Abbie Trayler-Smith, Souvid Datta and Lee Price have been named winners of the 2013 IdeasTap and Magnum Photos Photographic Award.
Each photographer wins £5000; in addition, Datta and Price will receive paid placements with Magnum Photos in London or New York.
Panos Pictures member Trayler-Smith won the 31+ age category with The Big O, a long-term personal project that looks at childhood obesity; Mumbai-born Datta won the 16 to 22 category with his series that looks at the human cost of pollution in China; and Manchester photographer Price was named winner of the 23 to 30 category for his series, Against the Order of Nature, which explores LGBT communities in Uganda.
The announcement was made last night at the Truman Brewery, off Brick Lane in east London, where an exhibition of work by all nine shortlisted photographers is on show until 25 May.
[bjp_ad_slot]The award, now in its fifth year, aims to identify, showcase and celebrate emerging documentary photographers, and to help them “take their careers to the next level”.
Self Publish, Be Happy founder Bruno Ceschel, who was one of the judges, said: “We were looking for projects we felt were heading in an interesting direction and would benefit from further funding.”
Magnum photographer Olivia Arthur, Nowness creative content director Anne Bourgeois-Vignon and Magnum cultural and education manager Fiona Rogers were also on the judging panel.
Nine photographers, selected from a shortlist of 18, were each given £1500 to pursue a personal project, and received mentoring from Magnum photographers and other industry experts along the way. They also produced a Magnum in Motion multimedia essay alongside a series of five images.
Marco Kesseler, who won the 16 to 22 age category in 2012, said: “Winning the award gave me a huge confidence boost and focus. I’d just graduated from university and was looking for a job, so it was reassuring to have this backing.”
The 2014 competition is now open for entries. Photographers can enter three categories, which this year are UK-based photographers aged 16 to 25, or 26+, and international photographers aged 16+.
The deadline for entries is 17 July 2014.
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