The judging of the still picture division at CPOY has ended and the winners in the final three cactegories has been selected.
DMJX-students Janus Engel, Betina Garcia and Ulrik Hasemann has won in two of the categories:
Silver, Portfolio – Janus Engel
Roxshana, a 23 year old mother of 4 young children, has been widowed by the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. Five months ago her husband went out to collect firewood, and was inexplicably struck by a stray bullet. After the death of her husband, she fled with her extended family, including her father in law, to Kabul, to seek the relative safety the capital offers. But with that safety comes slum-like living conditions. She and her children now live in half of a dirty shelter in the middle of one of Kabul’s informal settlements. “It’s so difficult here, we just have to take it day by day,” … “After my husband died, my dreams died with him.” Roxshana helps make ends meet by selling cheap plastic bangles, on a good day making up to US$2. This barely covers food for the family, let alone other essentials, like medical care. More than 1.000.000 people are currently internally displaced in Afghanistan.
Picture from Janus Engel’s winning portfolio.
Award of Excellence, Portfolio – Betina Garcia
He, She, It.
According to Alex it’s very hard to change sex, in particular the process of being in transition. In 2015 he came out to his family and friends as a lesbian because he liked girls, but at the same time he dressed very masculine. His mom had a hard time dealing with him being a lesbian why they haven’t talked since September, 2015 and she doesn’t know he know identify as a transgender guy. “I felt like an outsider as a lesbian. I was forced into this category and now I’m in a completely different category. I’m in a constant state of confusion,” he said.
Picture from Betina Garcia’s winning portfolio.
Award of Excellence, Portfolio – Ulrik Hasemann
Together again.
Yahia Alhomsi has fled the war in Syria. Now he lives on the Danish island Fyn. On the 17th of October 2015 he was again united with the love of his life, his wife Mai, and their daughter Eva at the arrival terminal in Copenhagen Airport. Last time he saw her she was one month old, today she can walk. “Life stopped a year and five days ago,” he says. “Today life begins again.” After a long times wait Yahia finally received family reunification. They kiss and cry and cannot let go of each other.
Picture from Ulrik Hasemann’s winning portfolio.
The Portfolio category is the main category, where the winner gets an internship at National Geographic. In this category the participants are judged on a large selection of pictures from various stories.
Award of Excellence, Documentary – Betina Garcia
The invasion from within.
Marcos Espinoza, 17, who is half Guatemalan and Mexican is born and raised in the U.S. He’s a son of illegal immigrants escaping local violence in Guatemala and Mexico. He represents a generation of Hispanics, the biggest and youngest minority group in the States currently counting 54 million people (2013).
Picture from Betina Garcia’s story The Invasion from within.
This concludes the judging of the still picture categories at the 71st CPOY competition and what a year for our DMJX-students:
DMJX-students have won prizes in 11 out of the 14 categories.
In all DMJX-students have won 23 prizes divided between 15 different students.
Congratulations to all the winners.
The CPOY continues in the following five days with the judging of the multimedia categories.