NZIPP president Craig Robertson said the awards attracted 1000 entries from 150, predominantly New Zealand, photographers, while more than 160 were attending the conference.
Judging for the awards started yesterday and goes until tomorrow in a public forum at the Millennium Hotel Queenstown.
Each photograph is divided into one of 10 categories and is analysed by a panel of five judges, all professional photographers.
They are given about two minutes to score the image for either a bronze, silver or gold award.
Less than 1% of the images reach gold standard and those which did were "mind-blowing", Mr Robertson said.
Print-judging co-ordinator Mike Langford said the awards were about "photographers flexing their creativity" and being provided with the opportunity to have their work judged by their peers.
Mr Robertson said a highlight of the conference would be a talk by one of the world's top portrait photographers, Michael Grecco.
His work appears in leading magazines such as Time and Rolling Stone. He will hold a masterclass at the conference next week.
Other people involved are Australian wedding and portrait photographers Graham Monro and Robert Piccoli, along with New Zealanders Doc Ross, Jackie Ranken and Alan Dove.
The conference runs from September 12 to 14, while the photography exhibition is open to the public until Monday night.
