Competition Winners

This winners collection celebrates the work of all award winning photographers capturing life in its most vivid forms. These unique and international artists constitute the best of the photographic scene and we are very proud to share their work.

Winning Photographer Berber Theunissen

Winning Photographer Berber Theunissen
“The Soul Within”
The growing body. The excitement. Noticing the old me fading away, the beginning of a new life. The fear of losing him again, the mental scars after the miscarriage. The first strong kicks, slowly regaining trust in my body. The growing love. The healing homebirth. Meeting the soul that had been with us already all those years, finally earth side. The double sword: fatigue, heartbreaking fears, overwhelming responsibilities alternated with a soft inner peace, overpowering happiness. © Berber Theunissen
Second Prize Lorraine Turci

Second Prize Lorraine Turci
“Polaris artefact” - Antarctic Peninsula
Huts, research stations, shelters, monuments or maritime landmarks: human constructions in the Antarctic Peninsula are a benchmark for a world that the imagination still thinks of as immaculate. Landmarks might be sensed here as pre-ruins, next to vestiges, nearly to be sculptures. The human presence looks incongruous in these remote areas. Fine and colored geometries lost in white stretches that we imagine extending to infinity. In contrast with the constructions of native people, the constructions of conquest are here scientific, industrial. Almost cosmonaut: humans on another planet. From “Polaris Artefacts series”. © Lorraine Turci
Third Prize Simon Móricz-Sabján

Third Prize Simon Móricz-Sabján
“Medical workers taking care of a Covid-19 patient” - Budapest
Medical workers wearing personal protective equipment take care of a Covid-19 positive patient at the Uzsoki Hospital, Budapest, Hungary. Hungary has an exceptionally high mortality rate compared even to the most highly infected countries. Since the outbreak of coronavirus in Hungary, the fatality rate had showed a rising trend then started to decrease at the beginning of July. As of December 18, 2020, the death rate due to the virus reached 2.61 percent in the country. © Simon Móricz-Sabján
Finalist Gianluca Attoli

Finalist Gianluca Attoli
“The dream is always the same”
Description: Fog, mist, snow, powerfully pictorial skyscapes: all of these aspects, individually or combined, make the main subject(s) ”recede” for a moment, letting the mood and the atmosphere become the main and most immediate features of each shot. There’s a strange, strong feeling of comfort, bliss and uneasiness when you stand right in the middle of a foggy nowhere, or in front of a frighteningly silent stormy sky. The abstraction and decontextualization of places and elements make them look even more anonymous, unidentified and generic than they would be in clear view, to the point of reaching a hazy, surreal lack of visual references. You seem to physically experience a feeling of suspension and estrangement; everything looks unfamiliar and dreamlike. And just as in a daydream (hence the title), conscience and subconscious meet and mix up. © Gianluca Attoli
Finalist Jack Lawson

Finalist Jack Lawson
“The Special Eagles” - Lagos, Nigeria
4 members of “The Special Eagles”, Nigeria’s amputee football team walk towards the sea on the beach outside Lagos. © Jack Lawson
Finalist Jonathan Moller

Finalist Jonathan Moller
“Juan and María’s wedding.” - Guatemala, 1993
Part of an eight-year project in Guatemala resulting in my first book, Our Culture is Our Resistance: Repression, Refuge and Healing in Guatemala, and numerous exhibitions and public talks intended to tell the story of the primarily indigenous-Mayan Guatemalans that were uprooted and killed during that country’s long and brutal civil war. © Jonathan Moller
Finalist Samantha Schwann

Finalist Samantha Schwann
“Future” - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Mako shark populations fell to endangered status in 2019, in part due to an error calculating age of sexual maturity on which fishing thresholds were based. New science suggests this age to be 19-21 years, instead of 4-6 years as previously believed. Even with full protection, it is expected that populations will continue to decline until 2035 as current populations reach maturity. This female, presumed to be pregnant, was photographed in Cabo San Lucas, one of the only known reproductive areas for mako sharks. © Samantha Schwann
Finalist Chloe Meynier

Finalist Chloe Meynier
“Quiet Breakfast" - From series “Made in The Shade”
Through a mise-en-scene self-portraiture series, “Made in The Shade” depicts characters in Mid Century Modern settings, mirroring an era that was aspiring for change. Despite this societal urge to create a new modern lifestyle, women rapidly lost their independence gained during the war period and returned to domesticated environments to fulfill decades of gender role traditions. The carefully staged scenes attempt to challenge female stereotypes. The series offers a powerful lens through which the viewer contemplates these women in a non-objectified way and reconfigures their essence. The absence of context gives these characters the power to be architects, scientists, musicians, engineers, doctors, etc.; roles often identified as being fulfilled by men. © Chloe Meynier
Finalist Laura Pannack

