CAIRO: The third annual national amateur photography competition held by the Delegation of the European Union to Egypt has finally chosen its winner: Ahmed Mostafa Abd El Atty. Abd El Atty, an accountant from Cairo, received a cash prize of €1,000 as well as his photo included in the EU Delegation's highly prestigious wall calendar for 2011. The first runner-up, Sameh Al Tawil, received a Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) digital camera in addition to being included in the 2011 wall calendar as well. Contestants Dina Mohamed Saleh and Roger Anis received a jury's special mention. Abd El Atty and Al Tawil will both have their work showcased at Cairo's Townhouse Gallery, along with Saleh, Anis and others, as part of the 30 best images chosen out of the 222 submitted. The exhibit will be on display starting January 30, 2011 until February 10. The 30 images will also be included in a special catalogue of the exhibition that will be published. The theme for the 2010 competition was “Celebrations.” All contestants were encouraged to express personal vision of what, where and how Egyptians celebrate throughout the country. “We chose this theme because we felt that Egypt has so much to offer culturally and to be able to capture those moments would be really special,” said Nabila Massrali, press officer for the EU Delegation. The competition was aimed at showcasing how celebrations play an important social role in the every day Egyptian life due to the country's culturally rich heritage. Contestants were asked to capture moments of life and occasions that should be celebrated or commemorated, such as birth, marriage, death, feasts, personal and professional achievements, feelings, traditions, history and sports. “We had a lot of images submitted of weddings, but also of iftar tables from Ramadan and kids. The winning photograph was of a little girl at the Korba festival,” said Massrali. According to the EU website, the object of the annual competition is “to promote and stimulate interest and creativity in photography among amateur photographers in Egypt, and to provide an opportunity for disseminating and exhibiting their work.” The winners were chosen by a panel of seven judges, including international painter Soad Mardam Bey and top set designer and art director Salah Marei. Prominent photographers Randa Shaath, Hisham Labib, Faouzi Massrali and Zein Khalifa were also part of the judging panel as well as Alejandro Ramillo, a representative from the EU Delegation. The panel judged the images based on originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact and artistic merit as well as the personal vision of the theme conveyed by the photographer. “It was very hard for the judges to choose the winners because the level of photographs submitted this year were surprisingly high and very impressive,” commented Massrali. The competition was open to all amateur photographers over 18 years old who are residents of Egypt and do not receive a majority part of their income from photography.
