The European Union (EU) in Egypt announced the three winners of the 12th edition of its annual photography competition with the theme of "Egyptian Women Champions". 242 people from all over Egypt participated in the competition, submitting more than 591 photos.
After considering the professional standards in the photos and ensuring they reflected this year's theme, the jury selected Mr. Hussein Talal Farag Mohamed as the first winner with a photo entitled "Fighters... Unknown Heroines". The second-place winner is Ms. Hanaa Habib Tawadrous Saad with the photo entitled “Between Books". The third winner is Mr. Abdel Hamid Fawzy Tahoon with the photo "Handicraft Seller".
Mr. Mohamed was born in 1978 in Giza. Photography was his hobby since 2002. He won several competitions, including that of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate in 2015. Ms. Saad was born in 1991 in Al Minya. She collaborated as a freelance photographer with National Geographic and European Pressphoto Agency. She won the third place in the Journalists Syndicate Competition in 2018. Mr. Tahoon was born in 1988 in Al Menoufia. Photography has always been his hobby. He participated in several local and regional exhibitions, including the "Image Festival" in Lebanon in 2019.
The first three winners will receive awards from the EU in Egypt. The EU's 2020 desk calendar will feature the top 12 photos. Additionally, an exhibition featuring the top 30 photos will be held at the Greek Campus in downtown Cairo 9–12 December.
Building stable, prosperous, and inclusive societies requires the full participation of women. This commitment to gender equality is fully reflected in the European Union (EU)-Egypt partnership priorities, jointly adopted in 2017.
Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls essentially include the prevention of, and protection from, violence against them; supporting their participation in public life, including their access to leadership and top management positions, as well as their voice and engagement in the local communities; and safeguarding their economic, social and cultural rights.
The theme of this year’s competition aims to celebrate Egyptian women and girls and the valuable, irreplaceable contributions they make in advancing Egypt. The panel of independent judges for the 12th edition of the competition are Ashraf Talaat, Sara Mostafa Kamel and Mohamed Ismail.
Mr. Talaat is a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS). He works as a professional photographer for National Geographic magazine. His work has been exhibited in many countries. He won several awards, among them the photographer of the year at Venice International Photo Contest 2005.
Ms. Kamel earned her master's degree in Applied Arts in 2009 from the Photography, Cinema and TV Department at Helwan University. She participated in more than 50 national and 19 international exhibitions and received 17 photography awards. She was also a member of the State Award for Creativity at the Egyptian Academy of Arts in Rome in the year 2005/2006.
Mr. Ismail is a professional photographer and instructor who is a member of several visual-art communities and organisations. He participated in more than 60 national and international photography exhibitions and he served as a member of jury in many national & regional photo contests. He founded the Art of Seeing Center in 2011.
The photography competition of the EU in Egypt has been held annually since 2008. Last year, 197 people participated in the competition, entitled "Description of Modern Egypt