This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

Removal of colour focuses both the mind and the eye on the subject. Composition, framing and lighting all need to be spot-on and given careful consideration – it’s not a case of simply desaturating your images. Successful photographers of the genre often say that they think in a different way in the first place – learning to see in monochrome is half the challenge. Any subject can be submitted in our black and white round, so this is your opportunity to really get creative.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

We want to see your best animal, wildlife and nature shots in this round. You don’t necessarily need to go far to find inspiration, with a broad range of subjects for you to choose from. Whether you find your muse in the local park or the wilds of the Serengeti, research and patience can be the deciding factor between an average shot and an amazing one. Please note, this is not the round for domestic animals and pets.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

We’ve all had plenty of opportunity to hone our home-photography skills over the past few months. Now’s your chance to submit them in our dedicated Home round. Anything taken at home is fair game here, whether that’s portraits of your nearest and dearest (including pets), food, close-ups, flowers from the garden, and beyond to include more creative and unusual skills such as abstracts and smoke trails. This is a broad subject with 1000s of different possibilities – it just needs to have been taken in your home.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

Landscape photography is an incredibly popular genre. It’s easily accessible for most and we’ve got a whole world full of potential subjects. Because this subject is so favoured, you will need to work hard to stand out – but we’ve kept the brief fairly loose so you can show us your interpretations of landscape. Whether you want to include grand sweeping mountain vistas or concentrate on abstract details, it’s time to submit your best scenic shots for our consideration.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

This round offers huge scope to create all manner of creative, dynamic shots. Whether you’re drawn to grand, traditional structures or sleek, contemporary works of art, the possibilities are endless. While we fully expect you to explore the buildings and skylines of towns and cities, don’t forget that architecture takes many forms. For example, a bridge can offer many different compositional and framing opportunities. Don’t be afraid to be a little abstract in your images too. Architecture is filled with curves, lines and other interesting details, and they can all be captured to great effect.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

One of the biggest challenges in photography is capturing movement. Whether that’s freezing the action unfolding in front of you with fast shutter speeds or flash or creating an implied sense of movement with long exposures or camera panning. Whichever technique you choose to use, there are a whole host of potential subjects on offer. We’d like to see your interpretation of movement, whether it’s people on the go, sports or trains, planes and automobiles.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to capturing portraits. From the traditional to the unconventional, inside or outside the studio, anything goes. Whether you choose to make yourself the subject or capture others, we’re looking for a portrait that tells a story. Great people pictures can be found in all walks of life – it’s how you capture and portray your subject that draws the viewer in. We can’t wait to see how you interpret this genre of photography.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

Visiting somewhere new, whether it’s another city, country or continent, can really get the creative juices flowing. Every location has its own unique feel and photographing the buildings, landmarks, and people you encounter will help to convey the real spirit of a place. Get up early and visit a local market or stay out late and shoot lights reflected in water. Talk to people – a smile can go a long way towards securing willing subjects. Try not to ‘steal’ a shot; be patient and courteous.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

Although street photography is easily accessible to most, it’s probably one of the most challenging genres to capture. Paying attention to the everyday movements of folk as they go about their business and spotting the extraordinary within the mundane is one thing but capturing a scene unfold in front of you at the perfect moment is another. It’s this forward-thinking that makes great photographers of this genre stand out. Take a look at the work by like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau and Vivian Maier or more contemporary photographers, such as Niall McDiarmid and Nick Turpin for inspiration.

This free-to-enter category is part of the Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2021 awards, open to photographers aged 13-21.

Getting up close and personal to your subject means you can create scenes that might otherwise be missed. A huge range of subjects can be considered for close-up photography, so you can really push your creative limits here. Plants and natural subjects will be the first port of call for many, but don’t be afraid to explore other themes that also work well – such as jewellery, shells, feathers, food and more. In short, anything you can scrutinise at close quarters is what we want to see.