Women Sport Australia (WSA), the peak national advocacy body for women in sport, is proud to announce the 2020 #WISPAA – Women in Sport Photo Action Awards will launch on March 30. 

Retiring WSA Director Louise Evans created and launched #WISPAA last year to generate greater recognition and respect for the skill, strength and athleticism of Australian women actively participating in sport.

Australian cricket commentator and retired cricketer Mel Jones said it was fantastic to see #WISPAA back for 2020.

“The 2019 competition created some really positive discussion about seeing women in action playing sport as opposed to staged photos of female athletes,” Mel Jones said. “Women Sport Australia should be proud of this initiative and I can’t wait to see the fantastic range of photos that will be entered this year.”

#WISPAA has two award categories – one for professional photographers and one for amateurs who can each submit up to three photos of Australian sportswomen in action on the WSA website.

The 2019 inaugural competition attracted hundreds of images from over one hundred photographers around Australia.

The 2019 professional winner was Michael Willson (VIC), who captured the ground-breaking image of AFLW player Tayla Harris kicking the opening goal for Carlton against the Western Bulldogs last year. The 2019 amateur winner was Johan Schmidt (WA) who submitted a brilliant women’s rugby union image of featuring Sera Ah-Sam and Tayla Stanford. 

Michael Willson said the #WISPAAs was an important competition. “It recognises and celebrates the incredible athleticism, skill and power that is so often overlooked when Australian women in sport are portrayed photographically in the media,” said Michael Willson, whose image last week also won one of Australia’s premier media awards – the Gold Quill.

“The awards also exhibit the amazing photographic talent within Australia. To be the inaugural professional winner in 2019 was a huge honour and I look forward to seeing what the 2020 competition produces.”

To qualify for #WISPAA, photos submitted must show an Australian sportswoman or sportswomen aged over 18 actively participating in sport at any level in Australia. The sport can be amateur or professional. Judges will favour photos that depict the athleticism, strength and the skill of a woman or women aged over 18 participating in sport.

Entry will be available online on 30 March 2020 at the following link: https://www.womensportaustralia.com.au/wispaa/.

Entries close on April 30.