Culture & Education | Wednesday 31 October, 2018 12:00 pm |

National Geographic Abu Dhabi, in partnership with Abu Dhabi Media and Al Marai, today announced the short-listed photographs for the 8th edition of its celebrated “Moments” photography competition, one of the largest photography competitions in the region, established to nurture the talent of aspiring photographers from around the Arab world.  

‘Moments’ is held in partnership with Almarai, who has been a strategic supporter of this platform for the last 5 years as part of their CSR program and shared vision of nurturing youth talent from the Middle East.

64 aspiring photographs have been shortlisted for this year’s edition by the competition judging panel, Tasneem Sultan, an award-winning Saudi photographer, who is a professional National Geographic photographer and Mr. Hussam R. Abdulqader, CMO.

The 2018 competition received a record 40,000 entries from Algeria all the way to Saudi Arabia. There was a marked increase of entries from the GCC this year, with several short-listed photographs from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The competition’s final winner will be announced next month.  

Abdulrahman Awadh Al Harthi, Acting Executive Director of Television & Executive Director of Abu Dhabi Radio Network at Abu Dhabi Media, said: “The ‘Moments’ Photography competition has become a unique platform for young artists to express their talent. The success of the competition is evident in the growing number of entries and quality of images. As Abu Dhabi Media, we are committed and proud to support this competition, reflecting our support for all segments of the society, especially youth, offering them platforms such as this one to express their creativity and ideas. The unique submissions this year will act as an inspiration to all who are interested in photography and encourage youth to develop a distinctive Arab artistic expression through photographs that bring to life stories and human messages from our local environments.”

Commenting on the short-listed entries, Mr. Hussam R. Abdulqader, CMO, Almarai, said, "Year on year, we are seeing photographs with increasingly powerful storytelling. Many of this year’s photographs are living portraits of the stories of the region, historical, cultural and social stories, but above all human stories. I believe many rival internationally renowned photographs. Making a decision on the winning photograph will be very difficult, as there is a lot of talent that deserves to win.”

Sanjay Raina, General Manager and Senior Vice-President of Fox Networks Groups (FNG), said, " At National Geographic Abu Dhabi, our mission is not only to share across our platforms stories of exploration, adventure, travel and life through the lens of our photographers and cinematographers, but we want to encourage everyone to go out and be the explorers, the adventurers and the travelers who uncover these moments and bring their stories to the region and to the world. That’s what ‘Moments’ is all about. And we are here to discover these budding photographers and encourage them to pursue their Art, through giving them access to some the best mentors in the field, our National Geographic photographers.”

This year’s short-listed entries were praised by the judges for their stunning photography and visual storytelling as well as their original representation of this year’s competition theme, Stories of People of the Arab World.

The 8th edition of ‘Moments’, in partnership with Abu Dhabi Media and Al Marai, witnessed a doubling of the number of entries from 2017, a testament both to the demand for such a platform and the passion for photography that is shared across the Arab world.  This year’s entries reflect the diversity of people’s stories, captured through the lens of budding photographers, who captured them in their daily lives, their work, their family time and their traditions.

The Grand Prize winner of this year’s ‘Moments’ competition will be announced at an unveiling event in Dubai in November. He/she will receive a 10-day all-expense-paid National Geographic photography Expedition Trip to Italy courtesy of Almarai, photography equipment and complimentary travel to the Moments Awards Ceremony in Dubai.