HIPA announces $120,000 grand prize winner

Antonio Aragon Renuncio was awarded the grand prize at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA), winning $120,000 at the ceremony, which took place at Dubai’s Burj Plaza last night. The Spanish photographer’s winning image, based on the season’s main theme of ‘Happiness’, depicts a group of impoverished Togolese children playing outside an NGO clinic.
This marks the fifth edition of a competition which, the organisers say, “was conceived to promote the art of photography by embracing all talents and creative minds in the field from around the world”.

In addition to the Grand Prize, HIPA announced 22 more winners across its four categories – Happiness, Wildlife, Father & Son, and General – with five photographers winning prizes in each category and two Special Awards for photographers with a “long-standing commitment to enhancing the art of photography.” HIPA’s overall prize pool totals $400,000.
Hameed Husain Isa from Bahrain won first place in the Happiness category, winning $25,000 for his image of two old friends embracing; American Steven Winter won first prize in the Wildlife category for his long-exposure of a leopard and its prey resting up a tree against the night sky; Palestinian photographer Khaled Alsabbah took first place in the Father & Son category for his image of two fathers clutching their deceased children after a fire broke out in Gaza; and Francisco Negroni Rodriguez from Chile won first prize for his photograph of lightning striking simultaneously with the eruption of Calbuco Volcano. The latter three winners will receive $15,000.