A wealth of emerging photographic talent

The Terry O’Neill Tag Award 2012 is a competition with a reputation for quality, and the series of photographs which have already been on display at The Strand Gallery, in London, will be on show at the gallery in Norman Road, St Leonards, until March 15.

Lucy Bell herself founded the Terry O’Neill Award seven years ago, and said that the aim of the competition was to promote and show the work of emerging photographers.

“There is no age limit, but it is aimed at those coming out of university, to give them visibility,” she said.

“The way that the industry has changed since the start of the digital age, makes it very difficult for photographers to get noticed, because there is so much out there.”

The winning series of photos certainly shot the photographer into the limelight.

Alessandro Penso’s Youth Denied: Young Immigrants in Greece focused on the tensions between the immigrants and the locals, and his arresting image of a young man being hit by a car made the newspapers around the world.

In second place, is Wendy Sacks with Immersed in Living Water, an American photographer and former paediatric physician, whose work features children under water.

British photographer Marc Wilson came in third place with The Last Stand, a series showing physical remnants of war in the 20th century in the UK and northern Europe.

Lucy added that what sets this competition apart from others is the quality of the entries.

She said: “It is because the judges are always quite cutting edge. With our competition it is smaller, but the judges look at everybody’s work. It has got the reputation as a very honest competition.”

The judging panel included leading British photographer Terry O’Neill, Jon Jones, director of photography at the Sunday Times, and Melissa DeWitt, editor of Hotshoe magazine.

Lucy Bell Fine Art Gallery is open from Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm.

Visit www.oneillaward.com.