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EIZO UK Student Awards 2023

EIZO UK Student Awards 2023 – competition for photography and filmmaking

The EIZO UK Student Awards for 2023 concluded with an Exhibition and Awards ceremony at our UK Customer Experience Centre in Ascot, where we celebrated the work of 16 finalists and announced the competition winners!

As well as the opportunity to win one of five EIZO ColorEdge CG2700S monitors, we wanted to build on the foundations of previous years and give our finalists an experience to remember by growing the competition beyond EIZO. We achieved this by engaging with more Universities than ever before (over 150) and onboarding industry partners for the first time.

What is the EIZO UK Student Awards?

The creatives of tomorrow will be made up of those starting their careers today. Our commitment to the creative industry goes beyond the innovations of our products and continues into our actions and values as a business. It is our duty to pass the knowledge and expertise we have onto the next generation.

The EIZO UK Student Awards is an annual competition hosted in the UK to help us achieve this: providing students studying photographic and filmmaking courses an opportunity to showcase their talent and develop real-life experience of working to a brief and deadline that will give them a head start in the creative industry.

Celebrating creative excellence

The competition began when the briefs were announced on Tuesday 28th February 2023, where the students could choose 1 of 2 briefs to base their project on – either colour or movement. Both choices represent core elements of the EIZO ColorEdge brand and help demonstrate why our monitors are an integral part of the creative toolbox.

Submissions officially opened on Monday, 27th March 2023, and consisted of 4 categories across photography and videography: Still Image (Colour), Still Image (Movement), Portfolio, and Video. UK-based students over 18 could enter the EIZO Student Awards for 12 weeks until submissions closed on Friday, 16th June 2023.

The judging process began on June 19th, with each of the panel members reviewing the submissions for their assigned categories based on defined criteria, which included the following considerations: Interpretation of theme, technique, composition, storytelling, and originality. They spent until July 7th splitting hairs to refine the entries to just 16 finalists – 4 students from each of the 4 categories.

You can learn more about the judging panel for this year’s competition in our blog “The Esteemed Panel of Judges for the EIZO UK Student Awards”.

It was extremely close and the judges were very impressed. Some general feedback included "this is pro-grade work", "students always manage to surprise me" and "great entries to the competition and a tough call". Over the past few years, our Student Awards have delivered a consistently high standard of work that we are very proud of. You can view past editions of the competition in our gallery here.

The demand for photographers to become hybrid creatives by expanding their offerings with video is rising. To align with this and the growing post-production market for EIZO ColorEdge, we included a category for video for the first time. It was new territory, but we were confident the talent of students would come through… and we were right! With standout entries from the category reinforcing the prevalence of video in the creative industry – take a look at our YouTube channel to see for yourself.

We invited the 16 finalists to EIZO UK’s HQ in Ascot for an Exhibition and Awards Ceremony alongside many of the judges and industry partners involved. It was the second time holding an event like this for the EIZO UK Student Awards after receiving positive feedback in 2022. The event was divided into two sessions:

In the morning, we welcomed judges and industry partners to discuss the work and for a roundtable on the current themes in photography and filmmaking. We had some of the best creative minds in the room and covered a range of topics, from hybrid content creation to the emergence of AI (everyone’s favourite subject). The insights will be published in upcoming blog articles, which you can follow in the spotlight section of the website.

The finalists arrived in the afternoon for the exhibition, where we transformed our Customer Experience Centre into a gallery to display their work. We reinforced the link between capture and tangible output by printing the photography in-house using a Canon PRO-300 printer on Canson Infinity PhotoGloss Premium RC paper. The colour-managed workflow is a journey from concept to capture to retouching to output and consists of many tools that students need to understand when they turn pro. The video submissions were viewed on an EIZO ColorEdge CG319X monitor – one of our recommended products for professionals working in video editing and post-production.

Networking was a hugely important part of the day, with finalists having the opportunity to build connections with each other and industry experts who remained from the morning’s session. In many cases, it was a chance for upcoming creatives to meet their idols and get their names out there. The atmosphere was electric!

Unfortunately, not everyone can win, and out of the 16 finalists, the judges could only select four category winners and one overall winner. Members of the EIZO UK team also voted throughout the day for their favourite piece of work to win the EIZO Choice Award.

H2: Winning talent from 6 different Universities

The talented winners of the EIZO UK Student Awards 2023 are as follows…

???? EIZO UK Student Awards Overall Winner – Honor West from Arts University Bournemouth

The highest-scored piece of work across all 4 categories.

???? Still Image (Colour) Winner – Matthew Marshall from Arts University Plymouth

As judged by WEX Photo Video, Terry Hope, Tigz Rice, and Hamish Brown.

???? Still Image (Movement) Winner – Hannah Mittelstaedt from Falmouth University

As judged by WEX Photo Video, Damien Demolder, Clive Booth, and Marc Aspland.

???? Still Image (Portfolio) Winner – Joseph Rolph from Norwich University of the Arts

As judged by Jigsaw24, Angela Nicholson, Tim Flach, and Ian Berry.

???? Video Winner – Lucas Dove from De Montfort University

As judged by CVP, Matthew Vandeputte, Catherine Losing, and Simeon Quarrie.

???? EIZO’s Choice Award – Lee Bullivant from The Northern School of Art

As voted for by the EIZO UK team.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the EIZO UK Student Awards 2023. The enthusiasm and commitment to excellence we have seen this year is commendable and we hope all competitors continue pursuing their passion – we look forward to witnessing their future accomplishments!

What does it mean to win the EIZO UK Student Awards? You can find out in issue 212 of Professional Photo Magazine, which includes coverage of exclusive interviews with the winners.

A photography prize fit for royalty

Each of the category winners, Matthew, Hannah, Joseph, and Lucus, received an EIZO ColorEdge CG2700S monitor, with the overall winner, Honor West, taking home an EIZO ColorEdge CG2700S monitor, as well as securing a mentorship scheme with the competition’s judges.

The EIZO ColorEdge CG2700S is brand new to the UK this year and the biggest prize we have ever offered for winning the Student Awards. It provides excellent colour reproduction and the latest connectivity to professional creatives in the photography and filmmaking sectors to help them realise their creative visions. With 2K WQHD (2560 x 1440) resolution, HDR gamma support, and built-in calibration, the CG2700S is a flagship 27-inch monitor for the most demanding modern workflows. You can learn more about this product here.

Collaboration with creative experts

The EIZO UK Student Awards 2023 was only possible because of collaboration with like-minded people and organisations. We all share the same goal: to create a prosperous environment where creativity can continue to thrive in the future, and by supporting students with new opportunities, we are helping to achieve this.

EIZO is proud to work with renowned experts in the creative industries around the world and as a UK team, it was a privilege to bring so many together. Thank you to our partners:

Media Partner – Professional Photo Magazine

Print Partners – Canon and Canson Infinity

Reseller Partners – WEX Photo Video, Jigsaw24 and CVP

Judges – Terry Hope, Tigz Rice, Hamish Brown, Damien Demolder, Clive Booth, Marc Aspland, Angela Nicholson, Tim Flach, Ian Berry, Matthew Vandeputte, Catherine Losing and Simeon Quarrie

Special Guests – Isabelle Doran from the Association of Photographers

Be sure to stay in touch with EIZO on Instagram and LinkedIn to keep up to date with our latest activities and explore our website to learn more about us.

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