Launch of the 3rd Edition of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography Award

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation launches on Wednesday 2 November 2022, the 3rd edition of its Environmental Photography Award, in partnership with Barclays Private Bank and SEK International University.

 

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Environmental Photography Award was launched in 2021, in honour of the Foundation’s 15th anniversary. The annual contest rewards photographers who put their creativity to good use, raising awareness on the importance of environmental protection.

Photographers will be invited to reflect on humanity’s relationship with nature, and the interrelation between human and planetary health.

Olivier Wenden, Vice-President and CEO of the Foundation says: “Building on the success of the first two editions, we wish to continue to develop the Environmental Photography Award and, through it, the reflection on our relationship with the world and with nature. We are pleased to note the growing interest expressed by the international photographers who are participating in ever greater numbers in the competition, but also the attention gained by a wide public through the exhibitions that we have been able to offer in the Principality but also in Italy, San Marino, Spain and the United States.”

 

Entries are open from 2 November to 15 January 2023 on the dedicated platform, Photocrowd. The contest is free to enter, and photographers can submit up to five photographs in each of the five categories of the competition:

• Polar Wonders
• Ocean Worlds
• Into the Forest
• Humanity versus Nature
• Change Makers: reasons for hope

 

Files can be uploaded to the Award’s webpage: www.photocrowd.com/fpa2.photoaward

 

The winning photographs will be presented in an exhibition in the Principality of Monaco, before touring internationally, as well as being published in the Environmental Photography Award 2023 catalogue.

Sergio Pitamitz, President of the Jury says: “Photography is a very powerful way to give a voice to endangered wildlife and environment. In the panorama of world photography there are countless photo competitions dedicated to nature, but few are those that are really committed to the real conservation of nature and the environment. The Environmental Photography Award competition, organized by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, is one of them.”

Judges

The prestigious panel of professional photographers will select the shortlisted and winning images for each category. From the category winners, they will then select the Environmental Photographer of the Year 2023. The public will also be able to vote for their favourite shortlisted photograph directly on the Award's page.

• Sergio Pitamitz, President of the Jury - conservation and wildlife photographer, National Geographic photographer for National Geographic Expeditions
• Javier Aznar - National Geographic contributor photographer focused on natural history and wildlife conservation 
• Esther Horvath - National Geographic contributor photographer, photographer for the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, focusing on documenting climate research in the polar regions
• Britta Jaschinski - photojournalist specialising in crimes against nature
• Alexa Keefe - Senior Photo Editor at National Geographic magazine
• Alex Mustard - underwater photographer and marine biologist
• Ami Vitale - National Geographic photographer, filmmaker, writer and speaker

 

Awards

The Grand Prize winner will be announced at the Awards Ceremony in Monaco. The winner will receive €5,000 grant and an invitation to visit the Amazon Research Station of the University of Ecuador, to do a photo documentary in the heart of the Ecuadorian jungle.

The winners in each of the five categories will each receive a prize of €1000.

The Public Award will be decided by an online public vote of all the shortlisted photographs. It will be accessible to all, for a period of 2 weeks starting on 3 April 2023. The Public winner will receive €500.

The Student’s Choice Award is new for 2023. The Principality of Monaco's high school students will be invited to participate in a dedicated online vote of the shortlisted images, after a presentation to them by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to raise awareness and discuss the major environmental issues facing us. The Student’s Choice will receive €500.

 

Touring Exhibitions

Every year, at the end of the competition, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation presents the Environmental Photography Award at an outdoor exhibition in the Principality of Monaco. In June and July 2023, the exhibition will be held on the Larvotto Promenade in Monaco.

Large-format prints of the shortlisted and winning photographs are displayed in the heart of the tourist centre, conveying to the public the environmental values dear to the Sovereign and the Principality, and raising awareness of the issues. The exhibition then travels internationally, contributing to the promotion of the Environmental Photography Award and the Foundation.

Following the 2021 tours to Rome and San Marino, the first exhibition of the Environmental Photography Award "Human - Wildlife" has been presented in Madrid, at the Buen Retiro Park, from 20 September to 23 October 2022. A selection of distinguished photographs from the 2021 edition will also be exhibited at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., from 26 October to 20 November 2022.

A programme of itineraries is already being put in place for 2023 and 2024, with the aim of continuing to raise public awareness on the need to preserve our planet.

 

 

 

 

Follow all updates on the Environmental Photography Award on Instagram: fpa2.photoaward