1ST PRIZE: Lainey Foster

“I selected this image by Lainey Foster as the winner as it exhibits so many of the elements that I look for in a successful photograph. The way that Lainey has shot the image from above means that the landscape is flattened and abstracted from the every day, the dramatic and out of place red of the algal bloom only increases the viewers’ disorientation and our brain has to work hard to understand what we are looking at, capturing and holding my attention. I love that although the Australian coastline is so familiar to me, I have never seen it look quite like this before. Overall, an intriguing and beautifully realised image.”  – Shannon Ghannam, Magnum Photos Education Director

2ND PRIZE: Kara Kapelnikova

“The second-place winning image by Kara Kapelnikova stood out for me for the way the photographer managed to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. The everyday scene of a leftover wrapper on what could be a plane or a boat takes on an abstract, still life quality. The contrasting, sun-lit colours have me dreaming of post lockdown trips to places new or a long-overdue journey home. The power of an image to evoke all of these things becomes apparent in this simple, stunning image.” – Shannon Ghannam, Magnum Photos Education Director

3RD PRIZE: JoSon

“A compelling example of color’s ability to greatly enhance the potency of an image: the bare naiveté of the subject, classic portrait framing, and impeccable appropriation of subtle lighting, contrasts dramatically with the striking lucidity of the snake’s form, thus enhancing its ominous incongruity and symbolism.” – The Independent Photographer Editors