Established as the leading awards in the modern art of virtual and in-game photography, The Virtual Photography Awards bring together players, photographers & studio creatives with support from major gaming & photography brands including 505 Games, Flickr, Guerrilla, and Ubisoft.
Celebrating the best in-game photo modes & features as well as the most outstanding images captured by in-game photographers, these awards bring together players, photographers, and studio creatives from around the world through a shared appreciation for game-derived art.
- THE VP AWARDS // 2023 STATS -
VIRTUAL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
The most outstanding individual images captured by digital artists using in-game photography tools, chosen from over 2,750 entries by an expert Judging Panel of experienced photographers, and industry professionals.
Based on artistic merit, technical ability, originality, and theme interpretation, Virtual Photographer of the Year winners have been chosen across six thematic categories – Environment, Creative, Detail, Portrait, Action, and Abstract.
ENVIRONMENT WINNER
"I loved to create this shot because it combines absolutely all my obsessions. Symmetry, colour theory, composition, framing and movement. It's one of these shots that I knew from the start that it'd be one of my favourites for a long time. I actually worked on it for a couple of days to get as close as possible to the original vision. So, this shot also taught me perseverance and I'm obviously very proud that it won this award!"
CREATIVE WINNER
"Enjoying the progress and having some fun ideas are always my purpose in virtual photography. Here I found a small corner that may go unnoticed in the big city and used the eyeglasses to create a frame to focus on my subjects. In the picture, the character is feeding his cat, and both of them are having their restful time in the neon lights. Meanwhile I'm hiding behind the glasses watching and capturing this enjoyable moment. This photo shows my expression and understanding of “岁月静好”: The time is quiet; the world is peaceful."
DETAIL WINNER
"I’m a Photographer in real life and find that the beauty of video games and their worlds is just undeniable. People put love and effort into creating those worlds for us and the games I play give me the opportunity to capture pictures I will never be able to take in real life. Just some good music to go along with taking screenshots / editing – a time well spent for me."
PORTRAIT WINNER
"This shot shows the face of my character and the hand of my friend's character while using an emote to create this combined pose. It is a simple composition, but one that was taken with a lot of ingenuity and time. Virtual photography has expanded my gaming world and given me a lot of creativity. I will forever treasure the wonderful results I have achieved in these awards!"
ACTION WINNER
"In this shot, I aimed to capture the moment when one triumphs over their fears and breaks free from their comfort zone. The juxtaposition of personal triumph against the backdrop of this iconic monument – which itself is a testament to human achievement – emphasizes that monumental feats can arise from individual resilience and courage."
ABSTRACT WINNER
"I entered The VP awards and really didn't think I would win, especially amongst all these talented people. I still can't believe it. To quote a friend, "Express yourself in your work, capture how that moment makes you feel, and never be worried about how others would see it. Your vision is what matters” – Lucent_VP."
OVERALL WINNER
VIEW FINALISTS GALLERIES
- THE VP AWARDS // JUDGING PANEL -
INDUSTRY AWARD CATEGORIES
Recognising the best contributions from development studios and their games to in-game photography over the last 12 months. The industry award winners are decided across 6 distinct categories with input from the Community Panel & a public vote that saw over 24.1K votes cast.
Expand the category headers below to see how the votes decided the winners.
BEST PHOTO MODE
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
🥇 (65.1 %) Marvel's Spider Man 2 | Insomniac Games
🥈 (17.9 %) STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor | Respawn Entertainment
🥉 (15.8 %) Hi-Fi Rush | Tango Gameworks
BEST PHOTOGRAPHIC SUBJECT
MOST INNOVATIVE FEATURES
BEST PHOTO MODE UX
BEST COMMUNITY SUPPORT
BEST LIGHTING
The Virtual Photography Awards are brought to you by TheFourthFocus and I wish to thank all of the supporting partners for their invaluable contributions that help to make this the leading awards event in the art of virtual and in-game photography.
If you are interested in becoming a future partner of The Virtual Photography Awards or would like more info for press coverage, don't hesitate to get in touch.
