Like the World Press but with a different photo (and, in my humble opinion, much better), CHIPP (China International Press Photo Contest) has chosen a photo on the migratory phenomenon in Europe as its best photo of 2015.
CHIPP, in which not enough Western photographers participate despite a substantial reward of 15,000 dollars, is a bit like a Chinese copy of the World Press. In fact, two weeks before, its director Wen Weng was a member of the WPP jury in Amsterdam. She locked in the chairmanship for the 12th CHIPP jury, which since last year has met in Chengdu, the city of Pandas, in Sichuan to view 30,000 photos sent by photographers from seventy countries.
The Russian photographer Ponomarey from the Associated Press won this 12th CHIPP before the winners of the other seventy-four other prizes spread over the eight categories of the contest. The theme this year was “Peace and Development”, a multifaceted theme which allowed for a great diversity of subjects, from war to science.
His photo shows a small boat packed with 150 migrants pulled by a man walking in the sea near the city of Skala on the isle of Lesbos in Greece. The owner of the boat, which had hardly gotten to shore, fled to Turkey where he must have been arrested.
Among the seventy-four awarded individual stories and photos, the international jury will have had a very global judgement, because only fifteen Chinese had been selected. It is necessary to say that this contest is becoming more widely known by the global photography community and that the award money amounting to 15,000 dollars is rather motivating.
CHIPP’s annual contest is a real opening for Chinese photographers who still have little access to international media. It also allows Western photographers to make themselves known in a country whose multiple publications are very keen on all styles of reporting.
Each day from tomorrow and for two weeks, The Eye of Photography, will present the winners of the nine categories of CHIPP.
INFORMATION
http://www.chipp.cn
