2020 TIPA WORLD AWARDS
For the first time in its 29-year history, the TIPA World Awards was held without any of its member magazine representatives being in the same room. The annual awards judging had been scheduled to take place in Las Vegas this year as part of TIPA’s General Assembly activities, but obviously world events intervened.
The decision to cancel the 2020 TIPA GA in March was taken a few weeks out from the event by a majority of the members but, of course, the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic then very much spiralled out of the control, closing borders and grounding many of the world’s airlines. Consequently, the members elected to take the judging of the World Awards online, taking place on the same day as would have been the case had we all been meeting in Las Vegas.
As it happens, this was also my first year as a member of TIPA’s Technical Committee (TC) – the small group which is tasked with compiling the list of potential candidates, then whittling it down to a more manageable list, one representative of the current state of the industry rollcall of likely winners. Myself and fellow newbie Guy Langevin who edits the excellent Canadian photography magazine Photo Life joined TC colleagues from the USA, the Netherlands, Greece and Germany to begin the process of nominations, suggestions, discussions and rejections. It was both enlightening and rewarding to be involved right from the beginning, as we shared ideas, opinions and, most importantly our own product testing experiences and findings. Consequently, the committee builds up a very detailed overview of the marketplace, trends in both design and technology, and which products are more noteworthy for various reasons than others.
As always, the TIPA World Awards comprises 40 categories, but these can vary from year to year to reflect changes in the market as new imaging product areas emerge and mature while others decline. A classic example is the changing fortunes of the DSLR. In the past there have been as many as seven or eight categories for the various levels of DSLR, but last year there was just one, because during that 12-month period of eligibility just one all-new DSLR was launched. This year we’re back up to three categories as there have been a number of new arrivals since, but the continued popularity of mirrorless cameras is reflected in the six categories for camera bodies and seven for lenses.
To make the online voting process as streamlined and uncomplicated as possible, this year the Technical Committee was asked to come up with a definitive list of category winners rather than two (or more) potential winners.
