Announcing the winner of the 10th edition of Moments 2020 Photography Competition
National Geographic Abu Dhabi and Almarai have announced the winning photo of the 10th edition of the “Moments” photography contest. The event was conducted virtually in the presence of Mr. Muhammad Muhaisen, the jury member, National Geographic photographer, and two-times Pulitzer prize winner and Mr. Abdullah Nasser Al-Otaibi, Head of Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Almarai.
The 1st place winner is Salem Sarhan (27 years old) from the United Arab Emirates. His picture shows his family members performing the Islamic prayer at home when the mosques were closed due to the pandemic; their prayer started after hearing the muezzin calling: “Pray in your homes” which inspired him to take this photo. Salem received the grand prize: photography equipment worth 10 thousand US dollars. Furthermore, his photograph will be published in the Arab National Geographic magazine.
The 2nd place went to Ahmed Al-Azzam (29 years old) from Jordan. His photo depicts the Jordanian calligrapher Muhammad Hindi who has been practicing this profession since the 1950s, working completely alone and enjoying his profession after the closure of his workshop due to the pandemic.
In the 3rd place, Samar Abu Al-Auf (36 years old) from Palestine took a picture of the barber Sameh cutting the hair of relatives and neighbors in the middle of the street with full commitment to the precautionary measures.
“During our eight years of the fruitful partnership with National Geographic Abu Dhabi, we were able together to build an Arabic platform for talented people in the photography field. With National Geographic’s broad experiences in this field, we in Almarai have achieved our corporate citizenship philosophy, which focuses on empowering the talented.”, said Abdullah Al-Otaibi, Head of Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Almarai.
And he added: “By Moments competition and the initiative of Almarai Supporting Arab Talents, we were able to provide the opportunity for tens of thousands of photographers and talented Arabs to unleash their abilities and express their artistic skills. Indeed, within a few years, this platform was able, with an authentic Arab perspective, to document many aspects of the Arabic culture by using photography as one of the most important tools for documenting and monitoring human life across all times.”
This year’s edition of “Moments” competition was launched under the title “Moments 2020, a year we lived differently” to document the exceptional circumstances and events witnessed by 2020. To provide the opportunity for photographers to tell their stories and document this period with their lenses, as each photo told a unique realistic story in the Arab world.
The competition is held in cooperation with Almarai, the largest food, beverage production, and distribution company in the Middle East and the largest integrated dairy company globally that has been a strategic supporter over the past eight years. This came as part of Almarai’s vision to support and encourage Arab talents. This competition has provided an opportunity for thousands of participants to showcase their photographic potential and discover their talents.
