HIPA announces $120,000 grand prize winner

Antonio Aragon Renuncio was awarded the grand prize at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA), winning $120,000 at the ceremony, which took place at Dubai’s Burj Plaza last night. The Spanish photographer’s winning image, based on the season’s main theme of ‘Happiness’, depicts a group of impoverished Togolese children playing outside an NGO clinic.
This marks the fifth edition of a competition which, the organisers say, “was conceived to promote the art of photography by embracing all talents and creative minds in the field from around the world”.

© Antonio Aragon Renuncio
Grand Prize winner, Happiness © Antonio Aragon Renuncio
In addition to the Grand Prize, HIPA announced 22 more winners across its four categories – Happiness, Wildlife, Father & Son, and General – with five photographers winning prizes in each category and two Special Awards for photographers with a “long-standing commitment to enhancing the art of photography.” HIPA’s overall prize pool totals $400,000.
Hameed Husain Isa from Bahrain won first place in the Happiness category, winning $25,000 for his image of two old friends embracing; American Steven Winter won first prize in the Wildlife category for his long-exposure of a leopard and its prey resting up a tree against the night sky; Palestinian photographer Khaled Alsabbah took first place in the Father & Son category for his image of two fathers clutching their deceased children after a fire broke out in Gaza; and Francisco Negroni Rodriguez from Chile won first prize for his photograph of lightning striking simultaneously with the eruption of Calbuco Volcano. The latter three winners will receive $15,000.
First Place, Happiness © Hameed Husain Isa
1st Place, Happiness © Hameed Husain Isa
1st Place, Wildlife © Steven Winter
1st Place, Wildlife © Steven Winter
1st Place, Father & Son © Khaled Alsabbah
1st Place, Father & Son © Khaled Alsabbah
1st Place, General © Francisco Negroni Rodriguez
1st Place, General © Francisco Negroni Rodriguez