Finalist Laura Pannack
- Israel
At the age of 16 Baruch chose to leave his Orthodox Jewish community and to study at university. The dramatic and challenging decision forced him to question his identity and future. Einstein said “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.“ - The project explores how we choose our paths in life and questions how much control we have to change who we will become © Laura Pannack
Finalist Soo Burnell

Finalist Soo Burnell
“Swim Team at Portobello”
“I wanted to photograph Edinburgh’s swimming baths to show the beauty of the architecture while minimizing all of the modern elements. I love the geometry of the tiles, the lines on the bottom of the pool, and the typography including the ‘Deep End’ signs. Since my first poolside exhibition last year I have traveled to London, Paris, Manchester and Glasgow to add to my collection. “I have been really inspired by the idea of having a slightly quirky Wes Anderson feel to them, especially with the pastel color palette, and with the swimmers adding both a human element to each scene along with a dreamlike quality. © Soo Burnell

– Theme: Visual Storytelling / Competition Judge: Nichole Sobecki

From classic social documentary to imaginative storytelling: The art of visual storytelling encompasses a wide range of possibilities with at its heart, the will to tell a story and we were seeking visual artists aiming to captivate and share their stories with awareness and conviction.

Join us over on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter where we’ll be sharing all our favorite images from the competition. Congratulations to all the talented photographers who made it to the final!

Finalists

Jury's Feedback

1ST PRIZE: Berber Theunissen

“The shrouded body reminds us of the profound transition into motherhood, but also of that thin veil between life and death, the woman you are before and the woman you become. As an emotional landscape, it reveals the complexity of an often caricatured experience: the anticipation, the hope, and the terror. The pregnant female form has been depicted countless times, yet this reimagining feels personal, honest, and brave.” — Nichole Sobecki

2ND PRIZE: Lorraine Turci

“The lone shed sits, vibrant against the subdued tonality of this land and its waddle of penguins. Too often the Artics are portrayed as desolate, untouched places, far removed from the concerns of mankind (or any meaningful sense of responsibility). Here, the photographer has elegantly challenged that view. To truly bring ourselves into harmony with the natural world, we must return to seeing humanity as a part of it.” — Nichole Sobecki

3RD PRIZE: Simon Móricz-Sabján

“Simon Móricz-Sabján’s thoroughly arresting and impeccably-framed image brilliantly demonstrates the medium’s communicative capabilities. Strikingly forthright, yet imbued with a surreal quality, it imparts the essence of the scene perfectly, yet simultaneously resonates far beyond the sum of its parts, serving as a profoundly somber and familiar symbol of the ongoing global health crisis.” – The Independent Photographer Editors

Judged by: Nichole Sobecki

Represented by renowned photo agency VII, Nichole Sobecki is an American photographer and filmmaker based in Nairobi, Kenya. She began her career in Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria, focusing on regional issues related to identity, conflict, and human rights. Nichole aims to create photographs that demand consideration for the lives of those represented – their joys, challenges, and ultimately their humanity. Amidst our fractured present existence, she believes that a well-told story can cut through the noise, deepen empathy, and inspire a more conscious world.

Nichole’s photography has received countless awards and has been exhibited worldwide including The United Nations Headquarters in New York City and the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris. A passionate teacher, workshop leader, and speaker, she is also a contributor to Everyday Africa, and her work is regularly published in National Geographic.

Open to All Photography

Be part of a vibrant community: The competition award is a unique opportunity to gain exposure and provides a platform to celebrate the very best of contemporary photography.

$ 24.000
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Portrait photograph of a woman with red lipstick and blue eyes in Oxford Street, London, UK by Francesco Gioia

THEME: STREET PHOTOGRAPHY Deadline: 28 February 2021

"It’s not the streets, it’s where the streets lead you that’s important." - Bruce Davidson

Street photography has been one of the most exciting and influential forms of photography since its creation. Whether the subject is your own city or as you explore other territories and cultures: this month we want to discover the streets through YOUR lens!

1st Prize: $1000 · 2nd Prize: $600 · 3rd Prize: $400