“Xposure 2022” Announces Shortlist of 5 Nominees for $15,000 “Independent Freelance Photojournalist Award”

The nominated entries spotlight the stark reality of urgent international humanitarian issues

Sharjah, 07  February  2022

The Xposure International Photography Festival has announced the names of five nominees who have been shortlisted for its annual Independent Freelance Photojournalist Awards (IFPA), held under three categories - Spot News, Environment, and Solutions. The overall winner and runner-up of the USD $15,000 Award will be announced on Thursday, February 10, at Expo Centre Sharjah.  

The 2021-2022 edition of the Independent Freelance Photojournalist Awards attracted a total of 1,265 pictures with 133 submissions from 51 countries.  Topping the list for highest number of entries are Spain, France, and the UK, followed by Syria, Turkey, India, Bangladesh, and the UAE.

The Independent Freelance Photojournalist Award was established by His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of Sharjah Media Council, to recognise and reward independent and freelance photojournalists whose images support news stories and bring awareness to urgent issues of impact from around the world.

A cash prize of USD $15,000 will be awarded to the top winner while the runner up will have a dedicated gallery space to display their work at Xposure 2022.

Five Nominees 

The shortlisted nominees include Cletus Nelson Nwadike, whose entry ‘Life and Labour in Nigeria 2’ under the category, Solutions, was completed over a period of six years and documents the life of young boys and men in Nigeria who depend on manual work for their survival.

‘Gangborder’ by Javier Arcenillas has been shortlisted under the Spot News category and is a haunting and empathetic portrayal of the lives of individuals interned at El Salvadorian prisons where they are undergoing a government reintegration programme called ‘Yo Cambio’ (I Change).

Under the same category, Darrin Zammit Lupi has been shortlisted for his series of images titled, ‘Rescue in the Mediterranean’, which depicts six dramatic rescue operations carried out over a period of three weeks by a German NGO migrant rescue ship, Sea-Watch 3, in the central Mediterranean in July/August 2021.  

Ivan Abreu whose ‘Hong Kong, Times of Dissent’, also shortlisted in the Spot News category, is a collection of photographs taken during 2019-2020 and features mass demonstrations and protest rallies that marked a turning point in Hong Kong’s history.  

Mustafa Bilge Satkın has been shortlisted for his project ‘Drowned History’ under the Environment category, which tells the story of people forced to abandon their ancestral city, Hasankeyf, located along the Tigris River in Batman Province, Turkey, where the construction of the Ilısu Dam, completed in 2021, caused the city to be completely flooded.  
Kira Pollack, Lars Boering, Aidan Sullivan, Ray Wells, and Muhammed Muheisen are among the prominent members of the jury of the 2021-2022 edition of IFPA.