Entering the Spotlight - Photography Competition
Putting
Aberdeen communities
in the spotlight
Calling all amateur photographers in Aberdeen! We have teamed up with the photography department at North East Scotland College (NESCol) for our second annual photography competition!
This year’s theme is ‘Entering the Spotlight’, inspired by the Save Aberdeen Arts Centre campaign slogan: ‘Keep the spotlight shining on your creative community’.
This year's competition will encourage you to play with literal or metaphorical ‘spotlights’ to represent community in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: celebrations of people or groups deserving recognition, warm moments of appreciation, or creative use of light to highlight community. This is your chance to stretch your creative muscles and discover new ways of looking at the communities around you.
Entries are open in three categories: adults (18+), young people (under 18) and - new for 2026 - NESCol students. The top three entries in each category will be exhibited in Aberdeen Arts Centre, while those placed first will also win four tickets each to Aberdeen Arts Centre’s 2026 pantomime, The Snow Queen.
Entrants should complete the form below by 11.59pm on Sunday, 1 February 2026 to be in with a chance. Photos should have been taken within 12 months of the closing date.
Sharon Catchpole, interim executive director at Aberdeen Arts Centre, said: “The last few months have shown us the power of community, as thousands have rallied around the Arts Centre to help us keep our doors open.
“It seems only fitting, then, to put the community in the spotlight with this year’s photography competition. There are so many people out there who give everything to the people and places where they live, and we want to celebrate them.
“We’re delighted to expand the reach of the competition this year with a new category for NESCol students, too, strengthening our partnership with the college and providing new opportunities for emerging artists to get their work seen by a larger audience.”
Steve Smith, photography lecturer at NESCol, will judge the competition. He added, “Last year we were blown away by the quality of entries that came in from amateur photographers around the world, who had all captured the essence of Aberdeen in their photos.
“This year, I am excited to see what we’ll get when entrants turn their lenses on communities across the north east.
“The theme is intentionally broad, to allow photographers to express their creativity and tell a story with their work. We’re looking for new perspectives that highlight what it really means to be a part of a community.”
Good luck – we can’t wait to see your entries!
Terms & Conditions
Entry is open to everyone who isn’t a professional photographer, except for those directly involved in the organisation and judging of the competition, and their direct families.
Entrants to the Young People’s category must be under 18 years of age on the closing date of 2nd February 2025. Entry to the Young People’s category – or under 18 entries to the NESCol category – must be with the permission of a parent or guardian, and the parent or guardian must assume responsibility for the entrant’s compliance with the rules.
Entries are welcome from around the world, but all images entered must have been photographed in Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire. Images should have been taken between 1 February 2025 and 1 February 2026.
Images that have won an award, or have been shortlisted/commended in a nationally or internationally promoted competition, or that have been entered in such a competition where the results are still pending, are not eligible for entry.
Entrants are responsible for respecting human rights, animal welfare and the environment, and compliance with all laws.
We invite entries from around the world on the theme of ‘Entering the Spotlight'. Images could play with literal or metaphorical ‘spotlights’ to represent community in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: celebrations of people or groups deserving recognition, warm moments of appreciation, or creative use of light to highlight community.
For all categories, images must be taken in Aberdeen or Aberdeenshire, Scotland between 1 February 2025 and 1 February 2026. The judges will be looking for originality, creativity, technique and response to the brief.
The competition will open for entries on Wednesday, 7 January 2026. The closing date is 11.59pm on Sunday 1 February 2026.
There is no cost to entry.
Entries should be submitted via the form at www.aberdeenartscentre.com/enteringthespotlight. Entries submitted in any other way will not be accepted. We regret that we are unable to accept postal entries.
Image files must be 300 dpi. Files should be clearly named with the entrant’s name and a title for the photo. You may be asked for a higher resolution version of your image at any point during the judging process.
Entrants should include their own name, email address and postcode. If they are under 18, please provide date of birth and consent from a parent, carer or guardian. By entering, you guarantee that you have permission from any individuals pictured and can provide evidence of this if requested.
You can enter any or all of the categories for which you are eligible and submit a total of 5 images to the competition.
Categories:
- Adults – open to ages 18+
- Young People – open to ages 17 and under
- NESCol – open to anyone of any age studying photography at North East Scotland College
The organisers reserve the right to refuse or remove an entry from the competition for any reason.
