The Swiss Photo Award is discontinued after 20 years

After 20 years, the organizer Photobastei/3view is no longer running the Swiss Photo Award. The renowned photo award has become loss-making in the last two years due to a lack of sponsor income and a decline in the number of participants. The award and its categories are no longer able to reflect the difficult working environment of professional photography.

The photography award was conceived 20 years ago, at the time of the great transition from analog to digital, as a showcase of the work and achievements of professional photography. The categories corresponded to typical work assignments of professional photographers. The aim was to contrast the growing flood of images with professional quality.

Professional photography and the environment of these working conditions have changed massively in recent years, write the organizers. In the field of reportage photography, for example, many channels have been eliminated due to media concentration and rigorous cost-cutting measures by the media. Today, reportage and author photography are paid less than 20 years ago, and publication platforms hardly exist anymore.

Every year, additional young professionals enter the market and intensify the competition in a shrinking pie. The number of registrations has also declined because many professional photographers no longer enter several works, but only one for cost reasons.

In this rapidly changing environment, the organizers are convinced that the photography prize would have to be realigned: "An adequate representation of today's reality would be urgently needed: the already 20-year-old category descriptions are no longer valid.

Such a reorientation and relaunch is costly and resource-intensive. 3view/Photobastei currently lacks these resources.

In addition, important sponsors have fallen away in recent years. Despite great efforts, they could not be replaced. As a result, the Photoprize has been in deficit for two years. In these two years, the unsubsidized Photobastei/3view has borne the steadily growing deficit. However, the risks for Photobastei are now becoming too great due to the lack of collateral.

This new situation has led the organizer "with a heavy heart" to discontinue the Swiss Photo Award - VFG.Selection after 20 years.