SA makes 2012 Sony World Photo Awards Student Focus shortlist

Nightclub Portrait Series (the dance)

©Nina Grindlay courtesy Sony World Photography Awards 2012

This year's student competition brief was based on the philosophy of the haiku poem. The photographers were asked to take on a role similar to that of a haiku poet and create and submit one image that depicts a 'fleeting moment', or 'the decisive moment'. This resulted in some of the most impressive and professional student images yet of a perfectly captured brief moment in time.

Student Focus has established itself as one of the world's most high-profile student photography awards and is open to universities worldwide that run a photography programme. The 2012 competition has attracted entries from over 200 institutions across six continents, having grown from ten European universities in 2007, its inaugural year.

A judging panel comprising WPO Academy members including Carl de Keyser (Belgium) photographer and co-founder & director of the XYZ Photography Gallery; Sarah Toplis (UK) commissioning editor for Young Tate and Virginia Morrison (US) executive director of the Society for Photographic Education selected the shortlist.

Shortlist

• Africa/Middle East
  • South Africa, Rhodes University, Nina Grindlay

• Europe

  • Russia, St Petersburg State University of Film and TV, Nikita Baranov
    
  • Denmark, Danish School of Media & Journalism, Nikolai Linares Larsen
    
  • Spain, Institut d'Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya (I.E.F.C), Montse Balañá Verges
    
  • UK, London College of Communication, Thamyres Matarozzi

  • UK, Middlesex University, Asef Mohammad

• Oceania
  • New Zealand, AUT University, Ivan Liang

• North America
  • USA, Rochester Institute of Technology, Jenny Magruder

• South America
  • Argentina, Escuela Motivarte, Abente Lila Maia

• Asia
  • China, The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Gong Zhe

Next stage

The brief for the next stage of the competition is 'Your world in colour'. This stage of the competition will be completed in the resident country of the ten finalists using the latest cameras from Sony. Using this brief, the 10 shortlisted photographers will be asked to create a series in colour that must evoke emotion through the choice of colour. They have a month prior to the awards in April to submit their images before they and their tutors fly to London to compete for the 2012 title.

The winner will be announced at the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony at London's Park Lane Hilton Hotel on 26 April 2012. All shortlisted photographers will also take part in World Photo, London at Somerset House, London. Students will receive lectures, talks and masterclasses led by industry figureheads and Academy members and their images will be exhibited as part of World Photo, London. The overall winner will be awarded approximately 45,000 Euros worth of Sony digital imaging equipment for their institution.

Judges' comments

Virginia Morrison, judge, comments, "It can be the slightest angle shift, or a huge, startling difference in approach, but it is no easy feat to make a photograph that is distinctive in today's onslaught of images. The finalists that I had the pleasure of reviewing succeeded in making their fleeting moments stand out in a crowd with such an array of interpretations of the theme. The diversity of moments, so to speak and the range of sensibilities struck me. "

Ania Wadsworth, World Photography Organisation Student Focus Award Coordinator adds, "The Student Focus programme continues to engage with hundreds of students of photography worldwide. Each year, we are continually surprised and delighted with the overwhelming response to the programme and the quality of the work submitted from around the globe."

Sony SA adds its congratulations to Grindlay on her nomination and is delighted that the group's support of this photographic competition has allowed the incredible photographic talent that exists throughout the world and in SA to be recognised and appreciated on a global stage.

View the gallery of shortlisted photos here.