French photographer snaps up inaugural Hamdan award
Grand prize winner to use $100,000 prize money to buy equipment
Dubai: Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, gave awards to winners of the inaugural Hamdan International Photography Award (Hipa) at a ceremony on Monday in Dubai.
Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture, was also present at the ceremony.
The grand prize winner of the award was Perry Gable from France who won among 4,046 contestants, taking home $100,000. There were three awards categories or pivots — ‘Love of the Earth,' ‘General' and ‘Dubai'.
Gable said that he was emotional. Speaking to Gulf News, he said, "This is the first time I have received an international award. My winning photo is of a tree taken during the fog in Provence [French region]. I also realised what a wonderful photographer the Crown Prince is after visiting Dubai for the first time. I plan to use the prize money to buy new equipment."
Each award participant was allowed to submit his or her entry under more than one official pivot. Saudi Arabia posted the most number of submissions from Arab states, followed by Egypt. A total of 99 countries participated in the competition, with 19 coming from the Middle East.
Ali Khalifa Bin Thalith, Secretary-General of the Award said the organisers are overwhelmed with the level of participation. "In fact, we received more than 7,000 photos, but selected only about 6,000. We are very happy about the number of contestants. We are also honoured with the Crown Prince's presence"
Martin Grahame-Dunn of the judges of the award said, "There is a bright future for Hipa on the world stage. This event is to reward and celebrate great photography which is not only recognised an art form, but takes on the responsibility as a universal medium of communication."
The ceremony at Downtown Burj Khalifa which had an exciting line-up of artistic performances and activities like laser shows and fireworks, concluded with the distribution of an exclusive edition of a photography book titled The Love of Earth, in Arabic and English, containing the works of the winners and 196 images.
