SPONSORS, PARTNERS, & PATRONS

They are the ones helping turn recognition into reality: supporting the competition’s growth across the globe and giving creative professionals — photographers, retouchers, and designers — a platform to be seen for the mastery behind their work.

• Sponsors make this possible by:

• supporting prizes, jury operations, and visibility for winners
• Providing the tools that make professional standards achievable
• Strengthening the technical and educational backbone of the profession
• standing for fairness, authenticity, and ethical retouching

Sponsors support how the competition works.

This is not a simple submission-based competition.

The competition includes multiple judging rounds, evaluating not only aesthetically, but also the technical execution, precision, and consistency.

This includes:

• Detailed adherence to the brief
• Review of layered PSD files for the final 50 participants per category.

This level of evaluation is time-consuming and requires experienced professionals.

We keep entry fees at a price where the competition is accessible for the majority of participants, but these cover only a small part of this vast operation.

Sponsors make it possible to build and sustain the framework of this Award Contest.

This contest is designed to measure what has never been measured at scale before.

Not just taste — but technical skill, structure, and discipline.

We evaluate:

• How precisely a brief is followed
• How consistent retouching decisions are made across an image
• How clean, organised, and professional the layer structure is

In real-world production, this is what separates the good from the exceptional.

Participants don’t just compete — they learn how professional production works.

Through structured briefs and evaluation criteria, the competition introduces:

• Industry-level expectations
• Workflow discipline
• Consistency across delivery
• Accountability to a brief

A Culture of Credit and Collaboration

We promote a culture of proper crediting.

Participants are encouraged to acknowledge everyone involved in the creation of an image. Because great work is rarely individual.

This contributes to a more transparent, respectful, and collaborative creative industry.

They are the ones bringing the competition into the industry: helping it reach the people who create and shape images every day — photographers, retouchers, and designers — and expanding its visibility across platforms and communities.

Partners make this possible by:

• creating exposure through newsletters, social media posts, and collaborations
• sharing editorial content and conversations around craft, workflow, and professional standards
• supporting open calls for official image submissions

Partners support how the competition grows.

Supporting access. Preserving craft.

The Challenge - Talent is everywhere. Access is not.

Across many regions, participation is not limited by skill, but by circumstance.

Not every creative has equal access to:

• Financial resources
• International payment systems
• Global opportunities

We are building this programme to support artists, where access is limited and create opportunity where otherwise they would not have.

This is how the competition becomes truly global — not just in reach, but in enabling talent to take part.

Patrons fund entries through registration blocks of 10, 50, 100 or 500 participants, aligned with regional entry tiers:

• Tier 3 countries – £19 entry fee
• Tier 2 countries – £45 entry fee
• Tier 1 countries – £65 entry fee

Contributions can be scaled to support larger groups, countries, or entire regions.

This is the minimum number of participants required for a country to run as a standalone competition, with its own recognition and awards.

For patrons in Tier 1 countries, this creates a unique opportunity not just to support individuals, but to help activate an entire national competition — ensuring their country is represented independently within the global structure.

Each Patron contribution translates directly into opportunity:

“This Patron enabled X amount of creatives to participate globally.”

Influencers and companies often say they want to give back to their communities — now here’s your chance.

Create real opportunity and impact by supporting talent, close to home.