Thank you all very much for your patience over the past few weeks. The results are in, decisions have been made and it’s finally time to announce the winners of the Fuji Instax Mini Monochrome photo competition!
In total, Dan K and I received 60 entries from 14 countries of the duration of the six week submission window and we’ve spent the best part of the last fortnight since the extended deadline deliberating our shortlist, short-shortlist and really-short-shortlists.
It was a tough job whittling down the initial selection to what you see here and I hope that the notes with each of the images below will help you to understand some of our final selection rationale.
It’s also worth noting that we have not contacted any of the winners or runners-up in advance to let them know. Everyone finds out at the same time! 😉
So without further ado, let’s climb up the awards, starting with honourable mentions in alphabetical order.
Honourable mentions
Honourable mentions were awarded on the basis of “creativity in the creation and submission of entries”; and each of the five photographers below will be receiving a single 10-sheet pack of Fuji Instax Mini Monochrome for their efforts.

Award: Best “proof” image
Title: Weathered Treetop
Location: Granby, Colorado, USA
Camera: MiNT InstantFlex TL70

Award: Best use of color
Title: Fall Leaves
Location: Portland, Oregon, USA
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC

Award: Best long exposure
Title: 渋谷モノクローム / Shibuya monochrome
Location: Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Camera: Leica Sofort / Long Exposure

Award: Best use of a non-native Instax camera
Title: Film noir: a pinhole triptych
Location: Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA
Camera: Self-made pinhole camera, using Lomography Diana Instant Film Back and Debonair toy camera

Award: Use of colour and exposure for dramatic effect
Title: The birth of Fear
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC
Congratulations to Anne, Jonathan, Lida, Ross and Whatsbehindthat! With the honourable mentions out of the way, it’s time to look at 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in ascending order.
3rd place winner: John scott
Coming in very strong to take third place and three packs of Instax Mini Monochrome is John Scott from Edinburgh with his appropriately titled triptych, “Mix and Match”.
This entry was awarded third place for its creative use of three exposures for the creation of a single portrait. In addition, when considered as individual sheets, each required a different approach to metering/capture and demonstrated the full range of tones available from Instax Mini Monochrome under natural light and with the use of flash. Triptych’s are not particularly easy to pull off and we loved John’s use of stacking in this submission!

Award: Third place
Title: Mix & Match
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Camera: Lomography Instant Automat
2nd place winner: Alex Lau
Taking second place and five packs of Instax Mini Monochrome is Alex Lau with his pinhole/macro photograph titled “Cornie”.
Macro, or near-macro photography isn’t something typically associated with the Instax format. In addition, the creativity of combining a pinhole camera to take the close focus shot, and then using a native Instax Mini camera as an ejection/development trigger mechanism really stood out to us.
Technical aspects aside, the image itself wonderfully shows the full range of tones that can be achieved with Instax Mini Monochrome, from deep blacks all the way to (near) crisp whites.

Award: Second place
Title: Cornie
Camera: DIY pinhole camera using a Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S to eject the film.
1st place winner: Edward Conde
Coming in first place and winning a factory fresh Leica Sofort instant camera (in snappy orange), and 10x packs of Instax Mini Monochrome is Edward Conde with his multiple exposure, “Flower Holder”.
We decided to award Edward first place for his entry based almost purely on creativity and joy. The end result is busy, chaotic and most of all fun, which is exactly what Instax is about.
Instax Mini is not meant for serious documentation or photographic study (although it can produce some very interesting results in that respect). Edward’s entry exemplifies that fun and creativity and for that, we’re incredibly pleased to be able to award him first place.

Award: First place
Title: Flower Holder (Multiple Exposure)
Location: Thousand Oaks, California, USA
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC
Notable entries
Our final grading for the 1st to 3rd place winners and honourable mentions above was very close and we feel it only appropriate that we also recognize the 11 entrants who were only a hair’s breadth from appearing in those lists.
Here they are in alphabetical order: Alex Yates, Andy Jenkins, Aukje Kastelijn, Claudio Gomboli, Gemma Rochester, Hilde Heyvaert, James Joransen, Leslie Adams, Martin Smith, Peter Sam and Tommy Chong.
Thank you all so much for entering!

