UCF Chosen to Compete in Student Focus
University College Falmouth press release
. Student competition to create unique exhibition highlighting global environmental issues
University College Falmouth is one of 13 institutions in Europe chosen to compete in Student Focus, the Sony World Photography Awards' institution programme. 60 institutions across six continents will be competing in the awards and University College Falmouth is one of the select few to have been chosen to take part in this prestigious international Awards programme.
The Sony World Photography Awards (WPA), now in its second year, has expanded its student initiative to create a truly global competition to find tomorrow's photography professionals. With the environment as the central theme of the Sony World Photography Awards 2009, the brief for the students is to create an image which highlights an environmental issue specific to their country.
Institutions will select 120 images, two from each institution, for the WPA. A shortlist of two students from one institution from each continent will then be selected by a prestigious judging panel from the photographic community including:
Tom Ang, Leading Digital Photography specialist
Ruth Eichhorn, Director of Photography GEO Magazine
Mary-Ellen Mark, Documentary Photographer
Adrian Evans, Director of Panos Pictures
Susan Welchman, Senior photo editor at National Geographic
The 13 institutions chosen in Europe are:
Belgium, La Cambre University
Czech Republic, Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, Usti nad Labem
Finland, University of Art and Design Helsinki
France, Ecole Nationale Superieure Louis Lumiere
Germany, Folkwang Hochschule
Ireland, Dublin Institute of Technology
NL, Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Norway, Oslo National Academy of the Arts
Slovakia, Academy of Arts, Bratislava
Spain, IEFC Barcelona
Sweden, University of Gothenburg
Switzerland, Centre d'enseignement professionnel de Vevey
UK, University College Falmouth
The 12 shortlisted students, along with their tutors, win an expenses-paid trip to Cannes in April 2009. As part of the Festival at The Sony World Photography Awards, finalists will conduct their final assignment from which an overall Institution winner will be decided. They will also participate in a series of lectures including 'Can Photography Make a Difference? with Tom Ang, a range of masterclasses, and portfolio sessions with leading industry experts.
The overall student winner will be announced, along with the winners of the professional and amateur categories, at the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony at the Palais des Festival on 16 April 2009. The Student Focus prize is over 45,000 Euros' worth of photography equipment for the winning institution, courtesy of the sponsor, Sony.
A highlight of the festival in Cannes will be a showcase of photographs selected from the student submissions from all of the 60 participating institutions. When presented together, the photographs are expected to create an international collective view of our planet as seen by a new generation of photographers.
Paul Inman, Director of the Media School at University College Falmouth, comments:
We are very excited about our invitation to become involved in the 2009 Sony World Photography Awards student programme as ambassadors for all that is great about photographic education in England.
Scott Gray, World Photography Awards founder, comments: 10 universities in Europe competed in the inaugural student initiative - this year it will be 60 institutions worldwide. We are delighted to be able to expand the programme and offer so many more students a platform, on which to nurture their passion for photography.