EU Announces Winners of Its 13th Annual Photography Competition

NaDa Mustafa

In a ceremony hosted on Sunday at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), the European Union (EU) in Egypt announced the winners of its 13th annual photography competition.

The competition was held in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Ministry of Environment and the State Ministry of Information.

This year’s theme “A Journey to Egypt’s Past and Future” aimed to portray the beauty of Egypt’s historical monuments, the modern outstanding projects and/or the connection between Egypt’s civilization and modern sustainable development projects implemented in various fields.

The EU Ambassador to Egypt, Christian Berger, together with the Minister of Environment, Dr. Yasmine Fouad, the Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities and Executive Chairman of the Authority of NMEC, Dr. Ahmed Ghoneim, the Assistant State Minister of Information, Hossam Mohsen, the Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Ambassador Badr Abdelatty, and the Head of Coordination Secretariat of the National Office for the Implementation of the Egypt-EU Association Agreement, Ambassador Raouf Saad, honoured this year's winners and inaugurated an exhibition of the best 30 photos.

The competition keeps growing each year, and 642 photographers submitted more than 1600 photos in this year's edition.

The three winners Fadel Abouzid Fadl Ahmed, Mona Hassan and Mohamed Kamal Mohamed Abdel Rahman received their preference for photography equipment.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities offered a four-day trip to Hurghada to Mustafa Bashar Al Shorbagy and Omar Jihad Elsayed as a special award who highlighted through their photos the beauty and authenticity of the tourist attractions and archaeological monuments in Egypt. The Ministry of Environment, represented by EcoEgypt Experiences, extended a special award to Mohamed Hakem Hussein El Sayed for his photo in the Blue Hole in Dahab.

The award is a two-day trip to the Nabq nature reserve in South Sinai. Additionally, the State Ministry of Information gave Maro Tharwat Naguib and Hassan Mohamed Hassan trophies for their photos that promote Egypt's Vision 2030 by highlighting the country’s achievements in various fields of sustainable development. The photographers whose work is exhibited received certificates of appreciation.

The independent judges for the 13th edition of the competition are Ashraf Talaat, Hossam Diab and Ahmed Hayman.

Ashraf Talaat is a fellow of The Royal Photographic Society (FRPS). He works as a professional photographer for National Geographic magazine. His work has been exhibited in many countries. He won several awards, among them the photographer of the year at Venice International Photo Contest 2005.

Hossam Diab is an Egyptian photojournalist who started his career in 1977 at Al-Ahram Newspaper then joined Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper. In 2016, he became the Photo Editor in Chief at the ONA Media Group. Throughout the years, Diab has trained hundreds of photographers in various forms of photography.

Ahmed Hayman has been a photojournalist for 8 years at Al-Masry Al-Youm Newspaper. In 2018, he published his first photography book "The Dream is still alive" about Syrian refugees and their dreams. Ahmed also founded Beit El Sura Photography School and Beit el Sura Studio in Cairo. He travelled to 30 countries around the world to document, live and share his experiences.