Five first prizes for DMJX students and 2021-graduates at the Danish POY

The award ceremony for the Danish POY 2021 was held Friday the 4th of March at the National Library in Copenhagen. 11 DMJX students and 2021-graduates were nominated at the competition – five projects won first prizes and five projects received second prizes.

Long Term Project
First prize to Mikkel Hørlyck

Mikkel Hørlyck won first prize in the category Long Term Project of the Year for his story “Jørgen, a Mystery”. Mikkel began the story for a portrait assignment during his second term at DMJX. Mikkel graduated his BA in the spring 2021. Photo: Lars Horn / Baghuset.

Jørgen Pedersen (56) refers to his own life as a “heavenly hell”. On heroin, you’re in heaven, without it in hell. He has played his part on the drug scene of Aarhus since he moved there as a teenager and was first intrigued by the rush of heroin. 
“As a photographer, I wouldn’t doubt a second saying, that I had the honor of photographing a legend. Jørgen? He cheated death. Many times. But he didn’t do it alone. Doctors, nurses and guardians were a great help through the years. They saved him – again and again,” Mikkel writes in his intro text for the story about Jørgen.
First image of the selection of 15 images for which Mikkel Hørlyck won Long Term Project of the Year 2021.

Long Video/TV Story
First prize to Christian Falck Wolff and Rune Øe

Christian Falck Wolff (left) and Rune Øe on the stage after receiving the first prize in the category Long Video/TV Story of the Year for their story “A Good Day Never Comes Back Bad” made during their third term in the fall 2021. The two students won before their teacher Andreas Haubjerg, who received second prize in the same category.
Photo: Lars Horn / Baghuset

“A Good Day Never Comes Back Bad” is a video documentary about Laurits (13 years), his mother Kristine and her boyfriend Thomas. Laurits is born with a rare chromosomal abnormality. In 2019, Kristine was diagnosed with terminal cancer and Thomas decides that he will adopt Laurits, so Kristine can die with the knowledge that there will be taken good care of Laurits. Screenshot from the documentary.

Short Video/TV Story
First prize to Anders Holst Pedersen and Kim Frost
Second place to Maria Albrechtsen Mortensen

Anders Holst Pedersen (left) and Kim Frost on their way to the stage to receive the first prize in the category Short Video/TV Story of the Year. The two DMJX-students won the prize for their short documentary “Svane Music Radio”, which they made during their third term in the fall 2021. Photo: Lars Horn / Baghuset.

“Svane Music Radio” is a video documentary about the transexual Michelle Rajter (58) who runs her own small radio channel from the pub “Bodegaen”.
Photo of Michelle from the movie.

Screenshot from Maria Albrechtsen Mortensen’s short documentary “Dance Fever” for which she received a second prize at the Danish POY 2021.
Maria graduated in the spring 2021 and even before her graduation, she began a job as staff videographer at The Royal Theater in Copenhagen, Denmark. The production is made as part of her job at the theater.

Danish Reportage
First prize to Oscar Scott Carl

Picture from Oscar Scott Carl’s winning project “The Boys from Fjeldvej”. Oscar, who was not present at the award ceremony, won first prize in the category “Danish Reportage of Year”. Oscar first photographed the boys from the institution in Nuuk, Greenland during his third term at DMJX in fall 2018 and he went back to make this new project straight after his graduation in the spring 2021. Photo: Oscar Scott Carl.

Foreign Reportage
First prize to Oscar Scott Carl

Picture from Oscar Scott Carl’s winning project “Scott’s House” which he made shortly after he graduated his BA at DMJX in spring 2021. Photo: Oscar Scott Carl.

Open Category
Second place to Jens Hartmann Smith

Picture from Jens Hartmann Smith’s project “Free Us From the State” for which he received a second prize in the Open Category. The pictures are part of his final BA-project made in the spring 2021. Photo: Jens Hartmann Smith.

Portrait Series
Second place to Magnus Hove Johansson

Picture from Magnus Hove Johansson’s portrait series about Gitte von G, who sells porn on the platform Onlyfans. Magnus is currently interning at Information, where he has made the story. Photo: Magnus Hove Johansson.

News Picture
Second place to Jesper Houborg

Picture from Jesper Houborg’s story “The Flood that surprised Germany”. Jesper made the story during his internship at Politiken. Jesper is currently working on his BA-project.
Photo: Jesper Houborg.

Visuel Webproduction
Second place to Marius Renner Christensen

Picture from Marius Renner Christensen’s webproduction “Painful Beauty”, which he made during his internship at Politiken. Marius graduated his BA in January 2022.
Photo: Marius Renner Christensen.

The Danish Picture of the Year 2021 exhibition consists of both all the winning pictures/videos and a selection of additional images/videos – also chosen by the jury.

Many DMJX students have images and projects selected to be a part of the exhibition: Stine Schjøtler, Rune Øe, Marius Renner Christensen, Nina Pilgaard, Valdemar Stroe Ren, Louise Herrche Serup and Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker.

The picture of the Year 2021 exhibition can be seen at the National Library until the 30th of April. The exhibition will tour around Denmark throughout 2022. The exhibition tour can be seen here.

You can see all the winning images/video here.