The organisers reserve the right to remove any entries from the competition that they feel may breach or contravene laws of copyright, public decency or may bring the competition or its organisers into disrepute. Such entries will be deemed as void.
A panel of judges from NESCol and Aberdeen Arts Centre will assess all entries and a shortlist will be drawn up in February 2026. During judging, you may be asked for a higher resolution version of your image.
In the event that the high resolution file submitted for a shortlisted image does not meet the technical standard required by the judges, the image may be eliminated from the shortlist. Should any entries in a category fall below the standard required, Aberdeen Arts Centre and NESCol reserve the right not to award prizes.
The winners will be announced in February 2026. All winners will be notified by email. A list of the winners will be published on Aberdeen Arts Centre’s website. All images will be exhibited for a minimum of 2 months following a celebration evening all finalists will be invited to attend. Winners will be announced at the celebration event.
The Judging Panel’s decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Prizes will be awarded as follows:
Adult Category
- 1st place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre; family ticket (4 seats) to a performance of The Snow Queen at Aberdeen Arts Centre in December 2026.
- 2nd place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre.
- 3rd place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre.
Young People Category
- 1st place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre; family ticket (4 seats) to a performance of The Snow Queen at Aberdeen Arts Centre in December 2026.
- 2nd place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre.
- 3rd place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre.
NESCol Category
- 1st place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre; family ticket (4 seats) to a performance of The Snow Queen at Aberdeen Arts Centre in December 2026.
- 2nd place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre.
- 3rd place: Included in exhibition in Aberdeen Arts Centre.
Prizes are non-transferable. There is no cash alternative.
Highly commended entries may also be exhibited.
All exhibited prints will be available for collection (without frames) by entrants from Aberdeen Arts Centre following the exhibition.
Aberdeen Arts Centre and NESCol will promote the Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition and aim to provide a platform for promoting the photographers who take part. Therefore, we have made provision for license to use images submitted to the competition for that purpose as detailed below.
By submitting images to the Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition, each entrant confirms that:
- they are the photographer of each entry and that it is their original work;
- they own the copyright and any rights of each image;
- they have permission from any individuals pictured and can provide evidence of this if requested;
- they have not licensed or disposed of any rights in the image that would conflict with uses to be made by the Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition;
- no image should need permission from the owner(s) of buildings. Any that do will not be put forward for judging.
By entering the competition, you grant Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition and its organisers free, non-exclusive usage of the images for the following purposes directly connected with the competition, until judging is completed:
- on a secure web browser for image submission;
- for judging purposes;
- on Aberdeen Arts Centre’s website;
- on social media;
- for use in press coverage giving information about or promoting the competition, exhibition, etc.
By entering the competition, you grant a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual licence to the Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition and its organisers to feature any or all of the submitted images in any promotional material connected to this competition. This may include, but is not limited to:
- inclusion in a book featuring images;
- display at any exhibitions;
- merchandise
- on the Aberdeen Arts Centre and NESCol websites and social media channels;
- or use in press coverage giving information about or promoting the competition, exhibition etc.;
- for use as part of the Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition “Winners Archive” to promote the competition/exhibition in perpetuity.
- for use by sponsors and partners in acknowledging/publicising their support of the competition/exhibition.
The organisers will make every effort to ensure that name credits are included with images.
Free usage of any photograph outside of the scope of the competition and exhibition will not be permitted by the Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition, or any of its partners or sponsors
Entrants retain the copyright to images submitted.
You will be asked for personal data if you choose to submit entries to the competition. This data will only be used to contact you about the competition.
Aberdeen Arts Centre’s organisational privacy policy can be found here: https://www.aberdeenartscentre.com/privacy-policy
These terms and the relationship between you and us shall be governed by the law in Scotland. Any dispute may be decided by the Scottish courts or those of any other part of the United Kingdom.
Entry to the competition constitutes acceptance of the website terms & conditions and rules of the competition.
By entering the competition, you indemnify Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition, organisers, partners and sponsors against any third party claim in respect of your entry.
The Entering the Spotlight Photography Competition and its organisers, partners and sponsors bear no responsibility for any loss or damage, however arising, as a result of your entry to the competition.
Any breach of the competition rules by you will invalidate your entry. If a breach has occurred that is discovered after the award of a prize, we might require the return of that prize.
We reserve the right to amend the rules and in that event, to detail the amendments on the website. If you do not agree to any changes to the rules, you may withdraw from the competition.
If you have any queries please contact us by email: info@aberdeenartscentre.com