JBP's Youngna Park

Over the past five years, our incredible community of Hot Shots has been featured in countless shows, won prestigious awards, and — most importantly — continued to create really amazing work. This year we're making exciting changes to the competition to, as founder and panelist Jen Bekman put it, "expand the opportunities for artists, even as we make the competition more fierce."

We're almost ready to talk about all the details of Hey, Hot Shot! 2010, but before we begin, we want to announce that Summer 2005 Hot Shot and Associate Producer of Jen Bekman Projects, Youngna Park, will be taking the lead on this year's competition. I recently chatted with Jen about why Youngna is a great fit for Hey, Hot Shot! and here's what she had to say:

"Youngna was one of the very first Hot Shots and since then she's been embedded in the organization so Hey, Hot Shot! is in her DNA. Youngna was also a PHOTOBLOGGER and no one even remembers what those are. I mean that's the thing, we share a common love for photography and the internet; and are part of a community of like-minded folks which includes Raul, David Yee and many other people involved in the smoking hot NYC startup scene, like Eliot Shepard who's at Curbed and Jake Dobkin from Gothamist. But also, I love that photography is just one lens for YP--so to speak--she also is a writer, and a cook and an urban explorer and a country mouse too, she's a well-rounded individual that one is!"

To learn more about Youngna, you can read her 20x200 bio, browse her eponymous photoblog, and check out her photography portfolio.

In our conversation, Jen also talked a little bit about why she's so excited for Hey, Hot Shot! 2010 and gave a few hints about the details of the upcoming round, which will be announced on Monday:

"Hey, Hot Shot! keeps us connected with the photography community—we have such a good sense of what's going on in photo because we get to see so much work from all over the world. On our part, we're working on growing our community of the best and brightest photographers and it'll be that much easier to integrate the competition into all of our programs with someone who's full time at JBP taking the lead."

"I'm excited about about Hey, Hot Shot! 2010 because 5 is my favorite number (I am a spazz but I totally mean it!) and also because we get to offer greater opportunities than ever before. There's the chance at a gallery show, 20x200 editions, and being featured on the blog as contenders. This year we're also introducing new aspects, like an increased honorarium, curators' choice prizes, and a new panel format inspired by my turn as a juror for this year's American Photography, AP-25, which was chaired by Kathy Ryan. Our jurors pay close attention but this new format will allow them to participate in a group review AND also drill down and curate based upon their particular point of view."

We can't wait to unveil all the details! Make sure to get on the mailing list if you aren't already to hear the news as soon as it breaks.