Selfie sticks on standby as Instagram awards launch in Dublin

“Free your imagination and ignite your creativity one snap at a time,” reads the invite for tonight’s launch of the “Snapys” at Dublin’s RHA Gallery where, amid drinks and canapés, attendees will be perfecting their hand-on-hip poses for passing snappers.

Title-sponsored by Chinese telecoms group Huawei, the inaugural "independent awards for the global Instagram community" says it wants to shower plaudits on "the types of photos that make Instagram fun and unique" across 25 categories. There are no prizes for guessing these include food, travel, fashion and pets, as well as some "creative wildcards".

To enter, users of the Facebook-owned Instagram simply attach the relevant category hashtags when posting photos – to enter the “no-human” category, for example, the hashtag is “#SnapysNoHuman”.

A panel of the leading 75 “Instagram Influencers” and social-media voters will decide the winners, which will be announced in October.

“We aim to bring together the best of local amateur photographers and connect them with the top global Instagrammers and brands,” according to Connector.ie, the Irish digital marketing firm behind the awards. “We will mash up the perfect mix of creative talent, interactive technology and good old offline parties!”

Indeed, the organisers say tonight’s “offline party”, at which Huawei will be showing off its newish P8 smartphone, is only the beginning of a four-month Snapys event calendar. Snaptastic.