3 Filipinos to vie for the ‘Oscars’ of photography in NY

“Navajo Nights” by Paul Resurrecion, first prize, IPA-Philippines.

Three Filipino photographers will go to New York this October to compete for the much coveted title of  “Photographer of the Year Award” in the culminating event of the 13th Annual Lucie Awards, as the result of the winners of its Philippine version.

The IPA-Philippines winners were announced on Monday, September 21. The Lucie Awards, labeled as the “Oscars” of photography, and IPA, twin organizations honoring the masters of photography and winners of the annual International Photography Awards from all over the world, recently launched their Philippine counterpart to search for Filipino talents and promote the visual culture of the Pilipino people in world stage.

In the sea of entries, this year’s major awardees, Paul Resurreccion, Photographer of the Year, received $1,000 cash prize; Allan Qua Borebor, Best New Talent, $500 cash prize; and Karlos Manlupig, $500 for Deeper Perspective.

All Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honorable Mention winners can print their certificate online. All winners will have a chance to be selected by a curator to be part of the Best of Show exhibition later this year.

“This is the biggest surprise of my life. I am in shock! Never I dreamed to represent the Philippines in New York to vie for the biggest international photography awards in the world,” said Paul Resurreccion, grand winner of IPA-Philippines. Resurreccion is a lawyer by profession and a member of the Camera Club of the Philippines.

The International Photography Awards conducts an annual competition for professional, non-professional and student photographers on a global scale, creating one of the most ambitious and comprehensive competitions in the photography world today. The mission is to salute the achievements of the world’s finest photographers, to discover new and emerging talent and to promote the appreciation of photography.

Guia Hasegawa Tolentino, non-professional category, won silver and bronze.

The winners of the main categories will compete for IPA’s top award of International Photographer of the Year. Those finalists will be invited to attend The Lucie Awards, where one photographer will be announced as the grand winner, earning the coveted Lucie statue and a cash prize of $10,000 provided by AtEdge.

In addition, the nominees in the non-professional and student categories will be invited to The Lucie Awards to compete for the title of the Discovery of the Year, a Lucie statue and $5,000 cash prize.

Six nominees comprised of all levels of profession, will be invited to The Lucie Awards for the title of Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year, where the story behind the images are dually judged, and to compete for the coveted Lucie statue and a cash prize of $5,000. In addition, six Moving Images finalists will be named, and one will receive a Lucie statue and $2,500.

“In a very successful first year, we received many highly qualified entries from all around the Philippines. I am overwhelmed by the photographic talent especially the younger generations of photographers, ” said Hossein Farmani, the founder of Lucie Awards and IPA-Philippines. Farmani visited the Philippines several times and had met with different photo clubs and organizations promoting the competition.

In just a short notice, IPA-Philippines received 27,000 entries worldwide as any Filipino can join, even those who do not reside in the Philippines. This year’s three contenders are said to be pioneering as they are the first Filipinos to ever compete in the ceremony.

According to Ruston Banal, collaborator of IPA-Philippines, the announcement of the winning entries sparked interest in photographic community in the Philippines.

“I have been receiving feedback and comments about the competitions especially that the result spread like wildfire, gaining curiosity about what the contest is all about. What made them look at it are the list of Jury comprising the award where each of them came from the best in the industry like TIME magazine, National Geographic, Museum of Modern Art and some are even top photography critics from Ivy League Schools in the US,” Banal said.

The International Photography Awards (IPA) has a regular Jury Panel that reviews each submission based on the following criteria: originality, creativity, excellence of execution, and overall impact. The identity of participating photographer is not revealed during the voting process to ensure fairness and integrity of the competition. To see the list of jury, viewers can go to this link: https://www.photoawards.ph/jury/

Even the masters of Philippine photography joined this year’s launching, including fine art photographer Bien Bautista, highly revered landscape photographer Edwin Martinez, consistent international photo contest winner Manny Fautag and a 17-year-old rookie photographer from Pampanga, freshman student Gia Hasegawa Tolentino who won the two Jury awards on her series about the Sama D’ Laut people in Central Luzon.

“I am hoping that a Pilipino photographer will win in Lucie’s this year. The Filipinos are one of the most talented people in the world, ” Cat Jimenez, co founder of Lucie Awards stated.

Winner of the IPA-Philippines can be viewed on the following site:
https://photoawards.ph/winners/

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