Submission deadline:17 September 2013
The WYNG Masters Award—Hong Kong’s pioneering annual prize in photography—is pleased to issue an international open call for submissions. WYNG Masters Award’s mission is to nurture the growth of photography as an art form in Hong Kong, as well as to stimulate dialogue and foster community awareness on socially-relevant issues of critical importance to Hong Kong and its residents. Each year, a focused theme is chosen for the award. In 2012, the WYNG Masters Award launched with the theme poverty (Hong Kong has one of the world’s largest wealth gaps, with close to 20% of its population living in poverty). The 2013 theme is air—as Hong Kong wrestles with the health, economic, and social effects of its deteriorating air quality.
From 17 June to 17 September 2013, the WYNG Masters Award invites both international and Hong Kong artists and photographers to submit photographic-based work. The visual content of photographic works must be related to Hong Kong and to the chosen theme air. Finalists will be selected by a panel of international judges and their works will be exhibited in Hong Kong in Spring 2014. A full-color catalogue will be published to coincide with the exhibition. The WYNG Masters Award will also host a series of talks, panels, and seminars during the exhibition period.
Two award grants will be issued—the eponymous WYNG Masters Award and the WYNG Project (a commission to develop a photographic project highlighting the 2013 theme air). The recipient of the WYNG Masters Award will receive a cash prize of 250,000 HKD and is selected by the judging panel. The WYNG Project recipient, chosen by the WYNG Foundation trustees, will receive 250,000 HKD to execute a project. An advisory board of industry experts will review the WYNG Masters Award finalists and their project proposals and make a recommendation to the foundation trustees.
The winners of both prizes will be announced at the exhibition.
The WYNG Masters Award international panel of judges is comprised of industry leaders in photography, art, publishing, and non-profit. They include Zoher Abdoolcarim, Abby Chen, Jehan Chu, Louise Clements, Frank Kalero, Joanne Ooi, and Christopher Phillips.
For further details on the WYNG Masters Award, the submission process, judges and advisors please visit wyngmastersaward.hk.
About the theme: Air
Air pollution is one of the top public heath risks in Hong Kong. Levels of pollutants often exceed the limits set by the World Health Organization; Hong Kong lags well behind other urban centres, like New York, London, and Tokyo, that have cleaned up their air.
According to a University of Hong Kong study, air pollution has led to well over 3,000 premature deaths, more than 20,000 daily doctors’ visits and a monetary loss of 39 billion HKD a year.
As Asia’s leading financial centre, Hong Kong’s position is under threat as businesses relocate to alternative countries—siting mounting health concerns as a primary reason. Hong Kong’s government recently announced initiatives to tackle the problem of its polluted air, with the Environmental Protection Department slated to spend 627 million HKD on managing air quality in the current financial year. The impact of these approaches will be closely watched in Hong Kong.
For further information and media requests please contact Astor Shek, info [at] wyng.hk.
