Projects & Portfolios” where each participant can submit a series of images oriented to show his or her idea through photographs.
Other than regular prizes, URBAN gives the chance to the best ranked photographers to enter its tour of travelling photo exhibitions, the real and tangible value of this contest. Since 2011 URBAN has setup exhibitions in Austria (Klagenfurt), Poland (Krakow, Lodz, Raciborz, Gliwice and Warsaw), Hungary (Budapest, Pécs and Miskolc), Serbia (Beograd), Cyprus (limassol, Paphos and Nicosia), Latvia (Riga), Slovenia (Koper), Germany (Berlin and Hamburg), Croatia (Poreč and Rijeka), Ukraine (Sumy), Colombia (Bucaramanga) and naturally, in Italy (Milan, Venice, Trieste and Rome).
URBAN exhibitions will summit in October during Trieste Photo Days, the international photo festival promoted by dotART. This growing festival that will get to its 7th edition, has URBAN as its “main contributor” during the opening days. There will be the Award Ceremony and the Winners’ Exhibition other than a series of personal and group exhibits around the city.
URBAN gives to the winners even more visibility through its network of media partners, whose will publish the best ranked photographs on their paper and online magazine and social pages. Within the media partners of URBAN: Ojos Rojos, Prism, Vieworld, Revista Old and Street Photography Magazine.
Throughout the years URBAN has succeded in creating a network of partners, media partners and international contacts from whom it has shaped its well renowned jury with members like: Martin Parr, Maurizio Galimberti, Nick Turpin, Tatsuo Suzuki, Denis Curti, Monika Bulaj, Tadashi Onishi, Alexandra Sophie, Julie de Waroquier, Gulzar Sethi, Michael Samuel, Alain Laboile, Massimo Giacon, Adrian Sommeling and many others.