Apr. 26 – Three Italian photographers won at Sony World Photography Awards, 2013, one of the most prestigious competitions in the industry, in London. Myriam Meloni won the Photographer of the Year for Art and Culture; Valerio Bispuri won for Photographer of the Year in Current Issues; and Alice Caputo was elected Lifestyle Photographer of the Year. Another five Italians also placed well in the overall standings. The winning works were selected by the jury of honor of the Sony World Photography Awards, chaired by Catherine Meyerhoff, director of special projects at Magnum Photo and composed by world-renowned photographers, who had the daunting task of screening more than 122.000 proposals submitted from 170 countries. Myriam Meloni, 33-year old artist from Cagliari who has lived in Barcelona for several years, won with the series of photos “The Limousine,” taken in Argentina and portraying various passengers on board a blue 1972 Ford Fairlane electric limousine – symbol of luxury used by politicians and rock stars of the ’80s and now, over time, an icon of Argentine popular culture. Myriam said of the victory: “From the distant streets of Buenos Aires to London, the project ‘The limousine’ has come a long way.” Valerio Bispuri, 41-year-old photojournalist from Rome, created 10 black and white shots on part of his ten-year project on South American prisons. Bispuri said: “‘Encerrados’ is not only a work of denunciation, but the story of many countries, because the prison is the mirror of a society. I want to dedicate this award to all the prisoners I met in these years, in the 74 prisons I visited.” Alice Caputo, 24 year old photographer from Lecco but Milanese by adoption, won with a series entitled “Summer Family,” vibrant images of a family holiday in the Ligurian Sea in the summer of 2012. The photographer says she was very surprised by the victory: “I only found out I was on the shortlist and that I’d won once the WPO called me; but it was a comic scene, since I kept hanging up on them thinking they had gotten a wrong number. And then, wow! I really love this series, and I enrolled at the Sony World Photography Awards, but I forgot about that a few days later. What a great surprise it was … I was not expecting it at all.” Five other Italian photographers won the second and third place in various sections of the competition. They are: Niccolò Rastrelli, runner-up, Professional category – Art and culture; Paolo Pellegrin, runner-up, Professional category – News; Fabio Bucciarelli, third, Professionals – News; Alice Pavesi Fiori, third place, Professionals – Fashion; Fausto Podavini, third, Professional – Lifestyle. The highest award of the Sony World Photography Awards L’Iris d’Or, the title of Photographer of the Year, went to Andrea Gjestvang (Norway). The jury has already announced the winners of the 9 Open Architecture category, whose photographs were selected from over 54 thousand participants works, which include the Roman photographer Martina Biccheri.
