Hi, welcome to the UPPA 2022 Virtual Experience

East African Photography Award

The world around us is changing fast. Cultural, socio-political, environmental and technological issues affect individuals and societies and the way we live. The old collides with the new at every turn. The East African Photography Award was created in 2018 to give a platform for visual stories that show the region and its people and cultures in a new light. It is an opportunity to share varied perspectives and showcase different and individual identities as East Africans. The fifth annual EAPA accepted submissions from visual storytellers from the Eastern African region: The EAPA is open to citizens of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.

Previously only a story competition for photographers working on extended photo essays, this year the EAPA welcomed single image entries to the following categories: Human, Planet and Imagine

Jury
The year the EAPA was judged by an international jury composed of photography professionals including:
Paul Botes, Photo Editor, Mail & Guardian (SA); Yasuyoshi Chiba, Photo Editor AFP (JP/KE); Sarah Gilbert, Photo Editor, The Guardian (UK); Liz Ikiriko, Curator and Photo Editor (NG/CA) and Martin Kharumwa, Photographer (UG).

Uganda Press Photo Award

Since 2012 the Uganda Press Photo Award (UPPA) has offered support and exposure for Ugandan photojournalists and photographers and to celebrate photographers who keep us informed of daily events, sometimes at great personal risk. We believe in the importance of bearing witness and of a vibrant press for democratic development. Last year we celebrated the tenth anniversary of a continued tradition of recognising and awarding some of the best photography and photojournalism within the country.

This year Ugandan photographers were invited to submit bodies of photographic work responding to the theme ‘NEW REALITIES’. It is said that change is the only constant, but in recent years the changes seem to be happening faster and affecting more people. Digital culture is displacing traditional cultures, the pandemic upended lives and livelihoods, and climate change and the rising cost of living seem to change our very realities every day.

The UPPA was judged by an international jury composed of photography professionals including Edward Echwalu, Photojournalist (UG); Martha Kazungu, Curator (UG); Cynthia MaiWa Sitei, Creative Producer (KE/UK); Niamh Tracey, FORMAT Festival Coordinator (UK) and Sarah Waiswa, Documentary Photographer (KE/UG).

Young Photography Award

This competition is geared towards passionate emerging Ugandan photographers looking to cultivate a career in documentary photography or photojournalism but lacking the tools to realize their vision. Photographers between the ages of 21 and 28 years are invited to participate in this contest and winners are runners-up invited to participate in the Emerging Photographer Mentorship Programme.

Developed in 2016, this annual training programme sees participants over a seven-month period work with industry professionals to see a project of their choosing come to fruition. From developing a concept to researching, photographing, editing and finally working on presenting their project as a part of the annual winners’ exhibition. The mentees work with professional Canon cameras and lenses as well as having their images printed using Canon technology.

YPA 2022 was judged by an international jury composed of photography professionals including: Anne Nwakalor, Photo Editor No Wahala (NG/UK); Giovanni Okot, Photographer (UG); Chris Dennis Rosenberg, Photographer (UG); Katie Simmonds, Photographer and Canon Miraisha Manager (UK/AE); Miriam Watsemba, Documentary Photographer (UG)