Fujifilm Professional has announced the winners of the latest Fujifilm Distinctions Awards.
The overall winner is Ukraine based photojournalist, Ikuru Kuwajima who collects a cash prize of £1,000 for his stunning image, 'Cossack Children with a Foal'. Ikuru's winning shot was taken on Fujicolor Superia 400.
Jason Andrew is runner-up and picks up £500 while Dom Moore was given third place and £250.
From the initial entries, submitted via www.fujifilmdistinctions.co.uk, the judges chose 20 Merit Awards, each Merit winner was asked to submit a print for final judging. The Awards were judged by Camilla Brown from The Photographers' Gallery, Aidan Sullivan from Getty Images, Photographer, Simon Roberts, and Jerry Deeney from Fujifilm Professional.
Simon was impressed by the winner: "Ikuru's entry has an awkward beauty about the pose, with the hand gestures of the children mirroring the foal's head. It's a really intriguing, atmospheric image that is reminiscent of a classic painting."
Runner-up Jason Andrew's image, drew this response from Camilla Brown: "There's real humour and juxtaposition in this photograph and it's beautifully shot. Jason obviously has a very keen eye for detail."
Aidan Sullivan commented on Dom Moore's third placed entry: "Dom's submission has a raw kind of innocence to it - it's a really sweet portrait."
For the first time, Distinctions was opened up to photographers from around the world, and over 5,000 entries were received, each taken on Fujifilm Professional film.
Jerry Deeney from Fujifilm Professional commented on the Awards: "I think the fact that the winner is based in Ukraine, the runner-up lives in New York and the 3rd placed photographer is from Devon perfectly illustrates the global nature of creative film photography. The level of entries was really impressive and the judges had a very difficult task in selecting the three main winners, it's so encouraging to see so many great photographs taken on film."
Further examples of Ikuru's work can be viewed at his website, www.ikurukuwajima.com
Since its launch in 2002, over 35,000 images have been submitted to Distinctions, making it one of the most prestigious professional photographic awards in the UK. Entry to Distinctions is free and is open to everyone, anywhere in the world.
