photo competition winners announced
April 22, 2009 (Earth Day) -- The judges have made their choices for the 2009 Friends of the Earth International photo competition on the theme "Biodiversity Lost, Biodiversity Preserved."
More than 1,200 photos were received from 79 countries around the world, from amateur and professional photographers ranging in age from 11 to 73 years old.
The photos were organized into two categories – Biodiversity Lost, and biodiversity Preserved – and were judged both on technical merit and on relevance to the theme of the competition.
and THE WINNERS are...
Category "Biodiversity Lost"
- First place: Prakesh Hatvalne, India
- Second place: David Gilbert, USA
- Third place: Mohammed Golam Sarower, Bangladesh
- Fourth place: Jessie Boylan, Australia
- Fifth place: Alex Masi, Italy
- Sixth place: Prakesh Hatvalne, India
- Seventh place: Emu Emran, Bangladesh
- Eighth place: Francisco Morosini, Argentina
- Ninth place (tied): S P Mukherji, India
- Ninth place (tied): Hetal (Teeku) Patel, Kenya
- Tenth place: Abhijit Nandi, India
Category "Biodiversity Preserved"
- First place: Ashok Nath Dey, India
- Second place: Priscilla Pompa , Mexico
- Third place (tied): Pier Mario Zago, Italy
- Third place (tied): Sudipto Das, India
- Fourth place: Liliane Close, Netherlands
- Fifth place: Tano Pansino, Argentina
- Sixth place: Natalie Gontar, Ukraine
- Seventh place: Vladimir Icnihuatl Saavedra Martínez, Mexico
- Eighth place (tied): Kalyan Varma, India
- Eighth place (tied): Andy Bramberger , Canada
- Ninth place (tied): Ralph Rayner, UK
- Ninth place (tied): Catherine Early, UK
- Ninth place (tied): Jan Valkenburg, Portugal
- Tenth place (tied): Amit Kumar Dan, India
- Tenth place (tied): Dibyendu Dey Choudhury, India
A selection of the photos will be printed in our 2010 wall calendar, which will be available for order from this website in August.
The judges for the competition were:
- Bangladeshi photographer G.M.B. Akash, first-place winner of last year's photo competition and cover photographer of the 2007 calendar (www.gmb-akash.com).
- Peter Menzel, US photo journalist and author of "Hungry Planet: What The World Eats" (www.menzelphoto.com).
- Akintunde Akinleye, first-place winner World Press Photo 2007 in "Spot News" category, from Nigeria (www.akintunde1.com).
- Daniel Beltrá, Seattle-based Spanish environmental and nature photography specialist and winner of the 2007 World Press Photo prize for his work on soy plantations and Amazon deforestation (www.danielbeltra.com).
- Indian photographer Shantanu Das, first-place winner of the 2008 Friends of the Earth International photo competition.
- Isaac Rojas, Friends of the Earth Costa Rica
- Kokou Elorm Amegadzé and Ekue Assem, Friends of the Earth Togo
- Shamila Ariffin, Friends of the Earth Malaysia
- Danielle van Oijen, Friends of the Earth Netherlands
Friends of the Earth members from around the world also participated in the "popular choice" judging to choose the photos that fit best with their vision of a better future. Please visit the gallery of winners to see these choices!
