British Fencing is delighted to announce its search for the ‘British Fencing Image of the Year 2019’ supported by Nikon School UK, Pulseroll, Leon Paul Fencing Centre and new supporter, PermaJet.

Photographers of all levels are invited to submit their fencing photos for the chance to win one of 3 categories and go on to be named as ‘British Fencing Image of the Year 2019’. Images will be judged by a guest panel including Neil Freeman from Nikon School UK, Jon Willis from Leon Paul Equipment & Fencing Centre and GBR sabreur Curtis Miller.

Images must be submitted to British Fencing by December 18th, 2019 at 5pm. Category and overall winners will be announced on December 20th, 2019. The hashtag #BFimage2019 must be used to tag an image as a submission on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, with full terms and conditions available on the British Fencing website.

The competition aims to attract photographers and fencers of all abilities, with the three categories of “Fencing Fun”, “Inspiration” and “Teamwork” inviting images related to fencing at all levels. The overall winner will be the fencing image that best represents British Fencing’s message “Be You. Be Different”.

The winner of the 2018 competition, Millie Brodie, received a Nikon School UK workshop voucher as grand prize and has since become an ambassador for British Fencing, introducing her love of the sport to new fencers and young women. She said after winning, “I’ve only been fencing for two years but it’s become a huge passion and if I can do anything to help encourage people to try the sport, I’m definitely up for that.” Millie went on to attend the Nikon School UK workshop where she captured fencers in action at the Leon Paul Fencing Centre, “I had a really fun day, and learnt a few new skills too!”

Curtis Miller, GBR sabreur and guest judge, is interested in the Inspiration category after he recently discovered a passion for photography. “At the end of last year I started to do a bit of photography.” He explained. He takes inspiration from his travels on the Olympic qualification journey for Tokyo 2020. “It’s great to be outdoors, you don’t have to spend much. You can go to nice locations, find a nice spot and try and be as creative as possible.”

James Craig of British Fencing said, “A large majority of our fencing community are attracted to fencing based on the creative and alternative nature of the sport. This is an opportunity to share their love of the sport and further British Fencing’s vision of building a strong fencing community”.

The category and overall winning images will be published in The Sword, British Fencing’s magazine. The category winners will receive prizes including PermaJet’s award-winning Photo Lustre 310 paper, and products from Pulseroll, one of British Fencing’s Official Suppliers.

The overall winning photographer will receive a grand prize including £149 voucher valid for Nikon School UK photography workshops.

The overall winning image will also be printed by PermaJet, a new supporter of the competition for 2019.

Further info:

British Fencing is the National Governing Body for Fencing in the UK. https://www.britishfencing.com/  For all media enquiries please contact [email protected]

Nikon School www.nikonschool.co.uk is a venue for photography training that aims to educate and inspire. Their partnership with British Fencing began in 2018. https://www.britishfencing.com/nikon-school-uk/

Pulseroll is a British Fencing Official Supplier and offers strength, injury prevention and recovery products including vibrating foam rollers and massage guns.

PermaJet, are suppliers of aqueous inkjet media to Digital Photographers, Artists, Photo Studios, Print Labs & Education. PermaJet was started in 1999 with just one very adventurous aim – to deliver a range of high quality everyday inkjet papers as well as smooth and textured Fine Art Inkjet Papers, never seen before by photographers. These products suit everyone who is serious about their photography and image printing and PermaJet boasts the World’s largest range of photographic inkjet papers and canvases, many manufactured to a unique specification.

Leon Paul is The Official National Equipment Supplier for British Fencing. The Leon Paul Fencing Centre hosts competitions, an elite training centre and events as well as supporting British Fencing events throughout the year. Guest judge Jon Willis was voted ‘Fencing Personality of the Year’ by the British Fencing community on Facebook in 2018.

Curtis Miller began fencing at the age of eleven at Camden Fencing Club under coach Ian Williams. Williams spotted some natural talent in him and encouraged him to work hard to see how far he could go in the sport. Success came as a Junior when he won a bronze medal in 2012 at one of the toughest events on the circuit – the Dourdan World Cup. He is now in full-time training at the Elite Training Centre in North London and part of the senior men’s sabre squad aiming for Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification.