Entries are currently being judged. View timeline View entries

Judges

  • Antonio Banderas

    Antonio Banderas

    Antonio Banderas is an acclaimed actor, writer, singer and producer from Málaga, Spain. Antonio started his career in Spanish movies, including in several of Pedro Almodóvar’s films, and moved to Hollywood in the 1990s. He has been supporting non-profit organizations worldwide, including UNICEF, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the United States and numerous Spanish non-governmental organizations. Antonio was appointed UNDP Goodwill Ambassador in March 2010 for the fight against poverty and to promote the Millennium Development Goals globally. Antonio’s films include Assassins, Evita, Interview with the Vampire, Philadelphia, The Mask of Zorro and El Mariachi. He will soon appear in a new Woody Allen film and is concurrently writing, directing and producing a film about Boabdil (Abu Abdullah Muhammad XII), the last Muslim ruler of Granada, Spain. In October 2008, Antonio received the “Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes”, a prize given by the King of Spain to prominent Spanish artists.

  • Alexandra Avakian

    Alexandra Avakian

    Alexandra Avakian has been a photojournalist since 1984, covering many of the most important issues of her time, with subjects ranging from Haiti to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the former Soviet Union, from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to war and famine in Africa. As part of her work with the National Geographic Society for the past 15 years, she has produced photo essays on Gaza, Romania, Armenia, Latvia, Lebanon's Hezbollah and American Muslims, and a cover story on Iran. She has received honours from Pictures of the Year International, the New York Foundation for the Arts and American Photographer. Her photographs have been published in TIME, LIFE, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, and many more throughout the United States and Europe. Her photographic and written memoir, Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World, was published by Focal Point/National Geographic in fall 2008.

  • John Isaac

    John Isaac

    John Isaac became a photojournalist for the United Nations in 1978 and worked as chief camera person conducting photo shoots for UN projects in more than 100 countries. Originally from India he now resides in New York. His many awards include the Photokina International Photo Contest First Prize; the GRAPHIS Magazine Best Outdoor Photograph; and the 1993 PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association Professional Photographer of the Year. In 2000 he won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Photographic Council. Isaac’s book on Kashmir, The Vale of Kashmir, was published in 2008 by W.W. Norton. He made 12 trips to Kashmir in the last five years to complete this book.

  • Mark Garten

    Mark Garten

    Mark Garten, currently Chief of Photography at the United Nations, has been creating images professionally for the past 24 years. After receiving a Bachelor in Fine Arts at the University of Buffalo, New York, Mark opened a still life studio creating images for advertising. His journey has now landed him at the United Nations, where he leads a team of photographers. Traveling much of the globe with former and current UN Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, respectively, Mark has had the opportunity to observe first-hand UN programmes and their impact on men, women and children. From documenting the struggles of Internally Displaced People in Colombia’s jungles to conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, Mark tries to show the truths of humankind and the ways we can help each other through the images he creates. His images have been seen in galleries as well as media outlets, books and magazines around the world.

  • Paola Messana

    Paola Messana

    Paola Messana, a former AFP Photo Director in Paris, has been a journalist since 1979. After working as a correspondent in Rome for Agence France-Presse from 1983 to 1988, she was assigned to Moscow from 1990 to 2005, where she created the AFP network in the 15 former soviet republics and covered the fall of the Soviet Union. Awarded the prestigious Albert Londres Award with her team in 1995 for the coverage of the first Chechnya war, she wrote two books on Russia, Kommunalka and Olga drives a Jaguar. Paola has been the AFP New York bureau chief since 2007.