The second Hamdan International Photography Award (HIPA) The Spectacular Grand Event “Beauty of Light”

From the HIPA Grand Event "Beauty of Light" / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

The Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) is an internationally renowned photography competition. It was launched in 2011 by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai. The award enjoys a social and legal stature as a tool for promoting Dubai’s vision of artistic and cultural excellence. Having attracted some of the world’s most talented photographers to take part in its debut season, the award is set to build on the wealth of competitors taking part with an increased grand prize of US $120,000. This increase gives the award the esteemed position of having the biggest prize money of any photography competition anywhere in the world. On a local level, the award hopes to develop and increase awareness of the art of photography amongst the young Emirati population.

His Excellency Ali bin Thalith, the Secretary General of HIPA, cited that "HIPA received some fantastic submission which have ‘lit up’ the award" and explained that 19,000 photographers with 26,000 photographs from 121 different countries have been submitted for the competition.

His Excellency Ali bin Thalith, the Secretary General of HIPA / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

His Excellency added that “The judges in this season’s award were well aware of the difficulty they would face in finding the best photograph in the “Beauty of Light” category, because of the high standard of photographs submitted this season.”

“HIPA took part in various international events last season notably Photokina in Germany, KLPF in Malaysia and Salon de la photo in France”, said Sahar Al Zarei, the Assistant Secretary General of HIPA, and also added that “HIPA’s ambitions in the field of photography are endless and will not stop with our Grand Event this year. We hope all the competitors in our award will help us propel photography as a reputed art form in the coming years and beyond”.

The Grand Award in the “Beauty of Light” category was awarded to the Emirati photographer Osama Al Zubaidi. The awarded photographs as well as some of the finalist photographs will be promoted in the coming weeks in various galleries around Dubai.

The Grand Prize - Osama Al Zubaidi from UAE / Courtesy of HIPA

The esteemed judges from left to right: Riccardo Busi, Barrie Wilkins, Romain Nero, Caroline Metcalfe / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

The photos from the HIPA Grand Event "Beauty of Light"

From the HIPA Grand Event "Beauty of Light" / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Special Awards - Photography Appreciation Award

The announcement of the Special Awards / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Special Awards - Photography Appreciation Award awarded to Reza Deghati / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Special Awards - Photography Appreciation Award awarded to Waleed Kadora / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Special Awards - Photography Appreciation Award awarded to Georges Lenzi / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Special Award awarded to Commander in Chief of Dubai Police, HE Liuetenant General, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Emirates

1st Prize at the 'Emirates' category awarded to Helmut Wachtartzyk / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

2nd Prize at the 'Emirates' category awarded to Michael Zoghzoghi / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

3rd Prize at the 'Emirates' category awarded to Adeeb Alani / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Black and White

1st Prize at the 'Black and White' category awarded to Kwok Hung Chan / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

2nd Prize at the 'Black and White' category awarded to Edwin Djuanda / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

3rd Prize at the 'Black and White' category awarded to DuyHoang Le / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

General - Emiratis

1st Prize at the 'General - Emiratis' category awarded to Abdul Rab Sawad / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

2nd Prize at the 'General - Emiratis' category awarded to Mansoor Almannaee / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

3rd Prize at the 'General - Emiratis' category awarded to Mohamed Alsuwaidi / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

General - International

1st Prize at the 'General - International' category awarded to Klaus Peter Selzer / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

2nd Prize at the 'General - International' category awarded to Boris Zulj / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

3rd Prize at the 'General - International' category awarded to Guangfei Li / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Beauty of Light - Emiratis

1st Prize at the 'Beauty of Light - Emiratis' category awarded to Abdulaziz bin Ali / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

2nd Prize at the 'Beauty of Light - Emiratis' category awarded to Omar Alzaabi / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

3rd Prize at the 'Beauty of Light - Emiratis' category awarded to Alaa Almutawa / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Beauty of Light - International

1st Prize at the 'Beauty of Light - International' category awarded to Jingsheng Nie / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

2nd Prize at the 'Beauty of Light - International' category awarded to Oscar Bjarnason / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

3rd Prize at the 'Beauty of Light - International' category awarded to Xiaoping Ling / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Grand Prize

The Grand Prize awarded to Osama Al Zubeidi / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Osama Al Zubeidi receiving the Grand Prize / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

The celebration / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

The celebration / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine

Joint photo of the winners, HE Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, HE Ali bin Thalith and Guests / Photo by Islamic Arts Magazine