The Wisden Cricket Photograph of the Year Competition 2020

The 2020 Wisden Cricket Photograph of the Year competition is now closed. Please keep a close eye on Wisden channels, ahead of us opening entries for the 2021 competition.

Launched in 2010, the contest is open to all photographers, amateur or professional, from anywhere in the world.

The competition aims to promote and sustain cricket in all of its forms in every corner of the globe, from an international match played in front of thousands, to a game between children on the street.

Gareth Copley won the 2019 competition, with an image of Ben Stokes just after he hit the winning runs in the Ashes Test at Headingley. You can see his photograph, along with the two runners-up, here.

The best images in the 2020 competition will appear as the first three colour photographs in the 2021 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. The winner will receive £1,000, and the two runners-up £400 each.

The independent judging panel will be chaired by Chris Smith, former chief sports photographer of The Sunday Times. Also on the panel are the acclaimed cricket photographer Patrick Eagar; cricket filming and photography manager Clare Adams; and Nigel Davies, the former art director of The Wisden Cricketer.

The editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, Lawrence Booth, said: “The cricket stopped for long periods this year, but our popular and prestigious competition goes on, inviting photographers from all round the world to respond to a challenge unlike any other.

“While 2019 threw up one of the most memorable summers in English cricket history, 2020 was unique for different reasons, and it will be fascinating to see what cricket-loving photographers – professional or amateur – have come up with.

“But even in a year beset by a pandemic – and irrespective of whether there were any spectators – the theme of the competition remains simple: we want to see the best cricket images of 2020. We can’t wait for the photos to start coming in.”

Entries, to a maximum of three per person, were submitted online at: www.wisden.com/photographoftheyear

There is no fee for entering. The closing date for entries for the 2020 competition was 23:59 GMT on Friday, January 8, 2021. Winners will be announced in April 2021.

Notes to editors:

About the Wisden Cricket Photograph of the Year:

The Wisden Photograph of the Year was launched in 2010, in partnership with MCC. It is open to all photographers – amateur and professional – from across the world, and the only stipulations are that entries must have been taken during the year of the competition, and in some respect have a cricket theme.

Prizes:

The winning photograph and two runner-up images will be reproduced as the first three images in the colour section of the 2021 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, a copy of which will be provided to each of the top three photographers.

The prize for the winning photograph is £1,000 and a copy of Wisden 2021, plus one-year subscriptions to Wisden Cricket Monthly and The Nightwatchman. Two runners-up each receive £400, plus a copy of Wisden 2021.

The 2020 Wisden Cricket Photograph of the Year competition will be judged independently by:

Chris Smith (Chairman of the Judging Panel) has been chief sports photographer for various newspapers, including The Sunday Times for over 30 years. During this time he has covered a diverse range of major sports, such as rugby, football, horse racing, athletics, sailing and boxing, as well as cricket. Chris has been British Sports Photographer of the Year four times, and winner of the Sports Picture of the Year award twice.

Patrick Eagar is widely recognised as the doyen of cricket photography. After over 50 years covering the sport, he retired at the end of the 2011 season. During his professional career he photographed 325 Test matches all around the world, and has published 14 books. In 2011, he was awarded the Doug Gardner Award at the British Sports Journalism Awards and an ECB Special Award.

Nigel Davies was designer and art director of Wisden Cricket Monthly, The Wisden Cricketer and The Cricketer between 1997 and 2015. Since then, he has worked as a freelance designer on a number of contract magazine publications, covering a broad range of subjects, such as HR, banking, the automotive industry, gardening and sports lifestyle. Nigel also curates and researches the back catalogues of esteemed sports photographers.

Clare Adams has been the filming and photography manager at Marylebone Cricket Club for the past 17 years, managing MCC’s picture library, photographing a wide range of activities at Lord’s each year and, on major match days, administering the facilities for photographers working at Lord’s for all media outlets and agencies.

For more information please contact:

Toby Phillips
Commercial Manager, Cricket Properties Ltd, in association with Wisden
toby.phillips@wisden.com
07930 396017