RESULTS OF THE 13TH POLLUX AWARDS

Scroll down to see the images of the overall winners of the Pro and Non-Pro section.
Or click in the following links to see all images selected in the respective sections and categories:
Professional Section - Categories Abstract to Culture & Daily Life
Professional Section - Categories Digital Manipulation to Fine Art
Professional Section - Categories Landscapes to Open Theme
Professional Section - Categories People to Wild Life
Non-Professional Section - Categories Abstract to Culture & Daily Life
Non-Professional Section - Categories Digital Manipulation to Fine Art
Non-Professional Section - Categories Landscapes to Open Theme
Non-Professional Section - Categories People to Wild Life

This 13th edition of the Pollux Awards has been juried by Julio Hirsch-Hardy, director of the Biennial of Fine Art & Documentary Photography. A total of 423 photographers from 56 countries have submitted 3,415 photographs for consideration of the juror.

OVERALL WINNERS

ALAIN SCHROEDER, Belgium (https://alainschroeder.myportfolio.com), was selected as the overall winners of the Pollux Award in the Professional Section. According to the rules of this edition of the Award, Alain Schroeder will have a solo exhibition in Barcelona this October 2019 at the FotoNostrum Gallery and will receive $1,500 each for lodging and travel expenses.

ERIKO KANIWA, Japan (https://sensegraphia.jp) was selected as the overall winner of the Pollux Award in the Non-Professional Section. As well as Alain Schroeder, winner of the Professional section, Eriko will also have a solo exhibition in Barcelona on October 2019 at the FotoNostrum Gallery, plus $1,500 for lodging and travel expenses.

All category winners and honorable mentions, in both single and series, pro and non pro, will be invited to participate in the 13th Pollux Awards Collective Exhibition to be held in Barcelona next October 2019, next to the solo exhibitions of Alain Schroeder and Eriko Kaniwa.

Scroll down to see the works of Alain and Eriko.

ALAIN SCHROEDER

SERIES GRANDMA DIVERS

Jeju island, known for its characteristic basalt volcanic rock, sits off South Korea. It is the home of the renowned Haenyeo or women of the sea who free dive off the black shores of Jeju harvesting delicacies from the sea. Wearing thin rubber suits and old fashioned goggles, this aging group of women are celebrated as a national treasure and inscribed on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, but the tradition is slowly fading as fewer women choose this extremely hazardous profession. Today, the majority of Haenyeo are over the age of 50 and many are well over 70. In a society obsessed with education, the future of this physically arduous activity would appear bleak, and yet… Efforts by the government and local communities to preserve and promote this ecological and sustainable lifestyle have brought renewed interest from young people disillusioned with urban life and eager to return to their roots. It is perhaps a renaissance.

SERIES KIM CITY

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea remains one of the most isolated and secretive nations in the world. Since its creation in 1948, the country has been ruled by three generations of the Kim dynasty, now under the control of Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un. It is a self-reliant socialist society based on an extreme interpretation of the cult of personality and devotion to the current and former leaders, fueled by propaganda. The festivities honoring the 70th anniversary of the creation of North Korea on September 9, 1948, include the opening ceremony of the Mass Games at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang. Supreme Leader, Kim Jung-un is in attendance. While the country is generally off limits to foreign media, this event is accessible to the press and tourists alike. Virtually the entire society has been called to service and is focused on the sole objective of showing the world the caliber, merit and talent of North Korea on display in both cultural and military domaines. It is in this favorable, yet highly controlled, context that this story takes place. Visitors are shown only a confined area of Pyongyang; one of modern high-risers in recently constructed districts of the city. Visits to the city’s national monuments are a required portion of the pre-determined, inflexible itinerary. Chaperoned and surveilled by two official government guides at all times is standard practice for foreign visitors. You are told what to do, what to look at or not and what to photograph pushing one to show only an idealized vision of the city. The environment is totally controlled and there is no choice but to follow the rules. So remember when you look at the images, as Magritte, the Belgian surrealist painter, would say: This is not North Korea.

SERIES SAVING

Indonesia’s Sumatran orangutan is under severe threat from the incessant and ongoing depletion and fragmentation of the rainforest. As palm oil and rubber plantations, logging, road construction, mining, hunting and other development continue to proliferate, orangutans are being forced out of their natural rainforest habitat. Organizations like the OIC (Orangutan Information Center) and their immediate response team HOCRU (Human Orangutan Conflict Response Unit), rescue orangutans in difficulty (lost, injured, captive...) while the SOCP (Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme) cares for, rehabilitates and resocializes orangutans at their purpose-built medical facility, aiming to reintroduce them into the wild and to create new self-sustaining, genetically viable populations in protected forests. That we share 97% of our genetic heritage with orangutans seems obvious when you observe their human-like behavior. Today, with just over 14,000 specimens left, the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo Abelii) along with the 800 specimens of the recently discovered Tapanuli species (Pongo tapanuliensis), are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

SERIES TAEKWONDO

Taekwondo North Korea Style. Although the origins of martial arts are shrouded in mystery, since time immemorial men have used their hands and feet for self-protection. Influenced by a combination of historical events in Korea and Japanese traditions, the modern incarnation of Korea’s national martial art Taekwondo ("way of kick and fist") was created in 1955 by General Choi Hong-hi. Born in what is now North Korea, his idea was to develop a specific martial art to demonstrate the spirit and wisdom of the Korean nation to the outside world. Taekwondo is extremely popular in North Korea. It is taught in every school and is part of the daily sports and health routine of all DPRK citizens. After 50 years of existence, the art of kicks has 60 million practitioners in more than 120 countries. Taekwondo became a medal sport at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.





ERIKO KANIWA

SERIES AESTHETE

Aesthete: It is the word--Someone with deep sensitivity to the beauty to the ART or NATURE. I was so impressed the word and noticed how much I have been adoring and pursuing however still far from it. Due to the recent study, we are now on the stage 6th mass extinction on this planet. I often sense they (animal) are much wiser about the point of that totally they are not destructive our home. Why we human being have knowledge or even wisdom? Wisdom should be philosophical. What if one day a monolith come and give us the wisdom how we could live together with technology. However if it could be realized, maybe only animal can see it. This is the biggest absurdity as like only children can see the fairy matter.