Fujairah Crown Prince honors FPA winners

May 26, 2013

Under the patronage and presence of H.H. Sheikh Mohammad bin Hamad Al Sharqi, the Crown Prince of Fujairah, the Fujairah Culture and Media Authority (FCMA) held last night Sunday May 26th, 2013 at the Fujairah Concord Hotel the awards ceremony of the Fujairah Photography Award (FPA) in both its local and Arab versions. The ceremony was attended by H.E. Mohammad Saeed Al Dhanhani, Director of Fujairah Emiri Court and Vice Chairman of FCMA, Mr. Adeeb Shabaan, President of the Arab Union of Photographers and Eng. Mohamed Saif Al Afkham, board member of FCMA.
The ceremony began with a screening of a short documentary about the award and its patron H.H.Sheikh Rashid bin Hamad Al Sharqi, followed by FCMA speech in which Al Dhanhani gave a brief about the award and the support it receives from His Highness the Ruler of Fujairah. Al Dhanhani also thanked H.H. the Crown Prince of Fujairah for his sponsorship and presence in the ceremony. He added that since the launch of the award in 2007, eligibility for the contest has been restricted the UAE-based photographers, however this year it has been expanded to include participants from all over the Arab World. His Excellency also mentioned that a special logo and website were created with the launch of the 4th edition of FPA.
Nadera Al Badri, Competitions and Exhibitions Officer at the Arab Union of Photographers said: "The Jury reviewed and evaluated entries electronically and confidentially through the renowned website DPClick.com. The total number of entries was 674 and after sorting them only 237 were qualified to phase 2 of the evaluation procedure. Each jury member evaluated the qualified entries independently based on his/her own judgment and assigned grades to each entry. After the grading phase was completed, the website automatically calculated all the grades and produced the average scores.

Jury Recommendations:
FPA's local competition Jury President Jassim Al Awadhi read the jury's recommendations which included recommendations for participants to submit professional entries of high quality and ensure that their entries conform to the award's conditions before submitting them. The recommendations to the organizers included paying more attention to the mountains theme in next editions of the award and allocating separate prizes for this theme. The jury also recommended studying the possibility of making the award international and the publication of an annual book dedicated to the award's participants where their photos can be published with a critical intake from photo experts.

Winners:
The patron of the ceremony His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Hamad Al Sharqi honored the jury with certificates and commemorative shields and distributed awards on the winners. The winners of the Arab competition were: Fahad Abdulla (1st Prize), Abdul Rasoul Al Jabri (2nd Prize) and Yousif Sibaa (3rd Prize). The winners of the local competition were: Karim Sahib (1st Prize), Saeed Abdulla Jumouh (2nd Prize) and Donell Gumiran (3rd Prize). The Grand Prize was won by photographer Mario B. Cardenas, and the Discretionary Prize was awarded to Sulaiman Ahmed Al Hammadi.
After the ceremony, H.H. the Fujairah Crown Prince inaugurated the photography exhibition showcasing some of the most remarkable entries of FPA.