The nominees for The ECCA-DMJX Photojournalism Award are…….

From 16 very strong applications, the jury has selected four nominees for The ECCA-DMJX Photojournalism Award:

Stranger Tourist
by Fares Zaitoon

Momo has been an addict for more than 12 years now, currently using crystal meth, he doesn’t leave his black-walled room and his worn-out mattress. The burnt fabrics in the details of his room manifests his failed attempts to stop addiction and do music instead.
Photo by Fares Zaitoon from the project “Stranger Tourist”.

Panoramics of Disaster
by Manuel Seoane

Dron image of Rufino Choque’s son, José, sailing over the Poopó surviving river, trying to lay a fishing net. Rufino Choque’s quote: “Some of us keep on fighting to survive, to restore our ways of living, but others only think of themselves, selfishly, they want to earn money no matter how. They wish to have cars, houses, a life of luxuries, but they forget their land and their origins. So they end up working for the mines, the biggest enemy of the lake.”
Photo: Manuel Seoane from the project “Panoramics of Disaster”.

You still don’t know my name
by Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker & Louise Herrche Serup

“In Lithuania I have a 14-year old daughter. Kids are not stupid. She sees that I have underwear and robes, so I can’t tell her that I work at a bar, and I bring so much money home that my family would never believe me. I bought two apartments in Lithuania, so how would they believe that I work at a restaurant? So I told them that I work with very rich men, that I sometimes have sex with. I don’t tell them that I have 10 customers a day”.
Photo: Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker & Louise Herrche Serup from the project “You still don’t know my name”.

No Man’s Land
by Mikkel Hørlyck

Big sister Atefeh Mohseni (10) comforts Nazanin Zainab Mohseni (3) . The sisters live in an abandoned house near the border city Bosanska Bojna with their father, Hassan Mohseni.
The mother and son used to be together with them, but the family split up in order to enhance their chances of crossing the border to Europe. The mother and son are now in a refugee camp in Croatia. “The only thing I want is to re.unite my family”, Hassan says. He and his daughters have tried 20 times to cross the border to Croatia.
Photo: Mikkel Hørlyck from the project “No Man’s Land”

The five-people jury received and read the 16 applications prior to their online meeting. Based on the applications, each jury member selected their top-five candidates to be nominated. This resulted in a selection of nine candidates that were thoroughly looked through and debated at the jury meeting. After almost two hours, the jury ended up with six candidates and then the selection process became difficult. Finally, after almost three hours, the four nominees and the final winner were agreed on.

The final recipient of the ECCA DMJX grant will be announced Monday the 29th of August at an award ceremony at DMJX, where representatives from the ECCA Family Foundation will be present.

The main prize is for 102,000 Danish kroner of which 50,000 must be used on the product itself, while 30,000 kroner may be used to finance, for example, a curator, editor, or mentor who can assist with undertaking communication. Finally, it will be possible to purchase photographic equipment for 35,000 kroner and to obtain a professional photo critique to a value of 2,000 kroner.

Simultaneous to the main award, three prizes will be awarded to the other nominees. The honourable mentions are each for 27,000 kroner – 15,000 kroner to support publication, 10,000 kroner to curating, and 2,000 kroner to a portfolio critique.

Screen shot from the online jury meeting.

The jury consisted of Deepti Asthana, from India, who is an alumnus of the international photojournalism programme, and the Armenian photographer, Anush Babajanyan. Additionally, Christian Algot Enevoldsen, Søren Pagter and Mads Greve, who is also a lecturer on the photojournalism programme, are also part of the selection process.