HIPA’s ‘Creating the Future’ Contest Winners Announced
Now in its third edition, the Hamdan International Photography Award concluded its Creating the Future 2013-2014 contest with an extravagant award ceremony on 17 March 2014. The event took place at the Dubai International Financial Centre and gave away cash awards totalling to USD 3,89,000 (approx. Rs. 2,40,60,900). In terms of prize money, it is the biggest photography competition in the world.
Fuyang Zhou from China won the grand prize of USD 1,20,000 (approx. Rs. 73,60,715) for his image of an impoverished classroom. In addition to this, HIPA also announced the winners from three other categories. Yanan Li from China bagged the first prize in the Black and White category, Ali Kh Al Zaidi from Kuwait won the first position in the Creating the Future category and Vladimir Proshin from Russia took the first prize in the General category. All three winners received cash prizes too.
HIPA also presented two special honours to legendary photographer Steve McCurry and the Executive Chairman of Lytro, Dr Ren Ng, who received the Photography Appreciation Award and the Photographic Research/Report respectively. This special event has held on 11 March 2014, prior to the contest’s main award ceremony.
Here is a look at all the winners of this prestigious award.
Category: Creating the Future
Grand Prize Winner: Fuyang Zhou, China
Photograph/Fuyang Zhou
About the Image: The photographer has made an image of impoverished conditions at a makeshift school in China.
Other Winners:
Category: Creating the Future – Emirati
Third Prize Winner: Omran Abdelrahman Al Ansari, UAE
Photograph/Omran Abdelrahman Al Ansari
About the Image: “The rays of the sun were like magic coming from sky. I caught the human element at the good time, where he was seen enjoying the magic sunset. That is what makes the image very powerful to me.”
Other Winner:
3rd Prize – Repeated (Emirati) – Mansoor Mohammad Al Mansoori, UAE
Category: Black and White
Winner: Yanan Li, China
Photograph/Yanan Li
About the Image: “I walked into an adobe house in the Afghan slum in Islamabad, seeing the family having their lunch. It’s quite an unusual scene to see them having lunch on a bed, the only furniture in their house. They kindly invited me to their lunch. I had a piece of naan and took this picture. We could only communicate with each other with body language. I was really touched by their kindness and their optimism.”
Other Winners:
Category: General – International
Winner: Vladimir Proshin, Russian Federation
Photograph/Vladimir Proshin
About the Image: “I made this picture in China. I love this country, with its beautiful scenery, and its wonderful people. It seems that there life flows slowly. I tried to convey this in my image.”
Other Winners:
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- 2nd Prize (International) – Muhammad Alamsyah Rauf, Indonesia
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- 3rd Prize (International) – Muhamad Saleh Bin Dollah, Malaysia
Category: General – Emirati
Second Prize Winner: Sulaiman Ahmed Eid Al Hammadi, UAE
Photograph/Sulaiman Ahmed Eid Al Hammadi
About the Image: “I shot this image in India in 2012. I love how the repeating patterns, the human element and the almost-monotone hue of the image gives a very calming feel.”
Other Winner:
3rd Prize (Emirati) – Saeed Abdalla Jumoh Al Yahyaee, UAE
Category: Street Life
Second Prize Winner: Jianhua Lin, China
Photograph/Jianhua Lin
About the image: A snippet from everyday life on the streets.
Other Winners:
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- 2nd Prize – Repeated – Jianhui Liao, China
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- 3rd Prize – Santiago Daniel Bañon Irujo, Spain
