The 2023 Photo and Video Competition has come to an end. We would like to congratulate the winners, the finalists and everyone who did not make it past the first round. Thank you all for taking part.
Your photographs offer us a unique perspective of the world and of the people who inhabit it.
Although many of the photographs entered could have won prizes, Tino Soriano, this year’s judge, has delivered his verdict.
Winners of photography contest 2023
1st Prize >> Almolonga Market in Guatemala. Photo: Rafael Bonnin
I liked the Guatemala market photograph because organising chaos in such situations is genuinely difficult. Everything worked against the photographer – crowds, a bright background, many figures – yet everything is in order. Each person has a distinct expression, and the figures do not overlap. Details throughout invite you to explore the image. It conveys what English speakers call a “sense of life”, a feeling of everyday existence. A difficult photograph, skilfully achieved.
2nd prize >> Periscope in Brazil. Author Asunción Torrent
The turtle image conveys two things at once: satisfaction, with its mouth seeming to smile, and suffocation, as waters are full of plastics, nets and hooks that affect these animals. It can therefore also be read as an image of survival. These are subjective impressions, but the composition, focus, texture and timing are also beautifully achieved. A photograph that speaks about the environment.
3rd Prize >> Butcher in Sudan. Photographer: Jordi Font
This is no simple portrait of a butcher. There is a clear rapport between subject and photographer, visible in his gaze and hands. One hand holds his working knife towards the viewer. I also like the colour contrast: the meat complements the green tones on the right and lower parts of the composition. The light highlights his facial wrinkles and the texture of the meat. A photograph that conveys the human spirit.
Video competition winner
1st Prize >> Egypt. Photo: Elisabet Mabres
Tuareg’s Favorite
Our jury Tino Soriano
Tino Soriano’s work is fundamentally humanist. He has received several UNESCO awards and Mexico’s prestigious Lente de Plata. His honours include five Fotopress awards, Fujifilm Spanish Photographer of the Year, NikonPro, Canon-Europe, “The Essence of Humanity” and a World Press Photo award in the Art category. In 2023, the Col·legi de Periodistes de Girona awarded him the Carles Rahola Communication Prize for “Los Invisibles, 40 años de miradas”.
In 2018, the Government of Catalonia awarded him the National Communication Award in the press category. The previous year, he received the Piedad Isla National Prize for three decades of professional and teaching work. The Spanish Geographical Society also awarded him its 2015 Image Award for his career as a photographer and traveller.
He has written and illustrated numerous books on photojournalism and photography. His latest works include “Los Secretos de la Fotografía de Viajes”, “Ayúdame a mirar”, “Fotografía con una sonrisa”, “Banyole Speculum”, “CurArte”, “Los colores y tú” and “Instituto Mental 1980”. “Ayúdame a mirar” won the 2020 National Award for Best Photography Book from the Spanish Confederation of Photography, for which he is currently an ambassador.
He has collaborated with magazines from all over the world in his more than three decades working as a reporter, especially VIAJAR, El País Semanal and National Geographic, among many others. His work is exhibited on www.tinosoriano.com and on different social networks, especially Instagram.