SUN Awards 24

Shot Up North

The SUN Awards showcase and reward the best in professional photography.

It does this through an annual judged competition, the showcase SUN exhibition, with allied events and seminars highlighting photography generated in the Northern regions of the UK, within the disciplines of advertising, design, fashion and editorial.

SUN is run as a not-for-profit event by photographers for the mutual benefit of the industry, and the awards are judged anonymously by an independent panel drawn from key figures in Photography. The awards are open to all professional photographers in the ‘northern regions‘ (from the Midlands to the Scottish Isles), and working in the required disciplines. The event has been showcasing the best photography since 1988, and is one of the most important sources of reference for all commissioners of photography, whether they are agencies, creatives, or corporate buyers.

History (1988 – 2012)

It began as a single open exhibition for northern members of the Association of Photographers (or AFAEP as it was then). The exhibition was unjudged and took place at Viewpoint Gallery in the Old Fire Station, Salford.

For the next few years a ‘blu tack’ judging system was in place, where the whole membership were invited to a viewing day and asked to note images in order of preference. The top 60 highest scoring were selected for the exhibition, which had now moved to Dukes ’92, Castlefield in central Manchester.

1993 they began producing the SUN book, featuring the fifty winning entries from that year’s exhibition. Around a thousand copies were distributed to agencies and other creatives across the country.

Subsequent to that year the judging became more formalised, with a panel drawn from leading photographers, designers and art buyers.

In 2000 the shotupnorth.co.uk website was launched, a ‘best of show’ award was presented, and the exhibition moved to the Richard Goodall Gallery in Manchester’s upcoming ‘northern quarter’.

2003 was a year of innovation with an exciting new exhibition format and a new home at the Circle Club, in the heart of the creative’s network.

2005 saw SUN take on new challenges again. Doug Currie, and Ed Horwich, had been involved with running SUN for most of its life and they then took over the responsibility and running of SUN from AOP.

It is now a completely autonomous independent event, open to all professional photographers based in the Northern regions.

For more information please visit the Shot Up North website.