By Tom Gruss

LexJet will be presenting its first Sunset Award at the Professional Photographers Association of New England Convention Sept. 12-15 at The Radisson Hotel in Nashua, NH. The award will be given for the Best Color Portrait entered in PPANE’s Annual Print Competition. Deadline for entering the print competition is Sept. 8.

In addition to a Sunset Award trophy, the winner will receive a $100 gift certificate that can be used to purchase any of the exceptional photo papers, art papers, and canvases included in LexJet’s Sunset portfolio of inkjet materials for professional photographic printing and fine-art reproduction.

An additional $500 gift certificate will be presented if the winning photographer purchased materials from LexJet in 2009 or used LexJet Sunset media to print the award-winning image. The winner will be chosen by the print-competition judging panel.

To qualify, the entries must meet the submission requirements and deadlines established by the PPANE and score at least 80 out of a possible 100 points in the PPANE print competition.

LexJet is establishing the Sunset Award because so many photographers at all stages of their careers have told us how much they have benefitted from entering print competitions. Entering print competitions not only gives you a chance to earn recognition and publicity, but also forces you to think more critically and creatively as you shoot and edit images throughout the year. Having your work judged by experts can be a great way to learn how to improve your photography.

In an previous post on this blog, we published the 12 criteria judges use to evaluate print quality. That post includes a link to an article about the benefits of entering print competitions that photographers Tina and Michael Timmons wrote for Great Output magazine earlier this year.

Stop by Our Booth: If you plan to attend the PPANE show, stop by Booth 7 and see us!  Dustin Flowers will be happy to show you the full line of Sunset Photo and Art Papers and Canvases or demonstrate the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF5100 printer that we will have in the booth.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the Sunset Award, please give me a call at 800-453-9538. If I’m not around, any of the helpful account specialists in LexJet’s digital photography group would be happy to help you.