Title: Grasslands
Location: Aso-san caldera, Japan
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC

Title: Rain Followed
Location: Dublin, Ohio, USA
Camera: Fuji Instax Mini 50s

Title: Dutch Canal
Location: Utrecht City, NL
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC

Title: Walking Chatting
Location: London, UK
Camera: Mamiya RB67 with Polaroid Back

Title: Sorry Max
Title: Beijing, China
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC

Title: The quiet before the storm
Location: Netevallei nature preserve, Hallaar, Belgium
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC

Title: Desi
Location: Athens, Georgia, USA
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC

Title: Night at the Museum
Location: Overland Park, Kansas, USA
Camera: Fuji Mini 90 NEO CLASSIC

Title: UNTITLED
Location: Reading, UK
Camera: Lomography Instant Automat

Title: Ritual in the fog
Location: Sunset peak
Camera: Fuji Instax Mini 8

Title: Bay Boy
Location: Sham Sui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Camera: Fuji Instax Mini 7S
Closing thoughts
Dan K and I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all of you who participated. As many of you will be aware, the final submission deadline was extended by a fortnight to allow for the limited availability of Instax Mini Monochrome following it’s October 2016 launch.
Although the contest was started one month after the official worldwide release of Instax Mini Monochrome, it seems that Fuji had some issues with getting film stocks into stores outside of Asia during those first few weeks. Thankfully, our friends over at Camera Film Photo in Hong Kong did their bit to help out, and furnished many of the final entrants with stock to shoot – thanks guys.
Camera Film Photo will also be handling the logistics for shipping all of the prizes out. If you’re lucky, you might find a sweet treat from Hong Kong in the box…assuming Dan doesn’t get there first.
On a personal level, the creativity of the entries was a standout aspect of this competition. Subjects aside (which saw plenty of variation and style), I was pleasantly surprised to see all the different cameras used to capture submissions. From DIY pinhole cameras and the usual Fuji fare, to the new Leica Sofort, Lomo’s new Automat, a Mamiya RB67 and even a modified Mamiya C series TLR, it just goes to show that film photographers really see few limits to capturing their desired subjects on whatever piece of equipment suits them best.
With so many real world examples in one place, this competition has also demonstrated to me the versatility of Fuji’s new film – more so than what I covered in my Instax Mini Monochrome review, or Dan covered in his in-depth Instax Mini Monochrome investigation. Instax Mini Monochrome definitely has a place in my camera bag and I’ll certainly be shooting more of it over the coming months.
We all give Fuji a hard time for their seemingly endless film discontinuations but if the release of Instax Mini Monochrome (and Instax Square in 2017) shows us anything, it’s that they will continue to support and innovate film products if they see a demand for it.
For Fuji (and all other film vendors), continued existence in this industry is a commercial reality and not a sworn duty or obligation. Let’s show them there’s a market out there. There’s no guarantee it will work but we can’t complain about that eventuality in good conscience unless we’re putting our hands in our pockets and using the stuff today.
Keep shooting, folks.
~ EMULSIVE
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Aww missed out on this too. I woulda taken it with me into the city and shot a pack. Like I need anot… https://t.co/1tLfMNwC3F
Aw I missed this
I wish I was less shit at twitter and saw this earlier – I need some inspiration to get out and shoot mine again
5
If winners of the Instax Mono Competition add a @camerafilmphoto order to their prize shipping, I’ll cover the extra postage!
All prizes will be fulfilled through @camerafilmphoto. will provide details.
@ZDP189 @BelieveInFilm @Instax Congratulations to the winners. It was fun to participate!
@ZDP189 Congratulations to everyone!
@ZDP189 @BelieveInFilm @Instax congratulations!!!
@ZDP189 @BelieveInFilm @Instax how big can you print instax mini scans?