NMA Royal Photography Competition Shortlist Announced

The shortlist for the 2018 News Media Association’s Royal Rota photography competition is published today after thousands of votes were cast in a public online poll to find the best royal photography in the news media industry.

An online weeklong public vote was held to find the best of 48 showcased photographs from national and local newspapers, agencies and freelance photographers. The vote was widely covered by outlets including The Sun, MailOnline, Express and Star, The Mirror, The Maidenhead Advertiser, Yahoo News, Evening Standard and Northumberland Gazette.

The vote closed at 5pm on Friday and the three (five for the special category) pictures to have received the most votes in each of four categories are listed below. The pictures will now be judged by our panel of experts, with the winners announced next week.

National Newspaper Rota Photo of the Year

Regional/Local Newspaper Rota Photo of the Year

Rota Picture Agency Rota Photo of the Year

Special Category – Rota photographs of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle together

The judging panel is: 

  • Alan Sparrow, UK Picture Editors Guild chairman;
  • Chris Eades, The British Press Photographers’ Association chairman;
  • Lynne Anderson, NMA deputy chief executive;
  • Martin Keene, Press Association group picture editor;
  • Dr Michael Pritchard, The Royal Photographic Society chief executive.

The competition was launched by the NMA to promote the outstanding work of photographers in the UK news media and the NMA’s media facilities services for members.

The NMA manages the Royal Rota on behalf of its members, allocating passes for the hundreds of Royal engagements undertaken by members of the Royal Family each year and ensuring that the material is pooled among members.