Victoria Ines Dobaño and Rodrigo Terren Toro win, for their university, €45,000 worth of digital SLR photographic equipment, provided by Sony. They were among the 12 students selected from a shortlist of six institutions across six continents to take part in the final stage of the competition.

Initially, 120 universities and colleges had been selected, including seven UK-based institutions - London College of Communication, Manchester Metropolitan University, Falmouth University, Central Saint Martins, Kirklees College, Edinburgh College of Art and University of Westminster. However, none of them made it to the final selection, which included Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography Stellenbosch in South Africa; Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, India; Griffith University in Queensland, Australia; Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland; SAIT Polytechnic in Alberta, Canada; and Escuela Argentina de Fotografía.

The 12 selected finalists were tasked with producing, over two weeks, a series of six photographs that explored the notion of “Power” within their local communities. Victoria Ines Dobaño and Rodrigo Terren Toro’s winning images, entitled Villa Epecuen, depict the overwhelming power of water. “Villa Epecuen in Argentina was a town that for many years drew tourists who believed that its saltwater lake had healing properties. It was a sacred place for the native people of Argentina,” say the photographers. “In 1985 Villa Epecuen was completely flooded when the lake overflowed its embankments, covering over half the town. The aftermath of the disaster reveals the powerful and devastating effects of water.”
 
“The choice of Power as the theme for this year’s Student Focus ignited an exceptional standard and variety of work,” says photography critic Sue Steward, one of this year’s Student Focus judges. “Maybe it’s the abstract quality of the word which prompted interestingly different responses from the six universities. The winning Argentine series followed-up the story of a tragic flood 25 years ago, a description of the power of nature. The photographers found beauty in the stark, abandoned and destroyed landscape, the chaos of fallen bricks and concrete, dark leafless trees, and partially demolished buildings - the crucial reminders of lives once lived there. The choice was difficult but ultimately this series possessed the greatest maturity and depth of them all.”

The judging panel also included Adrian Evans, director of Panos pictures agency; music photography Adrian Boot; Jonathon Torgovnik, a documentary photographer and co-founder of the NGO Foundation Rwanda; and artist Idris Khan.
 
With the 2010 Student Focus competition now coming to an end, the Sony World Photography Awards have now announced the judging panel for the 2011 Student Focus contest. The judges are: Eder Chiodetto, independent curator and professor based in São Paulo, Brazil; landscape photographer Simon Norfolk; Deborah Willis, artist and photographer based in New York; Roger Tooth, head of photography for The Guardian newspaper; and Shizuka Yokomizo, a London based photographer.
 
Visit www.worldphoto.org/student-focus.