Supporting the local photographic communities in 62 countries across the globe, the World Photography Organisation and Sony today announce the winners of the 2019 National Awards. Included in the list is Paul Franzchel De Mesa as recipient of the 2019 Philippines National Award.
Part of the prestigious and internationally renowned Sony World Photography Awards, the National Awards program demonstrates Sony’s commitment to supporting local photographic talent by recognising the work of local photographers and promoting it on a global scale.
Paul Franzchel De Mesa’s image Midnight Surf was selected anonymously by judges as the single best image taken by any photographer of Filipino nationality and living in the Philippines, entered to the Open competition of the Sony World Photography Awards.
De Mesa, a photographer based in Mandaluyong, says of the image: “I happened to visit the best island in the Philippines, Siargao. One night, the skies opened revealing the last breath of this year's Milky Way season in the Philippines. And there's nowhere else worthy of photographing the stars but from the Islands most visited spot, Cloud 9.”
The judges also recognised more local talent and awarded Kristoffe Oliver Chua 2nd place in the Philippines National Award for the image Play, and Manex Sungahid 3rd place for Jump.
All three photographers receive the latest Sony digital imaging equipment from Sony. In addition, the 3 awarded images will be shown at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London from April 18 – May 6, and de Mesa’s winning image will be published in the 2019 Awards’ book.
Produced by the World Photography Organisation, the internationally acclaimed Sony World Photography Awards are one of the most important fixtures on the global photographic calendar. The Awards are now in their 12th year of partnership with headline sponsor Sony and consist of four competitions in total: Professional (for a body of works), Open (for a single image), Student (for academic institutions) and Youth (for 12-19 year olds).
The success is announced today alongside the winners all 62 National Awards, and the 10 categories of the Awards’ Open competition. The shortlist for the Awards’ Professional and Student competitions will be revealed March 26. The overall and Professional category winners of the Awards will be announced April 17.
