By Syma Sayyah, Tehran
“What is important is registering
the truth, my camera registers that truth” - Kaveh Golestan
The Second Annual Kaveh Golestan
Photo Journalism Award took place in the auditorium of the Artists Forum
(Khaneh Honarmandan) in Tehran on Saturday 5th November 2005
(14th Abaan 1384).
This award was initiated by his family and friends in memory of Kaveh
Golestan, the internationally recognized and accomplished photojournalist, who
was killed by a landmine in April 2003 while working with the BBC in northern
Iraq.
The founders have turned their pain
and sorrow into something enduring, respected and aimed at young photo
journalists, and for people and the world around as well as the society we live
in, which with no doubt Kaveh would have approved. Those of us who are involved in
this award can only hope that his spirit is pleased with what this award has
accomplished and will accomplish in years to come.
The judges were selected from
different fields in order to give a true and real life flavor to the award and
as last year they were completely independent, like the award
itself.
The Judges for 2005
were:
·
Ms Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, the
internationally renowned film
director (her films have a very strong social theme which are in the same line
as Kaveh’s work)
·
Mr Kamran Jibraeeli, the internationally known AP
photojournalist
·
Dr Yuness Shokerkhah, University
Professor, journalist, writer and editor. He teaches Journalism at Ammaeh University in Tehran as well as being an editorial member of
International E M Printer magazine
·
Ms Jihan Ammar, a
Cyprus based photojournalist, she is
the Deputy Photo Director of AFP Middle East and knew Kaveh and his work for
many years.
·
Mr Hassan Sarbakhshian, the winner
of the first Kaveh Golestan Award
This year’s photographs were only
accepted in digital form. Details
of the competition entry requirements were announced in many relevant sites,
magazines and national papers.
294 photographers took part in this year
competition. 208 had Tehran addresses; there
were 207 men and 87 women.
There were 927 entries for the single photograph category, and 2981
entries for the picture story category (each of which could have 7-10
pictures). This made a total
of 3908 entries, which were all seen by all the judges. One person, aged under 35 would be
selected as the best young talent by the judges from among all the entries. All the finalists’ works may be seen
at: http://www.golestanaward.com/gallery.php
Sponsorship and
Thanks
The sole sponsor for this year’s
award was Samsung Iran Office. The awarding committee is very
grateful to them for their support and cooperation and in particular Mr
Hashemnia, Mrs Arbabian and Mr Ghannadan from their PR
office.
The steering committee members would
also like to express their gratitude to the following for their cooperation
which made the award this year even more successful, our deep thanks go
to:
The Artists Forum, Mr Garib-Pour and Mrs
Sharaf-Jahan
Mrs Simin Ekramie, who designed the award
sculptures
Mr Salimie, who made the award sculptures
Nasher-e Digarr publishing,
Mr Aminie
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art,
and especially Mr Hosseinie-Rad and Mr Nammie
Mr Mohammad Hamzeh, chief graphic
designer and Ms Naghdeh Ghasemlou
Mr Niknejad, administrator and webmaster
Award Winners
The winners who will each receive a
sculpture and a check for 10 million Rials are:
Single Photo
Category
Mohssen Salehi - Fetus in sewage
http://www.golestanaward.com/gallery.php?action=photo&id=69
Picture Story
Category
This year the judges decided to make
two awards in this category.
Omid
Salehi - Life of
Sommayeh
http://www.golestanaward.com/gallery.php?action=thumb&id=10
Salmanzadeh - Murder in South Dibachie
Street -Tehran
http://www.golestanaward.com/gallery.php?action=thumb&id=8
Young Talent
Award
The award went to Mehdi
Ghassemie
http://www.golestanaward.com/gallery.php?action=photo&id=90
A further ten participants were each
awarded a certificate of merit and received a check for one million Rials from
the awarding committee for their excellent work. The youngest participant who is
14 years old received a check for half a million Rials as a special gift of
encouragement.
We strive to make the Kaveh Golestan
Award nationally influential and effective, as well as being internationally
recognized and admired.
Related sites:
www.golestanaward.com
www.akkasee.com/photo/
