Winning entry from the Animal category lands its photographer a generous cash prize, plus photography gear and CEWE products
'Hide-and-seek with a ground squirrel' topped the Animals category, and took top prize, in the CEWE Photo Awards 2019(Image credit: Ina Schieferdecker)
Leading lights from the photography industry gathered in Vienna to celebrate the winners of the CEWE Photo Award 2019 – the world’s largest photo competition.
Twelve talented photographers were rewarded for their achievements in 10 categories, which were themed around ‘Our World is Beautiful’, a call to search for the good in times of increasing global conflict.
The CEWE Photo Award 2019 received over 448,000 entries; submissions were made online, and each entrant could enter up to 100 images. The competition is open to all photographers – professionals, hobbyists, amateurs and everyone in between.
The winning image, of a squirrel playing hide and seek, was shot by Ina Schieferdecker from Germany, and topped the Animals category.
Ina Schieferdecker from Germany collects her overall winner's prize from president of the CEWE Photo Award jury, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, and CEWE chairman Dr Christian Friege (Image credit: Digital Camera World)
Ina will now enjoy a holiday of her choice worth €15,000, plus €7,500 of photography equipment and €2,500 of CEWE products.
And the second to 10th place winners each receive €5,000 of photography equipment and €2,500 of CEWE products.
Although the prizes were very generous, organisers CEWE was keen to stress that these awards are not a commercial event – 10 cents of every photographic submission went to charity, so €44,815.20 was donated to SOS Children’s Villages.
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Established for over 50 years, CEWE is the largest photo printing service in Europe, delivering millions of photo products each year including wedding photobooks, greetings cards and holiday snaps.
The competition was judged by a panel of recognised industry experts, including established British music photographer Christie Goodwin, who has worked with artists such as Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.
All the winners of the CEWE Photo Award 2019 gathered on stage at the end of the event (Image credit: Digital Camera World)
View the winning entries of the CEWE Photo Award 2019
Animals category winner:
'Hide-and-seek with a ground squirrel' by Ina Schieferdecker (Germany)
Ina came to Vienna to take pics of squirrels, and got this shot while she was setting up her camera equipment.
(Image credit: Ina Schieferdecker)
The president of the CEWE Photo Award jury was world-renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
Commenting on the overall winner, he said: “Ina Schieferdecker’s winning image is the perfect combination of everything that makes a photo great: idea, design and technique – with a dab of humour thrown in. A real winner with symmetry, pastel colours and excellent technique.”
Dr Christian Friege, chairman of the board of CEWE and one of the seven judges of the contest, said: “Just over 448,000 photographers showed that our world is beautiful and we saw 10 outstanding examples of photography at the ceremony.
“Of the 20 categories, none was shot on a smartphone, but this may not be the case next time. It doesn’t matter, though, because what matters is the eye of the photographer, and their imagination.”
The next CEWE Photo Awards will be launched at Photokina in Cologne, Germany, from 27-30 May 2020.
Niall is the editor of Digital Camera Magazine, and has been shooting on interchangeable lens cameras for over 20 years, and on various point-and-shoot models for years before that.
Working alongside professional photographers for many years as a jobbing journalist gave Niall the curiosity to also start working on the other side of the lens. These days his favored shooting subjects include wildlife, travel and street photography, and he also enjoys dabbling with studio still life.
On the site you will see him writing photographer profiles, asking questions for Q&As and interviews, reporting on the latest and most noteworthy photography competitions, and sharing his knowledge on website building.
