Press release -
2013 Sony World Photography Awards Student Focus
The World Photography Organisation (WPO) today reveals the ten finalists of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards Student Focus competition. The date also coincides with the release of a white paper on the future of photography education by WPO. Both events mark WPO’s on-going commitment to support the emerging photographer and to discover the world’s finest new photography talent.
Over 230 universities entered this year’s Student Focus, which has established itself as the globe’s leading student photography programme and competition and involves over 20,000 students. Photographers were asked to enter a single image to capture the spirit of celebration in their country.
The judges, photography collector, curator and consultant W.M Hunt plus British photographers Jonathan Worth and Leonie Hampton, were asked to select six images from the six continents, plus four favourites from anywhere in the world to make a list of 10 finalists from the entries.
The finalists are:
- Africa – South Africa: Zanele Plaatjie, Vaal University of Technology
- Asia – Singapore: Eugene Soh, Nanyang Technological University
- Asia – India: Anshul Mehrotra, Jamia Millia Islamia, Dehli
- Europe – Belgium: Andrea Azema, École nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre, Brussels
- Europe – Poland: Natalia Wiernik, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow
- Europe – Spain: Sarai Rua Fargues, Institut D’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya, Barcelona
- Europe – Wales: Aimee Turner, Coleg Sir Gâr, Carmarthen
- North America – Mexico: Marcelo Sanchez, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey
- Oceania – New Zealand: Kim Annan, The University of Auckland, Auckland
- South America – Argentina: Maria Candelaria Rivera Gadea, Escuela Motivarte, Buenos Aires
All will now compete to win the overall Student Focus title and €35,000 worth of Sony digital imaging equipment for their university.
Each student will have their images exhibited at Somerset House, London as part of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition from 26 April – 12 May. The photographs will also be published in the 2013 edition of the annual Sony World Photography Awards book.
The finalists also receive a Sony α65 camera on which will shoot a series of images exploring what the word ‘family’ means to them; the judges will select an overall winner from these images. All students and their professors will be flown to London by WPO to find out which school has won the 2013 Student Focus title and €35,000 worth of Sony digital imaging equipment, when it is revealed at the glamorous Sony World Photography Awards Gala Ceremony on 25 April.
WPO White Paper on the future of photography education.
Following its inaugural Student Focus conference on photography education held at Photokina in October 2012, the World Photography Organisation and Sony today publishes a white paper on the future of the education of photography.
Born out of discussion led by Virginia Morrison, Executive Director, Society for Photography Education, USA, and with 20 of Europe’s leading photography professors, the white paper outlines a series of core competencies for students of photography, a key element missing from the current system of teaching. It also addresses photography curriculum, the need to think digitally and the making of and teaching of the art of photography. The full white paper is available to read at www.worldphoto.org/studentfocus
Ania Wadsworth, World Photography Organisation Student Focus Award Manager, comments: "One of the key aims of the World Photography Organisation is to discover and support emerging photography talent, and the Student Focus programme is vital to achieve this. We are delighted with the ten chosen finalists and the strength of their images shone through to the judges. The education of photography is equally important to us and the white paper is a significant step forward to ensure the future of photography education is addressed and acted upon."